Jacinda Ardern
speaker
169 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Jun 2025
last heard 13 Apr
Jacinda Ardern’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Apr 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Well, it was an extraordinary moment in a string of extraordinary moments. So we'd been in opposition for nine years, so we had not been in government for a long time. And so it's pretty soul-destroying to be in that situation. Your party.
And so I was the deputy leader. Now, in New Zealand, being deputy leader does not mean you are the next in line. It means actually probably you're not too threatening. Yeah. Yes. You're there as a support person to the leader. Which is where you'd always wanted to be anyway. You're not being behind the scenes. I thought I was much better suited to a role like that.
But even then I found that challenging. We're seven weeks out from the election. And one day my boss and I, we receive poll numbers that say we're heading south. Things are not looking good. And, you know, my leader muses aloud to me, maybe I should step down. And, you know, the panic alarm rings for me in my head. The idea that he's contemplating departure seven weeks out from an election.
Well, I actually respect that. Well, I respect that he had that thought process. I did not appreciate it. I respect that he had the self-awareness. Absolutely. I did not appreciate that he looked at me as the possible replacement. A week after that conversation, he came to work one day, he quit and he nominated me. And so I then found myself in the position of leading the party into an election.
You knew you were going to be nominated though, right? I had a sense that he'd suggested that if anyone was going to take over, that he thought it should be me. I thought it absolutely should not.
And I meant it. So you didn't want it. I did not.
I did not. But there's always, you know, I think everyone can identify with that idea that sometimes you can have these dueling moments you know, these dueling sentiments, these dueling values. The idea on the one hand, that lack of confidence on the other, a sense of responsibility. And so the moment came that he said, well, I'm nominating you and I believe you need to step up.
It was just time for the sense of responsibility. And you were 37? I was 37, yeah. Wow. And then the election. In New Zealand, we have a system a little bit similar to Germany. You don't always know on election night who has the numbers to form a government. So on election night, it was not clear cut.
There was one small party that held the balance of power and they decided they would negotiate with both us and one other party. So we're in the middle of those negotiations. When I start feeling a little off. Had you missed your period? Well, there was one of the, obviously there's a number of things that suggest maybe you should think about taking a test.
I don't remember at the time them being large red flags for me. Any large red flags. Just feeling a bit off is how I would describe it. And a friend of mine suggested I take a test. And so in the middle of negotiations to find out whether I would be prime minister, I first found out I was pregnant. And you thought, what? I thought you could not write this until you did.
So I talk a lot more about, you know, how that was a bit of a surprise because having a child had been something we'd thought about, but it did not come easy to me. And so it was a real surprise.
I didn't know if I loved the universe in that moment. I think I have probably natural levels of anxiety for someone who's 37 years old and 10 weeks ago did not anticipate being in this position and who's also pregnant.
Because you were determined that you were going to breastfeed. I was determined. I was determined. And now looking back on it, I see there were lots of reasons why I was determined. I think I saw it as a part, a series of mini tests. the test of motherhood, you know, the test to prove that I was doing what I was meant to do. But it was hard and it didn't come easy for me.
The breastfeeding didn't come easy. Yeah, it didn't. And I think I had this idea in my head that eventually it's just meant to work. But it wasn't like that. And I think it's not like that for a lot of women. And one of the reasons I wanted to write about it was to just demonstrate that, you know, out there in the images that we present sometimes, it may have looked like I was Wonder Woman.
It may have. But I would hate that to be the sentiment because, yes, I was doing a lot and I was caring a lot, but I had a support network. I had a village. I had an incredible partner who traveled. Now a husband who traveled with me, who was our primary caregiver. And if anything, I'd like to put the spotlight on that because I don't think we should have an expectation that women do everything.
Right.
And I think this is part of the reason, yeah, that you want to do it all and not be seen to break a sweat because, you know, I was at that time only the second child. leader in the world to give birth in office. And so I felt a certain amount of pressure to make sure that no one could question that it impaired my ability to do the job. Because what would that then say to anyone else?
You know, another leader, another politician. So you've got to prove that I can do this no matter what. Yeah. So hide the morning sickness.
Hide the fact you can't quite walk straight after birth. Just make it look like it is entirely possible to do all of those things. And with the right support, you can. But it does require support.
And I don't particularly remember thinking about the magnitude of that moment. You know, for me, it was just pure logistics. Niamh was four months old. I was still breastfeeding. She had to come with me. And actually, the moment when she was photographed, I mean, you can tell that we're not aware we're being photographed. That is one of the more presentable photos of me.
Showing 41–60 of 169 · page 3 of 9
← Previous
Next →