Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to Something to Talk About, the Stella podcast. I'm Sarah Lamarquand, your host, and every week I sit down with some of the biggest names in the country, because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to Talk About. For nearly three decades, Frances Whiting's Sunday Mail column has been a weekly ritual for her readers.
Chapter 2: What led Frances Whiting to become a columnist for nearly 30 years?
Next year, she'll become Australia's longest-running continuous columnist, after 30 years of a career built on telling other people's stories. Yet the most defining chapters of Frances's own life arrived later than expected.
Chapter 3: How did Frances experience motherhood later in life?
She had her first child at 40, her second at 45, and published her first novel at 46. Now, at 61, her fifth book, The Nocturnals, has become another bestseller.
I really love that I can talk to other women who are panicking and I'm able to say to them, you don't have to panic.
Chapter 4: What insights does Frances share about societal pressures on women regarding milestones?
On today's episode of The Stella Podcast, Fran reflects on the pressure women place on themselves to reach life's milestones by a certain age. and why it's never too late to start the thing you think you've missed your chance to do. We also chat about the most surprising feedback she's received over the years and the surreal encounter where she once had coffee with John F. Kennedy Jr. in Paris.
Frances Whiting, welcome to the Stellar podcast.
Thank you, Sarah. I'm very, very happy to be here.
You are Australia's longest running Sunday columnist. Next year will be 30 years since you've been writing your column for Queensland Sunday Mail. What are your recollections about those early years writing a column as opposed to now where it's obviously living in print and digital and now there's social?
Chapter 5: What unique feedback has Frances received from her readers over the years?
Has the process of putting a column together changed for you as much as the way that it's distributed has over those 30 years?
You know what, Sarah, the nice thing about the column that I would say is that it is the one thing, the one part of my job that hasn't changed at all. And I think that is why it is still going.
Chapter 6: How did Frances handle the pressure of writing her first novel at 46?
I'd like to say it's because I'm a very talented writer and brilliant everywhere to gem. But I honestly think that with the column, it's been pretty much in the same space on Sunday for 30 years. And I think in a world where people are feeling very disconnected, where social media makes us feel a little bit insecure, you know, I think that
For readers, having that anchor point every Sunday that's very familiar, they kind of know what they're going to get. There's not too many surprises with it. And for me as a journalist, the nicest thing would be that every time I sit down to write that column, genuinely, I just think the same thing, which is two things.
I think I'm writing to a friend and I think, and my job is to make that friend smile and or laugh if I can swing it.
What about the nature of the feedback from your readers over that time, Fran? Do you still get letters and things in the mail? I guess people are now sliding into your DMs, as they say.
I still actually get physical letters. Obviously nowhere near as many as I used to, but I get mostly emails and then Instagram messages as well. It's really special.
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Chapter 7: What was the significance of Frances's encounter with John F. Kennedy Jr.?
The thing is, is that when we write, Sarah, and you would feel this too, you're not quite sure who you're writing to. With a column, I know exactly who I'm writing to because they write back. And some readers have read every single column for 30 years. And as I'm doing this book tour for my book, some of them are coming.
and saying, I'm here because I've been reading your column for 30 years, or my mum's been reading your column for 30 years. You know, in that time that I've been writing the column, you know, I got married, I had kids, my father, you know, life goes on. And for many of the readers, exactly the same. So sometimes when they write to me, they want to tell me that stuff as well.
So quite often the letters I get from readers are quite personal.
How does that responsibility sit with you? Because it is a real privilege as a journalist if someone is sharing these stories with you. Practically, how do you find the time to respond to everyone? And yeah, how much of people's emotions do you take on?
Most recently, I got a letter from a reader who told me that her mum, who was a big column reader for many years, was dying and she was in palliative care in hospital. And on the Sunday morning when they said, look, she's slipping, the daughter thought to herself, what should I do? You know, the hours are long in hospital when you're looking after a loved one.
And she was at a loss and she thought, oh, and then I thought, it's Sunday. So she raced down to the canteen where they had the paper and And she bought the Sunday mail and then she raced back up because her mum and her used to share my column to each other every Sunday.
So she told me that she read my column to her mum for the last time and that it made her feel like they still had this connection. So that was a privilege. I felt pretty good about that.
In addition to your work on the Sunday Column, of course, you are an award-winning feature writer and interviewer. You've interviewed multiple public figures, state premiers, a lot of celebrities. You've interviewed people in the middle of massive news stories and have gone through unfathomable things. I'd love to ask you about some of the interviews that have stood out for you over the years.
When I look back, it's hard to kind of... It's not trying to pick a favourite child. You know, sometimes it's obviously not always the celebrities that are the most interesting. Like, sometimes it is people who have found themselves for whatever reason in the spotlight when they're not normally in the spotlight. But...
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Chapter 8: How can late bloomers find inspiration in Frances's journey?
And he did me a kindness that he didn't have to do. This is, I don't know, maybe 15, 16 years ago. You know, you would know, Sarah, there's either there's the all-in press pack or there's the round robin and there's a few journos or there's a one-on-one. So I got a one-on-one and I got the time and I flew down and I was very confident that I was early and I was prepared.
And when I went up to the hotel room Robin was staying in, The publicist more or less said to me, what are you doing? Where have you been? And I was like, what are you talking about? I'm here. And what had happened was neither she or I had taken daylight savings into account. So she said to me, well, too late. You've missed it.
Whereupon I very unprofessionally burst into tears because I knew I couldn't fly back to Brisbane and say, no, no, sorry, didn't get it. So... Maybe his assistant might have seen me and she went into the room and she came back out and she said something to the publicist and the publicist said to me, actually, Robin says to go on in.
So I went on in and he said, Frances, I'm sorry, have we kept you waiting? He was just a delight. He asked them would they make me a cup of tea. He calmed me down. We had a great interview and he very easily could have said, no, you know, she's missed out, so too bad.
What an experience and you must have been particularly devastated then when he passed away and everyone felt it. But for you that had that personal connection must have felt all the more acute. Well, just because I knew that we'd lost a good one. You know, speaking of losing a good one, Fran, I have to ask you about this. Apparently, you are, I'm going to quote you here, 99.9% sure.
I had coffee with John Kennedy Jr. in Paris. I'm a lifelong devotee of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, who've suddenly been back in the zeitgeist, as you and I know, this year with their real life tragic love story being documented in the series Love Story. So you've got to tell me everything there.
It was about, I think it was 1990, and I was in Paris with my then boyfriend. We were staying in a very nice hotel. Not the sort of hotel I would normally be staying in, sadly. My boyfriend was unwell. He got some sort of flu. After looking after him for a couple of hours, I said, look, would you mind if I went outside for some fresh air?
So I went down to the lobby and I was asking the lobby person something and this very tall, very handsome gentleman was beside me. He said, are you Australian? And I said, yes. And He said, which direction are you going in? And I said, I'm heading out towards the Louvre. We just fell into step between, you know, we fell into step. And on that walk, there were just a few things.
I noticed that people were staring. He was American. He told me he was in Paris because he'd just failed his law exam again and that his family were very disappointed with him. And that he'd kind of done this almost secret trip to Paris to just get away from what he called the noise. And I did keep thinking, you're a very striking looking man, but there's also something vaguely familiar.
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