Life Uncut

Back in 2020, we released an episode titled “Talking Miscarriage” where Laura spoke about experiencing not one but two miscarriages. It is an episode that people still message us every week about. Six years ago the topic of miscarriage was still pretty taboo, and it has changed slightly but it’s still an experience that leaves so many people feeling alone and grieving privately.
Today’s guest has unfortunately experienced miscarriage a number of times.
We first got to know Irena Gilbert on The Bachelor Australia back in 2020. After that final rose, her and Locky have gone on to get married and build a life together! Before welcoming their daughter Ava in February 2024, Irena experienced multiple miscarriages; her first in 2021, her second in 2023, and now another just 2 weeks ago. Today we're sitting down with Irena to talk about something that affects one in four pregnancies in Australia, and yet still so often goes unspoken, pregnancy loss.
This conversation is not easy. But it is important, generous, and going to reach a lot of women who need to hear it.
Irena brings something rare to this conversation: she is both a woman who has lived through pregnancy loss multiple times, and a nurse with over 15 years of experience caring for women going through the same thing. The gap between what she knew clinically and what she felt personally is something she speaks to with a lot of honesty.
We chat:
When Irena & Locky spoke about having kids
Why their Covid-interrupted season actually gave them something most Bachelor couples never get
Her first pregnancy loss and why she felt she wasn't "allowed" to grieve it
How the second miscarriage
How partners grieve differently, and why their pain gets left out of the conversation
What miscarriage actually looks like physically
The statistics: roughly 280–300 miscarriages happen in Australia every day
Pregnancy after loss: why Irena couldn't let herself feel excited, couldn't take photos, and was still waiting for something to go wrong on the day Ava was born
Her third and most recent loss two weeks ago
Why this one hurt the most and what her obstetrician said that finally made sense of it
"At least you have a healthy baby" - why well-meaning words can be the most dismissive thing you can say
Why pregnancy loss and infertility are different experiences that don't need to be compared
You can follow Irena on Instagram
Free counselling is available from Red Nose Grief and Support Line
Timestamps
0:00 — Intro
2:20 — Bachelor 2020, meeting Locky, and talking kids on their very first date
4:40 — The Covid season: why six months of phone calls gave them something most Bachelor couples never had
6:40 — Going back to nursing after the show and why it kept her grounded
8:30 — First pregnancy loss
12:00 — Laura shares her own experience: the complicated feelings of an unplanned pregnancy lost
13:40 — How the second miscarriage unlocked everything she'd buried from the first
20:40 — How Locky processed it
23:05 — What miscarriage actually feels like physically
29:25 — The statistics: 280–300 miscarriages a day in Australia, and that's only the ones that are known about
30:00 — Pregnancy after loss: not allowing herself to get excited, not taking photos, waiting for something to go wrong
35:20 — Why she struggled with social media pregnancy announcements and the joy she'll never fully have back
36:00 — The third loss: two weeks ago
38:20 — Why this one hurt the most: her obstetrician's explanation that finally made sense
39:30 — "At least you've got a healthy baby" — why this is the most dismissive thing you can say, even when it comes from love
43:10 — The grief Olympics: pregnancy loss and infertility aren't competing, they're both just really shit
45:20 — Laura's experience of her second loss, and the complicated way miscarriage can clarify how much you want something
49:20 — The shame hangover: why women of our mothers' generation stayed silent, and what that cost us
53:20 — Her mum's stillbirth, growing up knowing about it, and being a rainbow baby herself
54:05 — What she wants every woman who hears this to know
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey Lifers!
Britt is living her best life in Italy so it's Laura and Keeshia holding down the fort for this one. Laura gives us a little update on her first weekend away without the kids; two whole nights, dinner at 6:30pm with a seven minute door-to-car turnaround, and it’s pure bliss. She's also heading to India tomorrow at 5am for a ten day work trip and we get a bit of the BTS of what’s in store for the trip.
Keeshia is in one of those ‘scattered’ phases where she keeps doing stupid things that frustrate her, the people around her and also can be quite expensive ‘accidents’.
We share your worst roommate stories and they are some of the most unhinged messages we’ve ever read. Some are disgusting, some are absolutely deranged, and one involves a Tinder date being called to fix a blocked toilet.
A self-described comedian posted a video that racked up nearly two million views, cost her a job, and ignited a national conversation about race, satire, and what Australians are and aren't allowed to say; and she has not apologised to a single person. We question if "it's just a joke" can protect you legally in Australia? What are your actual rights as an employer when a staff member's public views trash your company values? And what does it say about us as a society that there's now a $46k crowdfund in her name?
“Optimisation culture has made us all miserable.” Steven Bartlett said that three glasses of wine ruined his life for three days. We ask whether we've all been so busy tracking our bio stats that we forgot to actually have fun. We chat sleep scores, going alcohol free, nonna maxxing, friction maxxing (more maxxings, we know, we know, we’re all over them) and adding ‘whimsy’ into your life in 2026.
Don't forget to slide into our DMs @lifeuncutpodcast with your questions or any remaining unhinged roommate stories we didn't get to.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Intro
1:45 — What's dropping over the break
3:00 — Laura's heading to India tomorrow — ten days, three kids left behind, 5am flight
8:12 — Keeshia's been having a scatterbrained week
14:36 — Laura's first ever kid-free weekend away
18:26 — Your worst roommate stories
31:32 — Lisa Jane Spencer: the viral racist skit, the firing and the $46k crowdfund
45:30 — Optimisation culture
46:50 — Steven Bartlett had three glasses of wine and it "ruined his life"
1:01:10 — Sucks & Sweets!
Keep your questions coming! Slide into the Life Uncut DMs at @lifeuncutpodcast on Instagram
You can watch us on Youtube
Join us on tiktok
Or join the Facebook Discussion Group
Hosted by Laura Byrne & Keeshia Pettit
Produced by Keeshia Pettit
Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley
Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! Xx
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to Ask Uncut where we answer your deepest, darkest and most burning questions!
Big news this week: this is Britt's last episode before she heads off on a month-long holiday through Europe with Ben. Laura and Keeshia will hold down the fort next week and no, they are not wheeling in the big box TV like a substitute teacher. Fresh new content is dropping throughout, so don't go anywhere.
Vibes of the week:
Britt 📺 Worst Ex Ever on Netflix
Keeshia 🩲 Aunt Flow period underwear
Laura 🧳 Cubey Packing Cubes by Holly Kingston and Jimmy Nicholson
Then it's into your questions!
Q1: MY MOTHER-IN-LAW IS POSTING PHOTOS WITH MY HUSBAND'S EX-WIFE ALL OVER FACEBOOK
They've been together ten years. He was married before and, from what he's told her, his mum and his ex-wife didn't get along. Then out of nowhere: three separate Facebook posts of the mother-in-law at brunch with the ex-wife. Her friends think it's a deliberate dig. Her husband won't say anything because he hates conflict.
Q2: MY FRIEND IS PREGNANT AND I KNOW IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT
Her friend has had an on-and-off friends-with-benefits situation for years with a guy most of their group doesn't approve of. Now she's pregnant. The problem: just weeks earlier, the friend had told her she was thinking about not taking the morning after pill and that "if there was anyone to have an accident with, it was him." She doesn't know how to show up, can't pretend to believe it was a surprise, and doesn't know whether to say anything.
Q3: SHE CHEATED. NOW HE'S USING IT AS AN EXCUSE TO BARELY COME HOME OR BE A DAD
A six month old baby, both on six-figure salaries, and the husband has decided to take a career change that means he'll only be home once or twice a month. When she raised concerns, he turned it back on her and accused her of not wanting to take responsibility for their child. The reason he's doing this? She cheated on him.
Q4: MY EX LEFT ME FOUR MONTHS INTO OUR MARRIAGE FOR THE LOCAL BARMAID. NOW HE WANTS ME BACK.
Five years together, two kids, four months into marriage - and he left. It's been two years of courts, separation and his bad behaviour (which he now admits was jealousy over her new partner). He's begging to come back. She still loves him. She misses the family unit. Her little boys keep asking for Mummy and Daddy to live together again. She's now in a new relationship with a man who is wonderful to her kids. She doesn't know what to do.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
2:08 - Vibes
9:40 - Q1: My mother-in-law posted photos with my husband's ex-wife all over Facebook
17:10 - Q2: My friend is pregnant and I know it wasn't an accident
25:50 - Q3: She cheated. He's now barely coming home and barely being a dad.
34:00 - Q4: He left me for the barmaid four months into our marriage. Now he wants me back.

Keep your questions coming! Slide into the Life Uncut DMs at @lifeuncutpodcast on Instagram
You can watch us on Youtube
Join us on tiktok
Or join the Facebook Discussion Group
Hosted by Britt Hockley & Laura Byrne
Produced by Keeshia Pettit
Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley
Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! Xx
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey Lifers! Welcome to your little weekend snack!
We kick things off with Laura's post-baby-number-three return to exercise, specifically, an aggressive 8.5km power walk that has left her pelvis in absolute ruins. We also cover the lengths we've gone to impress men in our past lives: spearfishing, drones, the works.
Then we get into it:
Clavicular is… ‘penismaxxing’.
The "high value woman doesn't accept coffee dates" TikTok trend
Young Australians are collectively wasting $2 billion a year on skincare they buy and never finish.
A woman in America has been arrested for posing as a real estate agent to film luxury $12–13 million Bel-Air mansions for her Instagram.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Intro
0:56 — Laura's post-baby 8.5km walk broke her pelvis
6:19 — Clavicular is penis maxxing
13:56 — Matthew Hussey on the "high value woman doesn't accept coffee dates" trend
21:45 — Australians waste $2 billion a year on skincare they never finish
27:27 — Woman arrested for posing as a real estate agent to film Bel-Air mansions for Instagram
You can watch us on Youtube
Find us on Instagram
Join us on tiktok
Or join the Facebook Discussion Group
Hosted by Britt Hockley & Laura Byrne
Produced by Keeshia Pettit
Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley
Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! Xx
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today’s episode is with one of our very favourite Bach alums Tara Pavlovic. Tara was on Laura's season of The Bachelor back in 2017, and despite the slightly unusual premise of competing for the same man, she's one of the people Laura has genuinely stayed close with ever since.
Tara is currently going through a separation. Not in the past tense, not with the benefit of two years of hindsight. She’s currently in the thick of it, while co-parenting two young kids and figuring out what life looks like on the other side. And she wanted to come and talk about it, because she knows there are women out there sitting exactly where she was sitting a few months ago, wondering if it's okay to make the decision to leave.
We chat:
The post-Bachelor world: fake attention, disingenuous people, and why it made trusting anyone so hard
Years of couples counselling, trying everything, and the moment the penny finally dropped
What it physically felt like in her body when the relationship was no longer working
Why "staying for the kids" isn't always the best thing
Separation and equal parenting
The judgment that comes when you're the one who leaves
Discovering she can kill spiders, mow lawns, and do everything she thought she needed someone else for
"Do I believe in love anymore? Absolutely not" and what she actually means
Life now: calm, present, peaceful, and genuinely happy
Tara also teases an upcoming podcast she's launching with Bachelor alum David Lloyd! Watch this space.
You can follow Tara on Instagram

Timestamps
0:00 — Introducing our sister wife: Tara Pavlovic
9:45 — Tara's love of kids, starting in childcare at 18, and becoming a mum
11:10 — What the post-Bachelor world was really like
16:00 — Dating again after BiP and why she went back to someone she already knew and trusted
17:15 — Getting into the separation: years of trying, couples counselling, and going quiet
19:45 — The cruise that changed everything — feeling peace for the first time in years
22:20 — How couples counselling helped, and when the counsellor finally said "staying for the kids isn't enough"
24:55 — Why staying together isn't always the answer for kids
28:25 — Did she feel guilty? Honestly, no — here's why
29:00 — The mental load she didn't know she was carrying
33:15 — Navigating what to share (and not share) on social media during a separation
37:30 — The surprising things: friendships shifting, being seen as the one who "broke the family"
38:30 — All the things she's discovered she can do by herself: spiders, lawns, everything
47:00 — Dating with kids: what she would and wouldn't introduce into her children's lives
46:45 — "I'm living the fairytale right now"
You can watch us on Youtube
Find us on Instagram
Join us on tiktok
Or join the Facebook Discussion Group
Hosted by Laura Byrne & Keeshia Pettit
Produced by Keeshia Pettit
Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley
Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! Xx

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.