Rachel Hunter is the girl from Glenfield who made it big time.
International supermodel, celebrity, and one of New Zealand’s first global stars.
She joins us to talk about her lifetime in the spotlight, her two-week silent retreat, life after Rod Stewart, being Stacey’s Mom and *that* Trumpet Ad, her relationship with the late great Andy Haden, and so much more.
#nzpodcast #newzealand #aotearoa #nzpodcaster
0:00 An eye for detail, menopause, good sides
5:47 Podcast journeys
9:53 Rituals with Rachel Hunter
16:35 Organised chaos and late 80s hip hop
21:23 A lifetime in the spotlight
27:42 Yoga and meditation
40:01 Living without regret
48:37 Right back to the beginning of the journey
1:00:19 An Andy Haden interlude
1:08:29 Life after Rod Stewart
1:16:57 Present day Rachel Hunter
1:25:57 Tour of Beauty
1:27:31 Wellbeing myths
1:33:00 Rachel’s TV and film credits
1:37:38 Last words from Steve, Seamus, and Rachel
Rachel Hunter yeah C Oakman well welcome to between two beers thank you stumbled on my words there you got me nervous how you doing good good thank you yeah how’s the lighting in here well yeah no it’s great thank you it’s beautiful actually in here you’ve got a nice backr drop there yeah first guest I think that’s really come in with an like an eye for detail and taken like fully taken in the surroundings noticed almost everything that we’ve got in the back shop I like it yeah it’s I I think too when you’re like a long time in this business too like lighting especially with modeling I I I mean it’s just like you’re like okay because it can change your face it can make you more it can accentuate different parts of your face that just don’t need to be accentuated at a certain age it’s amazing there’s no special Lighting on me but I do I’m prefer more of a flat light and a light right in front of me because it’s just how you see people unless they’re you know it’s like sitting under a a light in a restaurant and it’s like if you’re sitting underneath a light you’re going to have all that shadow um imagine if you’re on a date like that like who the I didn’t see this person no I’m joking anyway yeah I’m a little bit more the lights are un forgiving oh no they are forgiving cuz Steven can sweat a lot in here before we got before we got air conditioning um this was a very hot space you come at a good time and um by by this stage you’d already see the beads sort of starting to dribble down yeah yeah it’s amazing and it’s not even because it’s hot because you’re just also going through all sorts of different emotions too right it justs your body up yeah I felt that one day yeah um we had uh we haven’t released the episode yet but by the time this comes out seran uh coming in and seran Taylor Ser Taylor and I just felt hot all of a sudden like the door got closed and there was no airon and just all of a sudden I just started really sweating and I was like [ __ ] I got to go like Open Door it was IMM that was probably your closest um EXP erience to a menopausal woman who has a hot flush yeah so imagine doing that like six or seven times a day I do that as well isn’t it okay you might have menopaused in I don’t know um you’re in good company if am making now we can explore that there shoes on the other flot Petra bgas did this to me um when we were talking about menopause and her episode as well so I’m more comfortable in that space now yeah I’ve got no issues it’s just a yeah it’s a natural part I guess of us you know and thank God there’s more conversation around it and also you know it wasn’t the easy it’s not the easiest thing to have during Co either when you break into a sweat in front of anybody because you’ll they’re like do you have a fever or yeah no it’s just this life stage yeah yeah yeah anyway it’s um it’s great the little pre-chat we have before you come on here and there just little details we picked up about like do you have a good side do you have is is one side of your profile B than the other I assumed it would be no but you you’re saying yeah that actually someone put it in your head that one side is better than the other well as far as my experience with myself I’m not perfect right so our our Cemetery too I guess and and were not ours but mine so when you do it like the photography wise like I mean and you have an amazing photographer who has had like had this eye who seen faces over and over again they will see a difference in a certain side of the face and that’s not putting anybody down it’s just going oh this is probably your better angle so I never saw that as like a you know um an insult but it’s just the better you know better side it’s like have writing with your left or your right you’re not mad at your left because you’re right-handed it’s just you’re better at writing you know writing with that hand but um yeah no it was it was always this side and I always seem to be doing podcasts on this side so that’s okay we’ll flip the video and post no but I don’t it doesn’t it doesn’t you know create that much um I yeah it’s yeah it’s just when you’re in that business for 30 35 years and you um kind of consistently um you know you’re experimenting and you see light and at a certain age when you’ve got cross- lighting or artistic lighting there’s there’s Beauty in that and then when you get older you’re you know I find for me it’s better just to have a front light but this is probably really boring conversation for people but yeah there is a preference I I actually think it’s interesting for someone who whose life and career has been built on this stuff like this is the kind of intricate detail that you get imagine going on it like I always thought about it and I thought imagine going on a date and you’re in a restaurant most restaurants have [ __ ] lighting yeah and you’re sitting there as a woman and you’re like you know you’re fluffing your feathers and the guy’s fluffing his whatever and you know and you’re sitting under the worst lighting of your life and you can feel it because when the light hits you regardless of whether it’s about lighting or not lighting it it makes you feel great like it lights your eyes up you know where you can you can you can feel into it because there’s there’s kind of that energy exchange you know within that room and that lighting and that place and that person so um yeah there’s there is definitely um like can you turn off the above lights and I’ve never been on there’ll be there’ll be some of our mail listeners here cand light thinking they can use this as an excuse it wasn’t my [ __ ] personality it was I don’t give guys the excuse um probably a good a good place to start I I wanted to ask you when you approached to come on a podcast called between two beers what did you think we’d be talking about today did you have a a vision of of what this was going to be um a to me when I first heard of it it’s funny because I was like obviously definitely two guys um and then I also think there’s so much conversation that happens with men just on a casual note of them kind of just having a chat and having a relax like of talking about their stuff that they need to talk about you know so I don’t see it as like oh going out drinking and being obnoxious or anything I think sometimes guys have that sense of community of that is just that they just want to chat between themselves and relax and talk about they could be talking about problems they could be talking about events whatever it is in their life so I see it as something that’s kind of um I guess like a ritual for men that they like to do within between themselves and then we as in this you know in this place we get to cheer that so yeah maybe I might flip the conversation on you guys that’s that’s amazing yeah it’s really it’s an interesting way that we’ve evolved over the course of this podcast because it started as beers as being really important and we’d both have a bunch and it was this kind of bloky vibe but now we’ve sort of moved away you know it’s a space to talk about menopause or or anything like we don’t care what it is but the reason I was asking you is because I know that you’re on a podcast journey and I know that you’re St I don’t know if you’ve already got a name or you’re thinking of releasing it soon or well no we started um Emma milen and I started 11-11 podcast back at in 2018 and that did really well it was um more of a uh metaphysical esoteric kind of you know spiritual podcast um and it did really well up in the did really well all over the place um so I’ve had my experience with that and it does still exist we just haven’t kind of gone back in feeding that monster as such okay um so yeah I’ve done it you know since 2018 um but have obviously taken a rest on that so yeah and the last uh well God ever since I did tour of beauty always been dancing with that idea do I do a podcast on my you know on my own um and it’s something that you know I I definitely enjoy doing so it’s just how does that look you know because I obviously I’m moving all the time I’m not in one place so aesthetically how is that going to work but yeah I just want to um I definitely want to do that cuz I’m very curious person I enjoy being with people and finding out what you know how they are what they think and all that kind of stuff so we’ll see how it goes so Rebrand a potential Rebrand with a new name or yeah I was thinking well I just love rituals so um I started something about four years ago called R rituals with Rachel Hunter it was a yoga platform where you could do you know breathing or you know what rituals in our life and they don’t have to be spiritual rituals they could be you know tea or making chai or your ritual to go hang out with you guys and however you see it yeah but it’s not it it moves away from that idea of um any kind of obsession about something like a ritual but more of an experience and a connection to something that you get to um really have that feeling either for yourself and within yourself or with with somebody else so that would be where I would would go with it probably more with that with rituals with Rachel Hunter I’d love it to go to a TV show because I think that would be really fun to go in and see that live too of of how people do their rituals how how are they how are they in that even if it’s like five or 10 minutes where people share that you know because I think it’s really beautiful when you see an intimacy you can see laughter you could see you know how much these people love what they do yeah um and it’s really it’s really personal with with that in mind yeah and I’m jumping ahead to something that we plan to ask a little bit later on but I went to a workshop on the weekend where rituals was a topic morning rituals to set you up for the day and evening rituals to look back at the day and engage whether that was a success or not can you share any of your rituals like morning rituals or evening rituals that you particularly have yeah I I definit well obviously I meditate in the mornings um you know and and and do that process uh I definitely love my cup of coffee after that uh and there’s there’s different as far as there’s just so many things that you could look like I love going in like I have my place in Pary and you know getting the sage or the incense and doing that or watching someone make a chai like on the side of the street in India or you know seeing people you know um get together at the end of the day I mean my personal ones I would say I I I I almost see your life as one because you’re walking um like when you start kind of you know how you open a door or how you into something like even the other day I was sitting after I’d meditated and I was like going gosh If people could just take one second and sit comfortably and put their hands together at their heart how much peace they could find just with that one second Within themselves and their nervous system would relax they would have that sense and just that one ritual creates um a connection with yourself and dropping all that angst and that anxiety and that performing mode that we’re constantly on I’ve got to do this I’ve got to do that it’s all up here all that kind of fight or flight is all driven all the way up like I just I have a an Instagram called rituals with Rachel Hunter and I I’m just doing a thing on earth like how do we we ground what do we eat how do we eat the ritual of eating slow down like sometimes the other day I was like going I’m just shoving food down because I I need to be somewhere how about like take time and chew and like I eat with my hands a lot more now um I don’t I mean I I I travel a bit but I I do eat with my hands a little bit more um and yeah so anything can be that as with the with the action of like devotion and um thought and um energy exchange between whatever you’re doing because it’s all energy we’re all completely consistently around energetic forces so how do you play in that ritualistically um how do you connect with that consistently with the energies that are around you even by going up and just saying hello to somebody and just taking them in and and spending that one second with them rather than going hey yeah hi great okay you know it’s it’s just really taking that time so that can also be a ritual so how do we move it’s it’s not look it’s not about taking every single second and creating you know a um evolutionary or an awareness but it’s it’s certainly that we are in this amped up Society right now constantly churning stuff out cuz we have to because we can’t keep up with the technology that’s going on right like right yeah it’s constant yeah and just it go there’s such a sense of Peace when I unplug from that you know there’s just a screen in front of my face all the time or computer and when it’s it’s swimming or golf for me but just being away from it is just so refreshing it’s like why don’t I do more of that yeah like even just getting your golf clubs and I don’t know do you polish them I don’t know what you do like get I should it’s a real charged metaphor though really charged metaphor that’s that exchange there was Reserve yeah I felt that do do you um yeah I don’t know like it’s even that going to the golf course and hanging out and I don’t know that’s yeah there’s something in it so who knows maybe that’s what I’ll do I’ll I’ll do I’ll do something along those lines because I think I think a TV show would be really fun with it yeah oh you’re such a yeah it would have an audience you got to have some laughs with that because what is someone’s rituals may not definitely be somebody else’s yeah 100% what would yours be I am starting to get into them so things um around like waking up and and acknowledging my partner so really waking up and seeing her um before I start today which is cool um some sort of a movement uh coffee element to it and then at the end of the day like a little review and a chick in between the two of us about how the day was what was cool about it are three things I think I spoke about was um what’s your best memory from today these are three questions I stole from the workshop I was just answer what was your best well yeah I borrowed them what was your best memory from the day uh what did you learn today that you be able to use in the future um and what are you proud of from today so that you kind of end the day in a positive mindset to set you up for the following day so trying to implement those but kind of integrating those thought things with actual physical physical elements to it as well like yeah enjoying a cup of coffee rather than hoovering it down and those sorts of yeah those sorts of things so I’m trying to be more deliberate I guess in the things that I do and how they influence the rest of the day and how that rolls out that’s really like just acknowledging like God it’s just it’s amazing because when you start reviewing your own you like pet the dog feed the dog dump the food down or you know if if you’ve got a partner you’re just like okay great I I’ll see you later and like you’re saying just taking that time and I I was just doing a podcast just recently and they were talking about sitting with their with their children or you know sitting on the end of the bed whatever that is it was just it was we learn from each other right like even you saying turning around acknowledging your part you’re like oh yeah that’s right and that’s such beautiful reminders for us to we can learn off each other yeah totally and that’s the beauty of of having these sorts of conversations right and and this is I’ve often see how to use the term like we get a front row seat to some incredible people and and like their toolbox and taking bits out and to what you already do so with that in mind it’s going to be an incred kind of chat that we look forward to Yeah you mentioned humor and um I want to start there’s a few little bits and pieces we’re going to start with so I had a chat with your daughter Renee and the lead up to this and asked her for a few good nuggets and she’s given us a few to use across the year but the first one I want to talk about was her description of you as constantly being an organized chaos she said it’s USB cords flying out of your purse and here everywhere and scares and stuff halfen suitcases did you clock the handbag when she when she walked there was a cord hanging out or headphones or something and I was like wellow that’s very accurate it’s yeah that was what IED organized chaos it was amazing you didn’t even want to open that up that’s was mascara too that purple oh yeah I did clock that I double what’s that all right yeah it’s it’s funny because you know I’ve traveled all these years since I was 16 and you know through airports many different airports and all the rest of it and I didn’t I didn’t notice this you know I mean I just travel and that’s it but my kids were like how do you how do you manage to get even on a plane like the boarding pass will be in the pocket and I’ll forget that it’s in the pocket and then I’ll think that it’s in my bag and then it’s not in the bag and then I have to go to the thing but then everything just flows and I doesn’t make me anxious like I don’t get wound up about it I’m like I have my passport that’s all I care about and even then in some places I’m in I wish I could lose it so then I’d be able to stay there a little bit longer but no but seriously it’s it’s yeah am completely organized chaos I know where everything is but it’s a [ __ ] mess yeah no it’s not mess like everything’s all very tidy but there is in like that I don’t know why that’s so organized my kids I really don’t know why they’re so organized but your so your system works for you AB not necessarily for other people no does not work for other people sounds like my relationship with this girl every everyone compl like not everyone they go they they treat me like I’m like I don’t know what’s going on I’m like I know exactly what’s going on in my world it may not like people may not think oh she remembers this or that one thing work always will sh up on time with work there was one time I didn’t cuz I was out in a nightclub and that was 17 years ago and I no no 30 years ago and I’d never do that again yeah but um there’s one time but other than that like doctor’s appointments and things I’m a little get a little vague on I kind of just flow to those but with work and stuff I’m very very um stuck with stuff like that of like showing up I have um good work ethic which is good um but yeah home and stuff I just yeah I just kind of let think things like be as they are and just kind of mold in I was very strict with them going to bed though and very strict with their schedules when they were younger and then as they got older and more independent I just allowed them to just play that out so I move with Changing Times yeah I’m Keen to talk about um their upbringing a little bit later because it seems like talking to Renee like such great memories of growing up you know between 6 and 18 I think she said moved house about 12 times but anyway I’m going to get into that but uh another thing she mentioned Is Your Love For A Tribe Called Quest she said it about three times across the the combo and she said like Hip Hop’s an important well it was is it still oh yeah yeah is and is it a tri Quest are they are they the favorit all of them biggie two all of them all that generation and it’s funny because they’re like well that was my generation I’m like no that was my generation that was 8 6 87 88 ‘ 89 those were big but I mean obviously we’ve seen hip hop obviously evolve and keep going and no matter what generation is around they know hip hop everybody knows and there’s something to you know back in those days it was like the stories that were told within that the lyrics um that were um said in those were you know they were it it was amazing and obviously the music was incredible so yeah I was a big hip-hop fan am still a big hip-hop fan is that a soundtrack in some of your road trips when you around is the hip-hop still banging in the in the car as you yeah yeah always yeah yeah we we popped a little a tribe Cod Quest on the way up from on the way from to get I kind of get into the to get into the space Q-tip lyrical Master yeah yeah amazing amazing so we’ve been lucky enough to have a few big names on this pod across the last few years we’ve got we’ve developed quite a good sense of a guest’s star power and that is when we mention we’ve got someone coming on they get really excited about it and we’re very happy to report the Rachel Hunter star power is still there still got it a lot of people that super excited how do you do that how do you do that we just say we’ve got a guest coming on and it’s this person I can’t wait to hear that one that’s going to be awesome [ __ ] I haven’t heard that for a while that’s going to be interesting but that that leads into my question of um what what is the public response to you these days you you’ve been in Oakland for a couple of weeks walking around are you are you getting recognized and approached all the time shockingly like I was just turning left on a corner I was in the passenger seat and this person literally leapt inside the window I was like Rachel how are you and I was like I was really surprised actually with the age group too because they were younger um but it just goes ACR and I just I don’t understand I think I I was I became fairly well known here when I was since I was 16 years old so I’ve grown up and I think New Zealand’s Got Talent so the different shows that I’ve done kind of kept that going and tah Beauty was really interesting because obviously when the name of it it seemed more of a female audience but the men actually started watching because it wasn’t just about beauty There Was You Know The Wellness element the food element the spiritual element I mean it was about everything so yeah it’s it surprises me I mean obviously um yeah it surprises me it surprises me Jay had a nice say what you said to me in the car on the way up about his star power and oh yeah like I I so I’m early 40s now so I recall your your rise and it was I was trying to explain this to to Doc Brown my partner last night like that time in our in New Zealand’s kind of Life rugby wasn’t professional so all blacks were they were known domestically yeah there was no WS there was no rugby league that was very big ta ytt and our our acting chops hadn’t really hit Sam Neil hadn’t done Jurassic Park Dame Kitty to Cara was like really really big and then there was you and you were a you were literally a global Superstar our Rachel that was married and and flying the and you know how kiwis get if there’s a reference on a sitcom In America about New Zealand everyone’s like oh my God they referenced New Zealand but you were there front and center waving the flag overseas and still quintessentially kiwi so I think there’s there is a whole generation of us that we’ve grown up watching you and seeing what you’ve done and holding affinity and then you know behind that and I mean this with the greatest amount of respect there’s also a Stacy’s mom generation of particularly particularly men like I had this interaction in the gym yesterday of a friend of mine who’s uh 23 24 and he was like that was my that was my Coming of Age video clip that I watched my older brother showed me it and I must have watched it about 50 times um so yeah you you yeah there’s this whole generation of people that have grown up onside you it was funny that Stacy’s mom because I was like no I don’t think I’ll do that like that just doesn’t seem right and whatever and then all of a sudden I was just changed my mind so it’s funny what comes along in your career that you don’t necessarily there’s no um preconceived objective like to go after it because it’s going to do this it’s just like oh yeah I’ll do it and then you don’t realize what the capacity of something like that yeah happened and it was just I have a feeling MTV at that point within a few years kind of started fizzing out right that wasn’t it was like the last yeah yeah the Stacy’s mom thing was was was quite something just before you jump into that like with that frame in mind when you did the trumpet ad in ‘ 89 did you think no like how many years later they’d still be punishing chat on the street you can’t beat a trumpet or still it won’t happen overnight but it will happen am I right Rachel like that how much punishing chat is there around that still a lot a lot like everyone bring brings up the trumpets panene yes um but the trumpet uh yeah gets brought up a lot yeah yeah fig I mean because interesting when we did that commercial um we didn’t get a shot of licking the ice cream so they were like okay so we need you in Eden Park to come down and lick the ice cream and I was like okay and now I look back and go wow I was standing in Eden Park obviously the All Blacks play licking a trumpet really yeah well no they obviously weren’t there but you know no they had to do we had to do the pickup shop and if I remember correctly it was on Eden Park so that shop was actually in Eden Park yeah crazy and you were like still a teenager open the O game no it’s um I can imagine someone seeing you in public and because of all the reasons Shay’s talked about you’ve been such a you know you’ve always been there as a Conant in their life and they trying to think of what to say trumpet would come up it would be the natural thing to be top of M that must get so annoying trumpet I’m like yeah again in the preparation like watched an old version of the ad and like the song Almost word for word came back into my head I know yeah yeah there it is I wish I got residuals from that I did want to know like you didn’t get a lifesty like like lifetime supply of no trumpet no wow here we are and here we are giving it painful trumpet chats yeah and yeah exactly what we don’t want to be ah okay so um for those listening who don’t know who you are we’ve we’ve attempted to summarize your story in one sentence um let us know how how accurate it is okay a teen who overcame illness and a lack of confidence left school without any qualifications became a supermodel International Celebrity and mother who now travels the world as a spiritual teacher and grandmother oh could you write my bio does that sound accurate yeah I mean that’s you that’s that’s Punchy and and where you’re at right yeah do we leave anything out anything really notable out no okay okay so a big part of well thanks for coming the conversation over now guess I guess that’s it that’s it no so a big part of that and and who you are now is wrapped in yoga and meditation and in our research there was one particular part of it we found really interesting that we came to talk about which was the silent and I think you not a silent retreat but there was some point where you were silent for around 3 weeks yes and we had a former guest Ruth CR Ruth Croft who’s one of the best trail runners in the world and she spoke about her silent Retreat she did and it was just captiv and we were so interested in in the sort of the dynamic of how it worked and what the thinking was but are you able to tell us about about that so I was in India um W with a friend of mine who was getting married um in in ashram where I was um in saguru ashram actually and at that time um I decided Well no I didn’t decide I was put into silence and I thought well it’s just going to be three three days obviously this is to be done like I always say with somebody that that when you go into silence it’s usually there’s meditation there’s preparation that’s been done um or the teacher that is putting you into this silence or initiating you almost into this silence knows there’s a capability to be able not the capability but you’re you’re in the right the right circumstances to do that um because we don’t go around silent you know we’re we’re we’re it there’s a support I think that needs to be with that so you know this is not just something you go and do at home right um and when I was initi when I was put into the silence I was like also doing what they call a production which means that you’re walking because I was in the ashram there was there was um spiritual process that you do so you go to the different um energetic um centers in that in there which is um some different temples within that that space and then you know that’s kind of Your Action for the day but there was no looking at anybody or eye contact or you’re eating in silence uh you’re doing everything in silence like when you’re walking from place to place are you having to but are you having to try and walk in silence like if you’re on no you loudly yeah well again like having no idea so kind of no so it’s all within mind like just and know but you know at the same time you do start looking at those things like how am I treading how am I touching how am I feeling because you’re starting to get rid of all the outside stuff that’s creating um distractions as such um this is my experience obviously so this is my opinion on distractions of my distractions and it’s not saying everybody has distractions so I please want you to understand when I’m saying this it is my experience it’s not what I’m putting on other people so with my experience it stopped a lot of distractions that were you know oh I have to go do that or I have to do this or I have to do that so once that starts peeling away You’re then left with how am I doing this what are my thoughts you know how am I eating this so everything starts becoming extreme subtle and there’s an awareness that starts creeping into a lot of things um now some people hit you know can hit anger like different emotions during this time um for some reason um I wasn’t hitting anger and it was about I was uh 3 weeks in and then about a week I brought myself out of Silence because Co hurt and 4 days later India went into lockdown and I was obviously locked down in India at that time very fortunately but in in that time previously I had heard because every time I even I had a silence badge on every time I tried to sit next to someone to hear what they had to say just so I could hear another conversation they would get up and move because I have a silence badge on so it was like wow she needs to be in Sil was like going I just want to listen to someone’s conversation and listen to something other than going on in my so how did the messaging come to you that Co was well you well I kind of knew before I went in that there was this virus around and I just thought oh it’s just going to cold it’s just going to go away and then briefly you heard and then at that at the end of this 21 days that I was in silence I was like God I don’t feel that well for me it was actually a change of seasons I wasn’t sick um and then after that point I had I stayed another 10 days um um of um because I thought I was not well um was an kind of like an isolation as well and in my in my room because we didn’t everybody was like kind of shut down by that point right but the silence um it’s it’s really interesting because there’s many people like 3 weeks compared to some people that I know that do a much longer period period of time um but the 3 weeks really slowed everything down for me and talk to became really like it helped me realize the refining of of the word like the power of your own word right so once I came out of Silence I was then put into kind of a scenario of like being in a group but you don’t have to speak all the time you just need to listen right and you don’t need to answer to everything answer to everybody’s sent me answer to everybody see do you imagine if that happen in the be really bad um but so you get a group of people they’re chatting chatting chatting oh this all this nois is going on and I was just like holy [ __ ] like this is a lot of [ __ ] that’s been talked about and it [ __ ] doesn’t mean anything and what do I really have to say about it nothing actually nothing um now people could say oh you must be really boring person to talk to but at the same time it was like you’re actually letting you’re actually letting people speak and you’re listening and you’re not calculating in how to respond so in fact I found most of the time from that observation for when I was doing that that I was always calculating what my response was so I actually wasn’t listening to the person so it’s that became really important to actually and I correct myself always consistently because it’s a habit that we naturally do as a species I guess as a culture I don’t know um as we’re calculating how we want to respond or you know this person is telling you all their feelings and you’re like well you know and you you’re immediately wanting to go on a help mode but they actually just might want to talk they don’t want your opinion they don’t want you to try and fix them because how it’s so funny too because I realized with even my own kids like you know listening to them and of course you’re always supportive you’re going to be okay I’ve got you but how does this feel like how do you you know like even sometimes when you let people some some people talk long enough they’re actually hearing the answer in their own conversation and that is the power of listening is because people solve their own and are able to fix their own um it’s not problems their own way of thinking their own awareness their own things that have come up their own stories that they’re playing over and over again and and sometimes when people talk too much they’re like why is no one talking I’m talking so much and it’s like oh I need to look at that you know whatever it is so sometimes when you let people in their own speech they find an awareness that needs to be corrected and their story stop yeah it’s a concept that comes up again and again in these long form chats and it’s the the power of holding space and with the sort of the Mental Health crisis in New Zealand and especially in men like the importance of just being there for a friend and not saying just listening to them exactly what you just said giving them a chance to share and just say yeah I’m here and also don’t go into that shitty [ __ ] egocentric I’m holding like not the not that you’re saying the holding space but you know when we’re like oh I’m going to listen to them because this is like it’s almost like get out of that and listen to them yeah actually yeah yeah yeah you know listen to them listen to what they’re saying listen to the words listen to the say because we can we can also go it’s it’s kind of like an over um I don’t know what I want to say like how you know when you hear a lot of people in certain things I’m just going to I don’t want to use that because that’s not putting what you said down because that’s a really important because you do you it’s what you’re doing is holding space no this is real part of it they’re like oh I’m just I held space for them no just [ __ ] listen to them yeah you know yes you’re holding space that’s that’s a very important term with what you use absolutely and that is absolutely what it’s called but you know how some people get into the ego of it do you see do you not understand what I’m saying label it and then also trumpet that they are an exper space holder it’s like no it is called being a decent human being you know and acting within being a conscious human being is that you actually [ __ ] care about what someone’s talking talking about and not trying to figure out how to come up with some wonderful [ __ ] answer that is just annoying that that probably not going to take look sometimes people do like there’s no doubt advice is vital and really important like good advice when people are willing what do you think I should do then yeah they’re asking for they’re asking for you to fill that yeah that but I mean again this is not go covering covering this is just my opinion but this is not covering the topic of what you know some people need help and you need to step in and you know that you can feel that but there’s also people that you you need to take care of because there’s obviously problems like I don’t ever want to undermine CU I’m not a doctor and I’m not someone who’s trained in that whatsoever but you know you know when someone’s not okay and you need to step in you know right do do you know what I mean um because we’re talking about like kind the normal I don’t want to call them mundane stories but the normal stuff that goes on in our everyday life and then there’s really important stuff that people really need to you know seek the right type of help you know um and we don’t God we don’t even know that it’s such a the mind is such a deep place right like we’re even going into I’m going into protection mode of like going you know you could be talking to somebody and they could be crying out for help or crying out for the answer for you to say something or I’m going to take you and I’m going to take care of you look after you I mean it’s such a deep ocean um our mind um so the more we can raise I guess our perception and our awareness and our um gut intuition um you know live I guess more consciously in that way yeah which I think is starting to happen hugely that’s what we’re saying it’s why it’s such a mess yeah everyone wants to be heard and it’s so important we’ve started doing these uh Legacy interviews which we need we need to work on a new title for it but name yeah it’s essentially we go to people’s homes and we do this for their story so you don’t have to be a celebrity or someone successful it’s just telling the story and man the stuff you get over the 90 minutes or 2our chats is so incredible and it kind of leads me uh to your mom because one of the questions and we’re still tinkering with our system and sometimes we ask it sometimes we don’t is do you have any regrets in your life um you know is there anything you would have done differently and I know from the research that that was a question that was a conversation you had with your mom as she was getting towards the end of her cancer journey and I was wondering if you could talk to us about that and and how that answer and perhaps that conversation sort of shifted your perspective or I don’t want to put words in your mouth or how it affected you yeah the uh about three weeks before she passed away I asked her her what she regretted in her life which was a pretty um we just we just had you know we always had a really honest relationship and um the one thing I found with my journey with my mom with cancer was with cancer there is only truth you’re not messing around with that you know and it’s I could never fully understand how she felt or was because I’ve never had cancer so I can’t even imagine you know that the enormous um mindfield that is to to deal with um emotional mindfield but in her last three weeks I said to her what do you regret and she was like Rachel I mean she was on a lot of medication at this point and she said I really regret not being fully who um I am and I was like kind of like oh my God like that has I was sat there and was just like that’s got to be the hardest thing knowing you’re going to pass away soon the hardest thing to cuz you’re not going to run out I mean she couldn’t run out she she was very very sick so she goes I would have like not been so ashamed of like being the spiritual CU she was very so we grew up in a very spiritual family as such or esoteric family where Mom was we were born again Christian we were Mormons we were um later on Mom became bu like a Buddhist Pagan like you name it we did it we were like getting baptized in the church I was like it’s in the front row of my heart I want to be baptized mom so I was always very um connected in that way um you know with her journey and that um she was always like she would be like these guys came around in suits and they were like had this amazing book and they were hungry so I give them chicken dinner and now they’re coming over tomorrow night and it was you know the Mormon they were on their missions and and it was really beautiful and she just felt like a sense of community and again wanted to learn what their philosophy was and she was just that way and later on she was also very psychic she Drew all this kind of esoteric art and she always felt judged for it you like people would judge her for it like people she felt misunderstood and some of those things and she was she was gorgeous like ice blue eyes blond hair um a real Rebel when she was um younger so she just wish she owned I guess owned that she goes I’d walk around with a kimono and a long cigarette and I wouldn’t give a [ __ ] about what people thought or what they did we care so much about what people think of us you know like you know you I mean with the world is it feels you know that we meant to have more freedom I mean there’s there’s more restrictions than anything in the world now you know in some ways we feel more we we’re nervous what to say or talk about or say is it correct is it not is it going to hurt someone I don’t want to offend anyone but you know you’re brought up in a certain so I mean all these things and and she was she was in that same scenario but you know decades before like nervous about what people thought of her and ah it’s just such a shame that we live in the shame of who we are does that conversation send you into some deep introspection about the way you’re living your life not [ __ ] anymore there is no way like throw me in jail like you know what is the worst thing that can happen if you’re living fully who you are no I mean do you were you were you not living who you were were and you thought [ __ ] I need to live more like I am yeah yeah um I I don’t know what it was but it woke something up in me and I knew that after she passed away which was only within a few weeks um that I would go to um eventually decided to go to India I I spent another two months like wrapping up all sorts of things back here after obviously after someone dies there’s a lot of a lot of stuff that happens but once I got back to Los Angeles I just was in this I was surrounded by her she made torot cards she did all this stuff and I was left um with this abys of um like photos and and artwork and she she’d make these incredible like I said tarot cards and I kept flipping the tarot cards and I was like then I did a chakra course online and I was like God I’m just tearing everything up like I just it really unsettle me it stirred everything up I mean death you know even though we know we’re dying every single day literally right but when you’re confronted with it which most of us at some point nowadays with you know with cancer and stuff and or whatever it is within our friends or whatever um it stirs it up and you go you you kind of look at life differently um so it did stir things up to to pause and just go back what stirred in you to ask that question at that moment cuz it’s a huge question to ask somebody who’s already in a precarious position to then invite them to talk about some maybe negative things well it was yeah it was a it was a it was a ballsy question there’s no doubt um but it’s how you ask something too like we had that and I was just like Mom what what do you regret doing you know and I think God majority if you ask people that like if you we all sat here right now and thought you know what if that was what do you regret you know what do you wish you done and not been scared to do it because of what people thought or um you didn’t think you were good enough or any of those thoughts you know how it is I mean we hear the same thing over and over again decade after decade generation after generation the same damn story and so where does this fear live in us that’s just rooted there to suppress who we are you know so it’s it’s always been interested me and I think that’s what started that Journey like what is this vile thing inside that doesn’t let me fully be who I am and it’s not to say that I wasn’t fully who I was it was it’s just the evolution of us and taking that on you know like I would never regret what I did before like I look back at my life and I am so lucky with what I have done in my life where my path has gone and I that’s not what I had planned or wanted I mean I wanted to be a ballerina and ended up being in New York City as a model you know but I mean I would never look back and regret like the way it mapped out ever yeah it’s it has been yeah really good question it’s been an incredible life and it’s kind of like when you when we do these episodes and we try to think about what parts we’re going to ask you about and in what order and I feel like um there’s going to be some pretty harsh sigs here because that’s really cool but for those listeners who don’t know the story like can we can we just paint the picture from the St so going right back to the beginning and I know you prob told the story many times but uh you know running on the beach you get spotted by a photographer and and what happens after that so I had been actually was a really good athlete at school at the 800 meters I used to love running I was really awkward at school too um but I I studied ballet uh and I which which I loved and then I actually got toxoplasmosis when I was about 15 and I was super super tired so it kind of stopped me from I couldn’t do ballet like I’d just go up for a drive and I’d have to come home and sleep for 4 hours it was really debilitating especially at 15 when you’re kind of ready to rebel and go out and do all you know sorts of stuff but um I after a while I was able to run down to the run 10ks from basically Glenfield all the way to Milford to get to my ballet classes so I’d run there and then do like 3 hours of ballet and this guy was on the beach and he said you know I’d love to take your photo and I was like okay this is a weird guy and took it home to my mother and my mom and dad were actually going through a divorce at that point so it was kind of a really unstable situation at home anyway my mom came with me and then it just kind of snowballed really really fast from that point on and um then I ended up in Australia and I didn’t really settle in Australia and then New York come came down and then they got kind of New York Italy and and France came down and they all the agents wanted to take me back to their countries and I ended up in New York City with e Ford then did all like the campaigns there then I met rod and and night club then we got married three months later um then I had the kids and then you know I was nine years with him and he was incredible and fantastic I mean I’ve got nothing um deep or weird there it was just my own kind of I call you know it was the Saturn return thing who am I where am I going and I’d like mean if there’s any um uh yeah it’s a pretty obvious thing that most people go through can we pause because you’ve you’ve you’ve got the DVD on like triple speed V just trying to speed speed it through for everyone done all right the condens the condensed version and then that’s it I just I just I’m a kind of a nuts and bolts guy and there’s there’s a part of it that is again for modern listeners they’ll be like oh yeah that sounds plausible 86 87 how are the photos physically getting from New Zealand to Milan Paris and New York is someone hand cing them cuz you can’t f it it won’t do it justice are they being posted no they would have been fed well they would have been fed they must have been fed yeah like the the the whole that bit fascinated me of like nowadays you go yeah photo on a phone send it it’s there but versus yeah yeah they would have I don’t know well the magazines would all come out so mind you those were always in like a three Monon delay too weren’t they Word of Mouth just happens I think I don’t know yeah but this person had Polaroids up in Paris he was in a nightclub and that those came to them e found found out I’m not sure but yeah it was pretty fast yeah so Eileen Ford of the Ford modeling agency and you lived with her yeah how’s any like what’s that experience like like a matriarch of this I know absolute institution in modeling yeah she was she was very very strict um we ate really well we got looked after really well um yeah she was very very she knew what she knew what you should be doing she knew what she was like my hair she’s like you need to do a hair clist you need to do you need to do a makeup campaign you need to do this she I mean she just knew um and it was a very safe place to start so yeah she was not it wasn’t like those model houses you were living with her in her house yeah and we are now living in an Instagram influencer era yeah that era is a superm model era where uh Cindy Crawford I’m I’m riffing here and going back going back to yeah teenage teenage Sheamus and modern day Sheamus Claudia Schiffer noomi Campbell yourself El mcferson are you running in those circles with those other super models are you keeping to yourself is there a again it’s pre- WhatsApp I’d love to know if there’s a WhatsApp chat a WhatsApp chat group now of we didn’t even have mobile phones right have to go home and wait for the phone to ring um no like because at that time you’re just jumping from one job to another obviously in the in the places like sports illustrator or something those were um when we were Shooting Sports Illustrated or Sports Illustrated release parties or anything those you You’ see people but everybody was just I mean you’re you’re flying from the B you know you’re in one place for a couple of days and you’re in another and another so I mean you’re kind of moving the whole time and I I’ve heard you describe it so I’ll try and summarize it but again outside looking in it sounds like a really glamorous lifestyle but you treated it as your job as work as this as a means to an end um yeah like I always thought I’d be done in like six months and it would be over yeah but it didn’t it kept going it kept going and going and going and and it was the era of I think Linda Evangelista yeah me and Christy Turlington we won’t get out ofing yeah we won’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day at the peak of your powers what sort of ballpark figure are you pulling in for a day shoot oh my God I mean it was it would always very because you’re looking at jobs that were either catalog jobs editorial jobs played less advertising jobs play so it really fluctuated um but you’re not on a super model retainer I guess is my question no you’re not on a yeah but it would but you’re working all week and some weekends or you know I mean there was a time when I was super super exhausted and the agency actually sent me down um they were like you need to go on holiday just mentally you just needed to you needed to stop and slow down so um you know we were really well taken care of so at that point once I’d been working so much I was just I just couldn’t do anything anymore and they were like you need a vacation you need to go and um and come back in 10 days and so it was it was they were good they were good good to us I mean look any job has its moments and I mean you know were there some times that were you know a little bit difficult or whatever or a little bit like um yeah but you know you you learn from that and you grow from that and you kind of just move move forward one of the great things is looking back at your like an interview with you and your mom at age 16 and how wise you were back then and that’s been a real consistent theme through a lot of your interviews over the years like really pragmatic really well spoken really considered how did you remain grounded what it the fact that you had your mom alongside you for a lot of that time um well she was at that time like when I was found like Mom by that stage mom and dad were getting divorced so dad was I don’t know where Dad was Dad went somewhere else and then no dad was yeah they had separated so they’re living in different places mom went off and and lived with somebody else as well and so by that stage I um yeah I wasn’t she wasn’t she was there but at the same time she was also going through her her stuff as well I don’t know it’s just the way I’ve been it’s just the way I was yeah this this whole period of your life like we spoke about before like you’re on the cover of woman’s day and woman’s weekly every week There’s always people looking for the Rachel hunda story line and this has happened so long ago and you’ve been asked about it so many times and I was really sort of cautious or of of how to approach this because I didn’t we didn’t want you to just go on autopilot and just have to tell the same stories which we’ve kind of just done but I do wonder how you reflect on that period and telling that story like is it an important part of your story for people to know or are you in a different place now where well that was the past and and you’d prefer to be in the present with in regards to the magaz or just that whole sort of Lifestyle you know the super model and and jitting around and the experiences there and and Rod and all that sort of stuff 87 to 97 yeah no I mean look they were they were great times like I don’t um I don’t like it’s just naturally shifted to where it has like it it’s not been like oh I’m going to go do that or I’m going to change this because of this there’s no um subconscious like or not even subconscious or conscious decision of like I’m going to change things up it’s just naturally kind of happened but I no I mean it was it was just the way it was then I mean with the magazines uh here I got sick and tired of being interviewed and then become a version of whoever was interviewing me it was their version of me so I put a real big clamp on that and said look if you want me to do your views um I have copy approval because I’m not going to be someone’s version of who I am like it’s that’s stupid because that’s not me um cuz I wanted to have what I said and not have it misconstrued you know in a quote and headlines that were stupid just to make people buy stuff so I tried I mean obviously I would slip up with different parts of the contract with like headlines and stuff but yeah so it was more of like if if you wanted to interview me I do want copy approval of it because sometimes you make me sound like a completely different person than than what I am um and also pictures or stories or you know I remember there was a picture of me I think there was a picture of rod in me and it looked like I was yelling and I was actually just yelling for a taxi but it looks completely different so there’s just there’s lots of things that thank God those things can be controlled now especially in social media I was just thinking that you’ve got 150,000 followers on Instagram now if an article comes out you just speak to it say this is just absolute rub actually that’s absolutely true but yeah but but back then you’re powerless right the headline is just that’s what everyone’s going to believe yeah yeah and that whole gossip thing has really calmed down quite a bit um it calls for transparency with a lot of things now so yeah I think this is a good place to tie in um Andy Hayden who’s a character I’d love to talk about because the the relationship and how you got onto him really interesting but also I guess how he protected you across these years so so how did that relationship start so I was about 16 more 17 and I was looking for a manager at that time because I just didn’t feel um where I was with with agencies and stuff it just wasn’t meeting my needs and so I remember reading the sports section and going who is this guy Andy Hayden that’s like really outspoken in the back of things and so I was like I want him and I went home to my mom and I was like I want someone like that to manage me and so I literally hunted him down yeah and phone book literally probably right a that must be the one yeah exactly no I actually don’t remember how how did I get his number well I I definitely hunted him down somehow and called and then I said I really would like you to to um manage me and he was like I’ll have to think about that I’m not quite sure what to do with you and I was like well the same as what you do with your blacks like same thing it’s just I’m a woman and it’s you know getting campaigns or whatever I don’t even think or black whatever and um anyway I call him back on the Monday I was like I haven’t heard and I yeah I think that yeah and then eventually he agreed to it and um Trish actually his wife was like what do you like you know what what’s going on here why and you know I said can you please get Andy because I need to know an answer like I need him to manage me and so then at that point he just Contin he managed me and it was amazing like he was always very protective but thought out of the box um thought of different ways to to deal with something obviously that was when I met Rod so he was very protective over um you know when Rod would come down um and also the media side of it and he just he just knew what to do and he was also very protective and so I became almost like part of their family I mean Laura who I think you guys know Hayden and Chris um he he continued to manage me after Andy had passed but it was it was just being part of their their family and he was like that you know he was able to manage that as as well um I don’t know any other 16-year-olds that would have the foresight to first of all think of someone out of the box to represent them and then go after them yeah you know pretty ambitious and then continue to go after once you got to know like yeah no I was aggressive yeah yeah but once I know that like it’s like when I came back from India um everyone kept saying to me you can’t put events on they’re going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and I was like No And they’re like yeah that you’re going to have to get sponsors you’re going to have to do this you’re going to that I said no and so when I was in India a very good friend of mine Emma meldon who um written we did the 11-11 podcast together and I said let’s do it in community centers and people can bring a cushion we use the community areas it makes it cheaper for everybody so everybody can have access um and that’s what I did I don’t like it’s not that I don’t like being told no but when it comes comes to something that really needs to get done there’s got to be a way you know and and now there’s a lot of bring a cushion events I think there’s a lot of you know there’s a lot of different you know it’s not that I I didn’t invent a wheel it was just and we went around New Zealand like doing all these doing all these community events you know going into the community centers but yeah I just I was I’m when I get stuck on something I it will happen if it doesn’t happen it’s just not the right time but eventually there will be something that will come it’s it’s just percolating right it needs its juices going but no when something I I think can happen now especially something like that with Andy I was like no he he needs to manage me like that’s you know if he can manage that those men he can definitely manage me okay story I’m going after a story here and it involves I think it involves Andy um and it’s the rangari pub and this is one of my sources has suggested that there’s a good Yan and it was um you and Rod and I think Andy and Trish and uh and Janine as well I think maybe on the back Dad too CU he was a real he love to drink yeah I mean he’s still no not anymore because he’s he’s he’s he can’t drink anymore but um well a little bit but we were coming back from the races if I remember I’m not very good at stories like this but um and we just stopped off at the pub and basically you know um it all just went off and there because Rod was there I mean I don’t have much of a memory of it to be honest I remember the bus stopping everyone getting out and then everyone getting back on like um everyone was trashed yeah um but it was like when you see Andy and Rod together in the pub and just this this momentum that’s happening in there because them you know Andy you know seeing Andy and Trish and everything it’s that beautiful magic and mischievousness inside the pub and all the locals coming and all that kind of stuff context wise for those that aren’t too familiar with upper North iseland geography the rangar pub is like a very small stop on the road between Hamilton and ockland yeah it’s more accessible now because of the road but like yeah it’s literally I mean it is the kind of the only Watering Hole there but I could imagine yeah a bus stops and and an on all the hats and the dress Were You Hamilton at the RAC I think so so that that was my telling of it which just made for an amazing anecdote like two like worldwide Superstars at the height of their power I know and they’re stopping at the Rangers and it this big party and everyone’s like holy [ __ ] Rachel and R here and again pre pre-mobile phone era as well I imagine so the phone and the pubs going crazy like DOR you’ll never guess those just walked in yeah don’t worry about the cows they’ll sort themselves out get down here now crazy crazy oh my God it’s so forget about the cows big fun yeah yeah like we’ve run out of white what are we going to do this the Cs are gone why C it was so beautiful down there gosh did that get normalized though being and just a scene everywhere you went would just turn into this big thing was it was it was that the reality um I I guess I mean I don’t know it just kind of whatever happened happened yeah it just it just happened yeah and then you just kind of merge into it and it’s like going in in in a stream you know you just kind of got on your Lilo and went along On The Rise it kind of speaks to like the purse anecdote that we spoke about earlier on about how your life has probably been a situation where you turn up and stuff starts to happen and you just adjust yeah your response to that the unfortunate thing though now is cameras and that’s why I don’t really go out very much here because um it just people pull out cameras they take photo like no and actually don’t not hear but you know the camera mind you it’s better now because no one really cares anymore really um but I think camera’s really stopped a lot of people like feeling relaxed um yeah that I I always feel uneasy sometimes um in that or self-conscious yeah I’m Keen to talk about and I mentioned at the start Renee and Liam I spoke to Renee last night and she said there was this really cool period um of them growing up essentially and she said and Jackie as well we can bring her in but she’s like um you had this amazing house like a farm with birds and dogs and cats and fish and it was like a Moroccan sort of theme um and she spoke about how you moved yeah 12 houses I think it was from 6 to 18 but her version of it was it built her character really good at adapting and now able to make a home really quickly yeah yeah yeah is is that how you reflect on on that period as well yeah it was we lived in this um after I left Rod we we moved into this place it was in Benedict Canyon it had like an N or two and honestly it was just it was just filled with animals like we at one point we had two wolf Malamutes who would Escape all the time and I would like make the pool cold for them so they could go swimming in the pool thinking it’s the Arctic but that didn’t happen then like so what is that animal it’s like a cross between they’re called malamut so they’re wolf um it’s like a dog yeah they’re like wolf wasn’t sure wolf um husky ah right got you I’m with you now I’m with you now I’m with you and then we had like cats you know um and bird birs and rabbits and I mean you name it the house was just full of it and then there was always friends coming over and um sometime we had a really amazing party there one time where all these people were there that was really fun but I mean the kids really just kind of had this um it was all done up yeah very Moroccan we had this beautiful German Shepherd called um Argus which was he was a shut and three grade protection dog actually I’m never you need to use him but he was always there and he was just beautiful and the kids would just all the doors and windows would be open there would be cooking Jackie was working with me at that point so there was just this fluid kind of and we had Joe who was um the kids’s nanny who was like she was Irish so there was a lot of laughter a lot of animals a lot of everything that I experienced at home is like a kiwi I wanted to bring bring in to Los Angeles into this like acre of land that I had there and I really wish I hadn’t sold that house too by the way cuz it was just it was like this tree house in the middle of in in the middle of one of the Canyons but it was it was magical and um the kids just felt really at ease there you know really at ease and we we we I remember one time I decided to do some Halloween dinner party and we all dressed up and you know I kind of made it more of a spiritual situation where it was kind of cultivating more of that like spiritual awareness and the kids sat and then they went out you know kind of went to their sister Ruby’s house to kind of do the whole Halloween whatever knock knocking whatever that thing’s called um trickle treat trickle treat trickle treat what what’s the other part of that everyone does trickle treat um but yeah it was just it was full of like just jumping in the pool and loads of friends over and sleepovers and hockey and dance and you know going around and they would I would see like Liam and Renee walking with their little boots on and they would be investigating something up on top of the hill with a trail of animals behind them and so it was really creating that that environment you know that I was used to growing up here in New Zealand um in in Los Angeles and we had the best time it was almost like we kind of I don’t want to say it because I was very much a mother but it was like we were all like just being together and growing up together because you learned so much from your children but it was very strict 8:00 bedtime 6:00 dinner calm down time you know I was very very strict but I sometimes dress in a robe and have my outfit on at night like cuz I was going out and you don’t want the kids to see you going out but meanwhile that’s not stupid you’ve got a full face of makeup on and your hair done and they’re like what’s underneath your oh just a 90 it’s like you know fullon like dress ready to go out so yeah sometimes I tried I tried that maybe for a month it worked and then I forget it it was just stupid yeah you must be so proud of how they have turned out in that part because there’s potential with two sort of Superstar parents for that to be a very unnatural and weird I imagine uh upbringing but they seem so and for everyone I’ve spoken to such good kids so grounded so yeah so normal yeah no they’re they’re amazing they’re amazing human beings and um they’ve made great choices in their life I mean there’s always a choice right it’s not it is Rod and I and their experiences growing up but at the same time I mean I always took them out took them out a lot for travel um and they did have hip hop in the car so I think that did them well got to throw a bouquet you away as well because it’s oh okay it’s like I think it’s easy in a in a high-profile marriage when it dissolves it can it can go into like a you can [ __ ] each other in in public and I didn’t ever see any of that there was no like you didn’t no one went to rehab there was no Fall From Grace or no rebound it was all it seemed to be done very amicably and you still seem like a very close family unit now even though you know Rod’s remarried and had other kids yeah was consciously was that a by Design or by accident no I mean I think that look it there were always there were there were bits and pieces there that were probably a bit off but you know ultimately like you know it’s it’s the person that you are and how you deal with things and um yeah there was no sense of I mean obviously with the one being I felt a lot of guilt obviously because I was the one who left um and that’s not an up and sh I’m talking that but obviously I’m just explaining that I I felt guilt um so there was a lot of you know um a kind of awareness around that but at the same time there was no need for it like he was he’s an amazing you know man and that time he was touring a lot the kids were luckily with me like you have to look at how incredible like timing is like you know Rob was on tour but but I’m not going to argue oh Rod’s on tour like an I have the kids all the time like why would I MO about that like they’re my kids and how lucky am I that I and then when Rod would come back he would take them you know on holiday or with or you know they would go be with him so we just worked it out there was no need to have this beckering arguments at times I mean look there’s always something along the way where there’s you disagree about something but that’s that was very limited but I gu I guess that’s that’s the cool lesson and that’s the beauty of the podcast is there may be people listening to this at the moment that are going through some sort of a situation where they can learn from from how to deal with that when they they’re not even a high-profile person they’re just a person that’s going through it so there’s lessons and and and how you conduct yourself right yeah there is and it’s it’s really interesting I find that about the days that people have children and there’s that like how many days you have you know one parent has another and and you know ultimately it’s really what is best for the child you know and and only parents know that by you know feeling into how their child is and and reacting and how it is so we just really work with that and I mean you know Renee and Liam now live in London which has been close to their dad so they were with me so much growing up but now they’re with their dad so how amazing is it that things naturally you know the fight is stupid just allow what it was meant to be you know to a certain degree you know and there obviously there’s things that need to be stopped or looked at I’m K to link us up to present day now and we spoke about your mom’s passing and and perhaps how that made you think about who you really were that was seven years ago yeah 2017 so what I think we sort of vaguely painted a picture at the start of what your life looks like now and when we spoke when you came in you’re like I don’t like people asking me that because you know um you’re in India and you’re in London and you’re in New Zealand and so so what oh they have tra like where do I live well yeah where do you live like the only reason why I would be irritated by that would be because I don’t know the answer yeah right that’s probably why I was not irritated but like I actually don’t know and I don’t know because my dog just passed away in October so he was like my last like attachment to Los Angeles as such because even though Liam is an alley with Nicole and and the baby and Louie um in the summertime but Liam also plays hockey in London so it’s like you know and I’m not looking breathing down my son’s neck with the grandchild with you know with Louis and everything I know someone and yeah it’s there’s a lot of opinions um and because they’ve got their own life and they’re cultivating this beautiful family and Louis is such a gorgeous gorgeous little boy but I mean my life kind of goes between London India where I do the Retreats and I usually stay there and like look at other places to do other Retreats and then down here in New Zealand um and then wherever else for work I mean it sounds like an ideal situation but when baby died last year and I had to put him down over the phone which was absolutely horrific because he was little did I know how um how this little guy had really been my last attachment to Los Angeles and being like Oh he’s my responsibility that I go cuz at some point at your kids at 29 and 31 you’re not like oh I have to get home to the kids like yeah it would be really bad I mean could you imagine your mother living with like no you you have to let your your kids go and develop their own lives with their beautiful partners and and little baby Louie um so it’s like [ __ ] where do I fit into the world now like no one has any expectations for me really to be anywhere obviously I want to see my grandson Louie and and Nicole and Liam but I mean those are for short periods of time I’m not living out of their you know their living on their in their apartment you know I’m just not it’s just not that way um and obviously Renee lives in London um but we get to spend quite a bit of time because she goes into India as well as barley and we do Retreats so it’s like oh where do I where do I go where’s home so it’s been described to us that you live out of two suitcases is that accurate yes I have a well winter one and a summer one and then I have obviously my handbag and my pulley that I take my computer on yeah that’s it and I’ve I’ve literally been that’s been me since September cuz baby died in October um yeah is that liberating to have the ability to my brother used to joke about not the dog po but my brother used to joke about only having stuff that you can pack it in your bag overnight and get out the next day yeah is there a freedom to living that way is this your brother that was his philosophy he doesn’t he doesn’t he doesn’t subscribe to it he’s got a beautiful place in gyin full of amazing stuff that he’s collected over over over over his go around to his house I think he needs to be part of the Legacy conversation what I he doesn’t listen it’s fine it’s fine but you know what I mean like that ability to go well today I’m here but tomorrow I could be where my feet are yeah you actually don’t realize how much stuff you need like having these two suitcases you’re like wow like and also purchasing because you can’t buy in the scenario because you’re you’re moving all the time so you you kind of you don’t want to collect another you know you don’t want to get to certain airlines that charge a lot of money for overweight bags call them R call them out let me take a sip of my water um and then there’s other lines that are not so bad but um no I’m joking it’s it’s understandable gas is expensive um but yeah I don’t know where I belong what would you asking me what oh with a bag yeah there is there is that is your there was something very liberating about it but I didn’t realize how much this littley tiny soul I did because I loved him very much my dog um how much that last tether was huge um and I I obviously had to put him down over the he was on FaceTime and I my sister thank God was holding him and it was absolutely [ __ ] horrifically awful to do that but I couldn’t see him suffering anymore cuz he was literally going round and around in circles and wandering the house at night and um I think like maybe Dementia or something but um yeah it was it’s been kind of and I’m still in that place you know and you know people go well where are you located as far as workwise well I don’t think anyone’s located anywhere I mean look at you guys you guys live in Hamilton but you come up here this is your considered work as such so yeah it’s kind of like where do any of us yeah I don’t know moving aside like we had a guest on recently and um I made a comment at the end and I said look this has been so great you seem like had a really good point of your life and she said actually no like I’m I’m not Insight I’m I’m not at a good place and was really sort of raw and real with us and and it kind of and I’m not in any way suggesting it’s you but I did want to ask like how are you are you in a good place I yeah I am like I I the only thing is is like that whole okay so it’s stories and conditioning that get in the way of happiness for me so it’s the conditioning of this is what we need to have in our lives to make us happy cars house clothes this that blah blah blah for some people that is what is working and what is needed in their life now like and you know for me I need to realize like I sold my house in 2020 2020 and and then got locked into India during Co came out moved into one bedroom place which my sister was in because Co was still really tight and didn’t buy anything and from that point on it it’s just been moving so the uncomfortableness or the rawness is the only place that I see as transformation and evolution because that’s only when it happens as when you’re uncomfortable or you’re like there’s the moment of Doubt like what am I doing do I actually just want to disappear into a cave wherever and just be in that world for the rest of my life wow that would be something yeah possibility do I come back out and start working and start getting into this whole thing again yeah a part of me would love you know I want to do that but how does that look because it’s so you know when you’re teetering on that side which side like which wolf am I going to feed you know and that’s that’s where I’m at so to me to be able to see let I’m going to hand it over and just see what happens because I can only go in the direction that whatever it’s meant to be is going to is going to happen and I cannot deny the fact that that for me is the best way to live like obviously with conscious action and awareness not like oh I’m just going to leave it up to the world world and peace love and happiness and hopefully everything will work out no there’s conscious action in that like you’re taking steps so let’s see which wolf ends up getting fed the most nice and conscious action is flying out of New Zealand back to India soon yeah so I’m I’m I do the workshops this weekend um well no I do workshops in New Zealand and community events and then go to Barley and then go to India yeah so it’s like teetering on that and then come back here and do so you know what happens yeah that’s fascinating the the public facing wolf um was one of the most rewarding projects that you’ve done tour of beauty itself cuz again outside his perspective and through research it seems like it kind of fed to keep on that wolf an allery but feeding the the the traveling INRI TR from your father Continental Airlines back in the day and the spirituality side of of your mom as well so it’s kind of honoring both parents the tour of beauty and going around and connecting with people and feeding your curiosity is that one of your most treasured um public facing wolf moments my yeah like I the the T Beauty yeah that was an amazing show to do uh the New Zealand’s Got Talent was great here as well that was pretty amazing to do like that being with people which is very much my father he was always he is always amazing with people like people absolutely love him uh and to her beauty it was like the most incredible job that I could ever be given like to be able to go into different cultures and not only just talk about beauty but actually how people’s feelings are and people actually seeing it’s beyond that you know the the the beauty side of it is just irrelevant it’s it’s it’s Way Beyond you know as far as the in um yeah but Dad was so funny you bring up like Dad he was he was like Mr Personality at the airport you know back when it was NAC and then in New Zealand Continental Airlines yeah so he kind of went through the whole thing but he was Mr Personality at the airport I know well-being is a big part of what you do now yeah and it’s everywhere over our social media feeds and we’re constantly being fed information I’m really on a feeding theme right now really really locking man there’s a few things that have come across my radar in recent times and I wanted to take the opportunity to maybe bounce a couple off them of them off you yeah and whether you’ve come across them sampled because again to tour of beauty I know you did a whole bunch of stuff in various places so I’m I’ve got a list of kind of five things is this is this debunking is this beauty myth I don’t know they might they might be they might be they might be bunked and the well wellbeing I think well-being myths and and some of these are are pointed some of these I’ve tried some of these I’ve heard about some of these I’m just curious um shaving will make your hair grow back thicker no I and I and uh sorry we don’t know this for sure it’s an individual uh tot that was my disclaimer that you are not experience not a medical expert I did shave um people call it dermablading here there’s a razor involved I think it’s called shaving okay um dermablading I to change my I don’t know I never came back I had the most like like smoothest skin after that but apparently no I don’t think it comes back bushier but didn’t for me that would that would explain my chest though because you have you have you have Derma bladed your chest all the time what do you think sorry you guys shave I don’t think it does I haven’t shaved since 2015 I just trim I just trim there are you just trim it yeah yeah yeah I I don’t even trim it myself I get someone else to do it okay yeah but I do look after it um another one again it’s sort of across social media feed um panal sunning um also known as anal gazing exposing the pyrum the area between the anus and the Gen to sunlight for a short period I mean if it makes you happy I guess okay yeah I mean little sunlight I don’t know that’s that can’t be there’s a reason why that thing’s in the dark right like Paul Henry swears by it yeah he does does he yeah full Henry yeah yeah I think Nevada go makes him feel better yeah you got to it’s 30 30 seconds to a minute maximum or else you’re in for some significant Sun yeah I was going to say it’s got to be very and you’re right it is and it’s probably I don’t suggest that because I mean that’s a reason why that area is dark like kept skipped away that gets the r Hunter cross not right oil pulling oh for the mouth yeah swishing oil apparently that’s very good yes good tick yeah I like swish oil coconut oil I think it is and the mouth is not but please do not do that at home um unless you get it done properly colon cleansing flushing flushing of the colon with fluid to remove waste colonic yeah I don’t know I just had a colonoscopy so I just go with that okay get your get yourself checked I’ve had colonics it’s not something I would do regularly for me because of that Flora what is it yeah Flora that’s the right whatever it is in there I don’t know I’ve seen some stuff online which I don’t think that I don’t think that came out of a human I think that’s very doed imagery of of what is supposed to have passed post colonic yeah and I think that it’s interesting to see how often you should do something like that and like for your own health do you know what I mean like how often should you be doing colonics I haven’t I haven’t really investigated that have I done colonics yes did I repeatedly do them no yeah it’s on my bucket list of something to try to kind of I would you should film that you need to film that yeah today’s tour of beauty would be it film that it’s going to be your ritual when I do my that is going to be your ritual going to stick a p up your but and see how you feel and the last one I’ve got is yni steaming we got one um I’ve not tried this either okay um but again that’s another area that’s very you know yeah sensitive I how do you what do you feel I have a friend and I saw this contraption in their bedroom and I said what’s that and they I can’t I’m not going to name who they are no they were like oh that’s my y steer y steamer and I was like what is and they said oh you sit on it and you steam you steam your bits and I think gwineth peltro I think subscribed to it for a long time I again like exposing the panum to the sun I feel like that’s a sensitive space with a lot of a lot of heat gets in there yeah there those are very those are very sensitive areas I just think they should be done with the right yeah the right the right perscription because I’m sure back in those days where these things actually come up they’re probably ancient practices most of these and I’m sure there was reasons for them and um yeah so I just would do yeah I I haven’t I have not tried that nor do I really want her yeah so the feedback I think is she’s all good well from my general feedback on that is maybe Biby wear proceed with any of these with trepidation yeah I think more concerning is that they all pop up on my algorithm now going to pop up on mine too my phone’s just down I do not need steamer or a but hole cleaner or sunshine I don’t know all right hey Rachel this has been amazing we’re at the home straight there’s just a few little bits and pieces clearly one of my notes um I’ll just be interested in your experience with um piran cond oh my God the movie I had a great time in Hawaii when we were filming that the script comes across your disc dis and I’m like sure why not was Andy still no this was over in um America and I was just like sure I’ll do it I’ll go to Hawaii the interesting thing was if I remember panic but you’re bringing up Hawaii so the earthquake that happened back in when Fukushima happened right and it came into the Hawaiian Islands yes I was there on that island when the thing and we all had to leave the beach area to go up this wasn’t pranic Conor um and then and leave yeah and we had to go up into the mountains in the middle of the night like the the alarms were going off and yeah it was Bonkers it’s pretty terrifying yeah it was because when you’re driving out the the the cars were so backed up to the Shoreline because everybody was leaving and yet we knew that this you know this potential yeah um wave was coming in so yeah it just stemmed up a story so thank you Ponda no very proud of that she done so many movies I remember remember New Zealand film or whatever I remember getting an email of somebody that does like films here they have a website which has all actors and stuff and they were like well we’ve only managed to fit um a certain amount of your films on on there because we can’t fit everything on there does this seem right and I’m like I don’t care whatever you want to do it’s it’s all good but yeah I couldn’t believe the number of films and TV shows you’ve been on IMD extensive yeah it’s crazy are you still an active actor no I mean I love I love um being in that field and I love doing that um yeah but I haven’t really aggressively gone after that down here um ever really I think I came down here to film an American production um a few years ago that’s when the kids came down and lived down here with me for six six weeks or so which was amazing because then they got kind of really got that that kiwi feeling during summer but I would be yeah I’d be open to that I I enjoy yeah I enjoy being in a in a environment like that that it’s just triggered one question and it’s going back a bit and then we can wrap up but you know when you used to do those big shows and it’s lman and Jimmy Camille and these huge talk shows to millions of audience and it’s live did you get nervous for those appearances were you quite comfortable in that space it’s funny cuz I look back and go I was nervous and then once I got out there and I was just like it’s almost that youth thing where you just do it you know and then after a couple of burns once you get to your 20s and 30s you kind of are a little bit more aware of what potentially could happen in that scenario so you kind of build up a resistance but back then you just kind of just you don’t even know what you’re saying it just comes out you know so yeah I I look back at those TV shows and go well first of all it’s it’s interesting because talking about regrets like you look at the shows back then to the shows now and some PE some of the things that I’ve done in the past do I regret some of those shows absolutely because reality TV was a whole different Beast back in those you know late okay to 30s you remember all those shows there was a lot of you know J judgment shows there was a lot and you know is there is there that area where you look back but it was a different the thing is is shaming that it’s like it was that era what it was it was it shouldn’t have been what was in but it was and you know so there are regrets of certain definitely things that I I did back then but again we look EV every generation’s going to have that yeah change it’s a it’s a constant theme with our guest that 40 50 60 is that [ __ ] some of the stuff I did under the current day lens was really problematic very problematic yeah and and but again we’re going to look back at this and be like why the hell were we all on our phones with our necks down and not taking in the beautiful environment and the Beautiful country that we or beautiful world we live in because what is it going to look like in the next 20 years so that could also be look back on and gone why were we doing that you know my last question is do you ever it’s back on the modeling thing sorry but do you ever do you ever finish modeling like is is there a is there a time where you’re no longer a model for high retirement yeah is there is there a retirement for modeling is there such a thing I don’t know it’s so funny because you see beautiful um girls out there that are still like making you know making you know still in the you know that the whole gray thing has really come up um where women are working in their 50s 60s 7s so it’s it’s I I don’t think so I think look any anybody will crawl out of anywhere if if there is a great job that aligns with where you are on that period of your life so I think you know um with whatever you do if you if you still want to be in a you you you for sure can be yeah it’s just not what it was back you know back in those days R I feel like I’ve called you ra a few times I feel like I’ve been getting very familiar with one of the most well-known people to come out of New Zealand I’ve really enjoyed your company and sharing these bits and pieces of your your journey it’s been so cool and yeah where you go next is so exciting I don’t think anyone knows but the podcast is great a great idea were really well received in a cave somewhere where I’m like I’m not coming out but I’m going to record no one knows um but amazing thanks so much for coming in and sitting with us but I’ll throw to Shay to WP us oh you’ve killed me here um I think I thought about this before I came in like you’re obviously really well known for for your beauty and your beautiful um your modeling days that’s how you first came onto my radar but in terms of researching for the podcast and learning more about you in the last couple of weeks like just a beautiful soul like the way you are able to connect with people um having either not known them or just coming into their sphere in the first instance I really enjoyed your your um tour of beauty stuff and the way that you stepped into other cultures that aren’t familiar treated them with respect but also reported that to other people I think is there’s a lot that people can learn um and you’ve taken it a step further through yoga and and mastering your your own self I hope you’re progressing well on your grief Journey because I know it’s not easy having lost a parent myself it strikes you at different times um or whatever that grief may be which parent did you uh my father passed away 14 years ago now so it’s still still pops up every now and again sometimes you just go where did they go yeah like where are you where are you well I like to think that he’s still with me in some way shape or form and as long as you keep that memory of that person alive you’re able to carry that wherever you go um I don’t know if it’s the same for you but um yeah no it’s been it’s been amazing and um hopefully there’s more of um Rachel in New Zealand’s kind of psyche for many many more years to come as a true New Zealand icon oh thank you guys thank you it’s been great thank you so much I really enjoy your interviewing and your company here too it’s it’s been really nice very very very easy great so thank you thank you cheers Rachel
8 Comments
NZ icon 💯🔥
Love Rachel, so down to earth,so likeable Remember seeing her in the trumpet ads so many years ago,awesome 🥝
Sheesh that was hard work
I remember Tyra banks saying she made a room look golden when she entered ❤ her presence was larger then the other super models
You did take on board the bit about lighting right? Rachel is a presence, and shines much brighter than the thumbnail image you chose of her.
What a great New Zealander, and an awesome human being.
❤ Rachel
Anyone count up how many times she said "like"….must be in the thousands.