Interpreting Health and Future Plans

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British Gas taking care of things and looking after you. T's and C supply excess options available per repair. Arrayo Original Podcast. What do you think it's gonna be? Oh, I think it's gonna be bad. I think there's gonna be a lot of inflammation, there's huge stress, loads of sugar. I think I have had and still do have a sugar addiction. I wouldn't be surprised if I was pre pre-diabetic. Um, but there'll be like big stress and also my thyroid. But I am tired, I'm stressed, I don't sleep. Chronologically, you are 48. Your biological age. Oh my god . It's Oh god. Oh god. Oh god . Oh my god . This is What's my age again, the podcast where we test biological age against the number on your passport and ask what life has really done to your body. My guest today is Joanna Page, actress, presenter, mom of four, and one of Britain's most recognizable and loved faces. From love actually to Gavin and Stacey, Joanna's career has spanned decades, but alongside the work, she's lived a life that has required a lot of endurance, if you don't mind me saying so to your face. For babies, complicated births, years of sleep deprivation, anxiety, and underactive thyroid, and the constant mental load of home holding, family, and work together. Joanna has also spoken openly about being the kind of person who copes, who's nice, who says yes, who keeps going, keeps smiling, keeps everything moving until suddenly she can't, and only later realizes what that level of resilience costs the body over time. So today isn't just about mother hood being hard, it's about what happens when you are reliable, professional, low drama, and emotionally self-contained, and how stress, pressure, and survival quietly show up beneath the surface. Today we are asking whether all of that leaves a trace in the blood and what Joanna's biological age can reveal about stress, caregiving, and the long-term cost of coping. How do you what's your reaction to that? Well, I think it's completely and utterly true. I've always, for years and years and years, felt really young and just light and young and full of energy. And I think because I look young as well, I've always looked young for my age. And always growing up, I did loads of dance and I loved yoga. Never thought about what I ate. I just like ate food, didn't ever crave cake or crisps or biscuits or anything like that. Just ate, you know, good healthy food. Just got on with life. And then at 35, I had my first child. And all the way through pregnancy, I had the worst morning sickness. And the only way I could cope with it was just by eating loads of junk food. It was just like having the worst hangover in the world. And my dad is a feeder as well. All he wants to do is just feed you and just give and give and give. And so I just loved that. I would sit in the house, in their house, back in Swansea, and he would just give me non-stop food, and I just eat and et and ate and got quite big. And then I just assumed, because I've never been bigger anything, I assumed after giving birth the weight would just naturally just drop off. And it didn't. And I wasn't bothered about it. I was breastfeeding on demand, absolutely loved that, was ravenous. I didn't even think about myself. I just wanted to be there, cutched up with my baby, and just started then really craving sugar. And every day I would have like this um bonoffee pie. It's got such wonderful memories in my mind, right? This bonoffee pie cake. I'd eat half of it. It was about this big. Half of it one day. And then the next day I'd eat the other half. Go back and buy another one. The next day eat a half. I just did that for years. Delicious. I'm have pints of milk all the way through the night with like big four bar Kit Kat. Shove the baby on the boob. And that's basically what I've done for the last twelve years. I've and I've sort of breastfed non-stop for about the last 12 years. And I've just loved it. And I've not thought about myself at all. And um, it's only recently, like just before Christmas, that I did start thinking, I think you've got to sort yourself out, because you've got four young children , you're coming up to your fifties, and I don't think that you can just get by on kind of going, well, things will be fine. I've always been fit. I've always been healthy. You know, it doesn't matter if I'm not thinking about myself. I did start worrying thinking you don't want to become diabetic or have a stroke or get heart disease. You've got to do something about it. So I started changing my diet and then also thinking about, well just thinking, fuck it. I can't be everything to everyone. And you know what? It's not bad to turn around and say no and say no to work and say no to the kids and go, no, Mummy has to sit down on the sofa and watch an episode of something. Or just sit down and read a magazine about houses. Or just sit down and It makes sense though that you would not have arrived at any of these conclusions for the last twelve, thirteen years, because it's true, like you're a vessel, your body is of service to these kids, you're keeping them alive. And I think it's great you're eating banaffie pie and drinking milk. You must have had so much milk. I think I've had so much calcium, and I think that right has been really, really good for me. If if there's something, touch word, I'm not gonna get osteoporosis, because I think I've been good with my bones. Well and also with your breast milk. So were you pumping as well or just exclusively breastfeeding? They didn't because Did you have an oversupply? Oh my god, I had so much milk. I remember giving birth to Eva, and she was like, she must have this six, seventh, eighth, nine foot, yeah, she was a month early, and I had present a previous. So we knew. Yeah, so I had gone in and um said at nine weeks pregnant, I went into the doctors and I said, I think I'm pregnant. I just want you to let want you to know I'm gonna give birth naturally. I don't want an epigural, I don't want any interference. It's just all going to be natural. And they said, well, let's like, ma'am, this is a McDonald's. Yeah. They were like, we don't even need to think about that now. You're nine years pregnant. Should we do a scan and just see if there's anything in there for starters? So we did that, and then at 20 weeks pregnant, we found out our placenta previous. Yeah, so for people who don't know, the placenta is like in the way of where the baby would be born. Well yeah, because it should be growing sort of like up the top. Fine. And mine was growing all the way down the bottom, completely covering the cervex, so there's no way the baby can get out. And then you can have bleeding with that Well yeah, because you've got the weight then of the baby and it's pressing down on, you know, the cervex, because the placenta's there, they said to me, you know, we'll we're hoping it's going to eventually shift, but didn't shift. It sort of spread across the front as well. And they said you'll probably get to about thirty weeks and then you'll start bleeding. You'll probably have three bleeds. The last one will be big and then um you know when the last one comes the baby will come and you just need to make sure that you're near a hospital. And I just always remember them saying, um okay I went in for a scan at 20 weeks and they were like, yeah everything's great, baby's looking really good. Have you had any bleeding? So I was just like, no, nothing, nothing at all. So they were like, okay, you know, well, absolutely fine, but just to say, if you do have bleeding and it's bright red and it just starts shooting just down your leg like lines . Just get to a hospital as soon as possible. And then they said, you know, go and chat to the doctor, they'll tell you everything then. And I love that they have to tell women that because like you say, you put yourself last, you're not thinking about yourself. Like we live in a world where we have to tell women, if bright red blood starts shooting down your legs, seek medical attention. Yeah. I mean don't go to the few don't want to make a fuss. Yes. Like sorry. But that's what I was like with my first pregnancy. And then my nan, who was a nurse , she knew straight away how serious that was. I said to everybody, look, I don't want to even discuss it. I can't have that in my head. I just want to be I bought like loads and loads of books and I thought I just actually now want to be like a cow , have nothing in my head. Like when a cow is pregnant and they're in a field, they're not thinking about their diet, they're not thinking or worrying or planning. They're just standing there, their head is vacant, and they're just a vessel and they're just getting through each day. How do you know that? Only from what I've sensed . I love that you're out in Swansea sensing the cows. Yeah. And so I that's how I got by day to day. And then at 30 weeks I did start bleeding. Okay. Got rushed into hospital, and then was quite surprised by how much you can bleed during pregnancy, and then it turns out that still everything is fine. And um, and I was in in hospital overnight on Christmas Eve, going into Christmas Day, and I've got to be honest, it's one of the best uh Christmases I've ever had. I was in hospital, you could just hear babies crying. I had a telly and carols and hymns were playing. My parents brought in a box of chocolates for me. Everybody else just everybody went and I was on my own. And I was like, oh my god, this is a revelation. This is really nice. Then I got uh 32 weeks pregnant, had a really big bleed, and was taken into hospital and was kept in there for a week and then transferred to another hospital in London. Because in the meantime, I had um we were living in London and then we'd moved out to the countryside, out to Oxfordshire. But I still thought, well, I know London, I've been there since I'm eight I was eighteen, so I'm still going to go to a hospital in London to give birth, even though we now live two hours away. Because when you, you know, give birth, it takes like about thirty-six hours. I'm gonna have plenty of time to drive in. Didn't ever think that there would be complications and you're gonna be hemorrhaging and you need to get to a hospital fast. So then I so then we then had to move to a hotel in London and stay next door to the hospital, because they said your third bleed now will be the bleed where the baby will come. So if you want to deliver here in the hospital that you've been coming to regularly and where we know you, you need to be close to us. Because if you're back home, you know, you can go to your local hospital, which is absolutely fine. And you know, my local hospital was just brilliant, but I thought they know my history, this is so serious now. I've already had two bleeds, I don't want to chance anything. So for the last week of the pregnancy, we lived in a hotel next door to the hospital. I just ate chocolate and played games on my iPad while my husband, it was amazing. And if I could go back and do that now, I would flip in love it. But at the time I had nowhere to nest. So I was just packing a rack sack, unpacking it, doing this, trying to nest. And then one day I woke up in the morning. I hadn't gone to bed until half seven in the morning because something felt off and the baby had stopped moving. But I wouldn't do anything about it. I was like, no, I'm not going to the hospital. I don't want to make a fuss. When things happen and when I go into labour, I don't ever want to go to the hospital because I don't want to make a fuss. My husband's always going, Well, your waters have gone, or you're hemorrhaging, it's quite clear something is wrong. You're clearly in labour, and I'm like I might not be, I don't want to get there and make a fuss, put everybody out and make a fool of myself, and I won't move from where I am. But I woke up at half nine, turned the bed sheets over and there was just blood everywhere. And uh and at that point I did with that one start, you know, running to the hospital and got there in time and then had an emergency cesarean. And then what was weird was that she was a month early, it was an emergency cesarean, but my milk just came straight in. And then my nan told me that all of the women in our family have like a massive oversupply of milk. This is why you can communicate with cows. Oh my God, it's so well, yeah. And right, I don't even know, right, if this is if I can even talk about things like this on here if I'm getting too like You love things like this on here. But I was so right. I don't have a lot of talents, right? Um I can act, I can act, right? But I'm not an amazing singer. I can't do the splits. I can't, you know, do a cherry stem by my tongue. There's not like loads of things I can do. And I'm sorry that you don't possess them. I can produce milk. If there's something I can do, right? I can produce milk. I have an oversupply and this is I've never told anybody this before, right? It doesn't just come out of the nipple. You know the are ola and all of the little bumps around it so that the baby can like see and sense how to get to the nipple. That's why they're there. Milk comes out of all of those as well, and it turned out that it came out of all of my auntie Edna's. She's the only other woman that I've ever known who can produce milk from all of the other lumps. So me and my auntie Edna are just like milk wizards. So does it get all over the baby's face then? No, no, because once you get going and the baby kind of latches on their mouth. The whole thing is kind of in their mouth. I think a lot of listeners and watchers of what's my age again will know we do have little bumps on the area . But n but what are they for if not milk? So I'm glad that yours are functional. Yes, because those are so that the baby can either I don't know if it's to feel or to sort of sense. Like Braille? Yeah, kind of, like Braille, to sense where the nipple is. But because Eva was early, she had jauned us. So she would sort of go on, but then she was sort of slipping off. And um I had this huge, I mean it was just pouring out of me. I wasn't expecting it and didn't even know because I because I knew I was gonna have to have a cesarean with the presenta previous. I hadn't gone to any classes. I'm very much a person who's impulsive and lives in the moment. And even though I carry a lot of stress and I've got a load of stuff going on, I don't actually worry that much. I can go to bed and just go bump straight out cold and sleep very easily because I'm very much of a, you know, I'm really, really stressed, but fuck it. You know, what's the worst that's gonna happen? I'm gonna get fired. Or you're gonna send me back to Swansea. Or if you do, I don't care, because I will go and get a job. If it's working down the local ice cream parlour, if it's taking people's dogs out for a walk, as long as I'm bringing money in and I can support the family and we're all happy, I don't care. What is the worst thing that's going to happen? So I can go to bed and just sort of chuck the stress away and not carry it with me. And so going into pregnancy, I didn't do any classes, didn't do any NCT, I thought to myself, you know what, I'll just breathe. Whatever happens, I'll just breathe. I will concentrate, I'll put my mind somewhere else, and I'll just take deep breaths, whatever is going on. And that is what I did. So I had no idea about breastfeeding. I just assumed that I'd put her on, she'd go on straight away. And and it doesn't ever happen like that. You have to sort of, they have to train themselves, and it takes a while. I mean, my God, I had, you know, all sort of I remember massive chunks of my nipple coming out of my nipples bleeding. And but I was very determined that I wanted to carry on because I had so much bloody milk. Yeah. And I also knew I wouldn't be organized with bottles. I don't, I've never liked maths. I don't like anything. And my mum's a Virgo and she makes lists. And she's always asking me questions and I've always got to be precise, like what time train are you getting? Where's the hotel that you're staying about? And it just makes me panic because I don't like anybody pinning me down and organizing me. So the thought of having to organise bottles, sort out the powder, sort out the I was just like, no, I can't do any of that. And pumping as well. I just thought, no, I can't, I don't want to be organized. I just want to grab a baby, shove her on the boob.. Yeah And I remember the breastfeeding woman saying, boob is everything. Oh my god, I'm actually wearing a bracelet right now which has got a quote on it from Beau, which is just , I want boob. She'd come, she'd just whenever she'd see me, she'd just go, I want boob. But in this weird, like um accent, she almost sounded quite Swedish. I want boob. That's what she sounded like. I know I love their little toddler accent. Yeah. So in the end, it wasn't working, trying to do all the latching and the rugby pose and all of that business. I just found that if I just grabbed Eva, shoved her on, and shoved as much boobin as possible, she would just feed. And then that's suddenly what worked for us. And that's what it's been like with all of my children. I mean, and that is something really important that I think a lot of maybe husbands or people glaze over. Like bre when you are a breastfeeding mother as I am right now. Milk is so emotional. It's everything. And if you have an oversupply and if you can just latch these babies on and feed them. Yeah. I think there are a lot of women who even feel badly bragging about that because it makes other women feel inferior. Like we're in this cycle now of you can't say that. You can't say you had an oversupply. I think it's worth taking a moment and saying like that you are an overachiever. You are high functioning. You've got like special milk ducks that produce. And you've spent the last 12 years of your life dedicated and being really good at this incredible talent. I'm really, really good at it. With milk and feeding children. I mean, there's not many things right that I am good at, but this is something and something that I really just loved as well. And it was something though that just clicked with me because I it was just easier for me. But there were times with, you know, like with um James, my husband, he did end up having a good talent because, you know, men sort of don't they can't really do anything with that, can they? And he did have a talent. Because when we were trying to latch Eva and get her on in the hospital, I was just absolutely exhausted. And there was one point when there was just so much flipping milk, and she wasn't taking it . And we were trying to get it into a syringe, so trying to, you know, um uh express, hand express, and the midwife was trying to hand express, get it into a thing, and then syringe, you know, put it through syringe so we could feed her. And I was just out of it like that. And I gotta say, there is a real technique to hand expressing. I haven't got it. Um, but the midwife did, and I was attempting to, and it turns out right that James is from Bradford and he had a goat when he was younger, but he milked her. Yeah. And there's a point when I was in the hospital and the midwife said, James, please can you hand express um the milk with Jo? So I and she said, Joe, do you mind? I like I don't give a shit. And I was just lying there like that, with my eyes closed, so tied with the midwife on one side and James on the other side, and I had the pair of the milking me. And I was quite happy with it. And he did have a very good technique, so he has contributed a bit to the breastfeeding. And that's why we've got four kids. Well done, James, for his special talent as well. But I think it's it's a really fascinating time for you to be coming on the podcast and to be taking account and see of your health because you you have been of service to these kids for all this time. And do you do you feel like Bo was definitely your last child? You don't have like one. Oh my God, she definitely is, but only because I've had my tubes cut. We all were said, I'm an only child, and James is one of four, four boys. And I have never really thought about having kids, never ever thought really about getting married or being very mature. It was always just acting for me. And then I met James and then I thought, well, we went a good ten years, because we must have got married when we were about twenty-five. Yeah. And then I went a good ten years just acting and doing my career. And my mum always said, It will kick in, you you know, it will happen, probably when you're in your late twenties. Never ever felt maternal. And then at the age of thirty-five, I genuinely woke up and just went, Oh my god, I have to have a baby, I have to have a baby. And then we just started trying. I got pregnant and it was just, oh my god, it was like a a switch just like flicked. But it was up until the day before I gave birth. I was still saying to James, what if I don't love it as much as I love the dog? And I was like, but what if I don't what if I don't love it? And he said, Don't worry, I'll do everything. If you don't and you don't feel like that, I'll just do everything and we'll get through it'll be fine. Then I had her and I just don't think I let anybody else hold her. I mean I just she was she was just everything. And I was just so like, oh my god, I am just like this mother lion. Yes, you know, it was just it was amazing. We all said we were then gonna have four. And I was like, well, if you know, however many you get to have that's just a blessing you can't tell how many you're gonna have so if we have one we're lucky he always said four so we had Eva then straight away I was really broody and I said right we've got to have another one so we had kit and then James would have been happy to go, okay, there we are. I think two is enough. But I was like, no way, I definitely want another one. So then we had Noah. And after that, James said, that is it. Okay, no more. Because it's gonna break us emotionally, financially, physically , everything. We we can't do any more. So I was like, okay, all right then. And so we went five years, because we're having them every two years. We went five years and I was so broody, but I went through with a whole, you know, five years , and then eventually the broodiness left me. And I got to I was 44, and it had all, you know, it had all eventually gone. And I woke up one day and I just suddenly felt really broodin And I look back now and I obviously must have been ovulating, but I wasn't doing any sticks or ovulation sticks or anything, because we weren't trying for any more. You know, that was it. And um oh no, I dropped them off at school and I drove back home and he was in the garden and he was gardening and he was in a pair of really low slung cheap trapsuit bottoms and bare chested and he just looked like a really just a bit of a filthy gardener. And you'd been watching The Walking Dead on the way home. Yes. And uh and I just drove up and I said, quick, get upstairs, let's have sex. Now he was over the moon, because bear in mind, we've got three kids, I'm on my arse and absolutely exhausted. So he was like, oh my God, what the hell is going on? Why do you want to have sex? Are you ovulating? I just went, oh my God, I don't know. I don't think I am. I'm 44. I was like, I'm 44, you know, I don't know if I'm ovulating in my head thinking, I think I probably am, because I don't often feel like this because I'm knacker ed. So um we went upstairs and he was like, You are, are you ovulating, are you? I said, look, I don't know. And for God's sake, I'm 44. And also that month , because we had three kids and we were just exhausted, that month we actually had sex once. We did it once that month. And then a couple of weeks went by and I started feeling really weird. Like my stomach started feeling full, and I was getting lots of like cramping pains. And because of my age. I know. I was like, get the food shop in. But yeah, because of my age and the fact that we just done it once that month, I thought, well, I'm not pregnant. I think I've got something, I think, you know, I need to go and see the doctor. I think I've got something seriously wrong with me. And then I got my period, and um and then I got to the end of the week and then just thought, no, this is weird, this is weird. I know what these feelings are like. And I was doing a radio show in Cardiff. And in Cardiff, everybody knows, you know, because of Gavin and Stacy our accents and who we are. So I put a mask on and went to the chemist, didn't speak and just got a load of pregnancy tests, did one, and then it turns out that I was pregnant. So I was over the moon. James was like I phoned him to say that I was pregnant, because he was in Oxfordshire. And I said, I've got something to tell you. Can you just leave the kids and go into the hall? Just be on your own, because I've got something I've got to tell you. And he never ever thought that I was gonna say I was gonna be pregnant. His first thought was, Oh my god, is she gonna tell me she's having an affair or something? That is like how far away we were from, you know, I could possibly be pregnant. And I went- I was devastated that you weren't having an affair. I was like, I'm pregnant, and I've never ever heard him so quiet in his life. But really quickly, he just went, Oh my God, this is amazing. This is amazing. And it was just brilliant. But then after four, we were like, right, okay, we are done. And being pregnant at 44, oh my God, it was really hard. And um and so straight away I said, right after this one, I am gonna have my tubes cut. Okay. And I was quite absolutely fine about it. I didn't even have to think about it. And then after having them cut and having the baby, I went a couple of weeks and then I started researching. If you have your tubes put back together again, there's a one in two hundred chance that you could get pregnant. And so I said that to James and he was like, oh for Christ's sake, no, just stop it, just stop it. So we are done. But if I'd have started younger, my god, I think I'd have just kept going . You can't do much in under five minutes. Boil an egg. Sure. Cook a roast dinner? No chance. But comparing car insurance prices with mustard.co.uk ? Easy. See what you could save in just a few minutes. Click mustard.co.uk. Authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. See website for details. What's on TV? The answer is a lot. There's never been more choice over what to put on the box with an abundance of great new shows, but you can miss them all if you don't know where to look. And that's where the Pilot TV podcast comes in, your essential guide to every show that matters. Each week we sift through the very best in Prestige TV to help you decide what's worth spending your time on and what isn't. So join me, James Dyer, as well as venerable TV critics Boyd Hilton and Kay Rivero and let us help take the stress out of your downtime, the Pilot TV podcast. Because you can't watch everything. And do you feel any resentment whatsoever about the toll that motherhood takes? Because I feel sometimes like you both get to enjoy your children. Yeah. But you've had like life-threatening complications. You've given birth four times. You've breastfed everyone for 12 years. And you're both acting. Presumably, you have had to balance your choices differently. You've had to sacrifice a lot of yourself. Do you feel like any fizzing resentment about that? No, because he looks like shit as well. Like I said to him the other day, he was saying that he needs to get into shape now because he does. He's now turned 50. And I'm starting to think right, okay, we seriously do need to think about our health because you know he's overweight, and it's purely because we're tired, we don't think about ourselves. You know, he's drinking beer, not all the time, but I mean, my god, at the end of the night, you're like, Jesus Christ, just give me a glass of wine and he's gonna have a can of beer and then we'll have a takeaway or so he you know needs to lose weight. He's really tired as well. So I don't look at him and go, My God, you manage to like keep yourself together because he hasn't. He he looks really rough as well, right? And um I do you catching strays in this interview . Poor James. He's like fondling a goat. He's fat. He drinks. Okay . I know. And um and I do use it quite a lot in arguments. If I'm coming to the end, if there's something I really want, normally right, I'll get it. Or like we compromise, we you know, we we talk loads and it's like everything is fine. But sometimes if there's something that I'm adamant about, like I really, really want you to move that piece of furniture and he's like, oh my god, just c just can I just have five minut es? I will say I grew four children and I had four ces areans. A couple of them were emergencies. And I did that. And you can't say that you've done that. You haven't grown, so whatever happened, I would move that furniture, but I can't because of that. So I will use stuff like that against him. Not only did you breastfeed, not only did you have pregnancies, not only did you have cesareans, what was the conversation that led to you also having your tubes tied and our friend James not having a vasectomy instead. Well, I thought, yeah, I I just thought it's all a bit bloody pointless, isn't it? You know? And I thought if I'm in hospital, it's my fourth cesarean, everything is going to be open. So whilst you're in there, you may as well get that done right, because I don't have the time or the energy for you know getting back home and looking after the four kids and breastfeeding and him going right, I've got to go off now to the hospital to have a vasectomy. I haven't got the bloody time for it. And then for him to come back and then he's upstairss 'cause he' got to have a lie down. I mean for Christ's sake, I haven't got time and I don't think he's got it in him if if anything ever happened and like we ever divorced or I died. I don't think he's got it in him to go on to another family and go, come on, let's start again. I don't think he'd even want So you sound like someone who obviously takes on a lot. You're really high functioning, you're a really successful actor, you're also taking on all this like physical responsibility, you know that that might, that might show stress on the case. Oh, I think it will. I think it will. And and I it troubles me, Joe, that you're like, oh, the best Christmas ever was when I was in hospital. That really speaks a lot about what you've got going on at home. A treat for me is like just time on my own. Yeah. Just time where I'm not talking to anybody, I'm not cooking anything. And I think going into this year, I have started thinking more about myself. And and thinking I, just want to slow down, or if we haven't managed to do this, or if I haven't got this thing sorted for work, well, who cares? I don't what are you gonna do? You're gonna take me out and shoot me, are you? What are you gonna do? Do you have a good attitude about taking time for yourself or do you feel guilt? I wasn't uh before and like last year it was full on with work. And I mean I've taken like a good like seven, eight years off with work. Yeah. And then trying to come back into it is really difficult. But um but I don't know, I'm not so sort of stressed that I'm like, oh my god, I've got to do a really good show, or I've got to do this, or I've got to do my next big acting thing for after Gavin and Stacey. I don't really care. As long as I'm doing something that I'm happy and I'm not away from the kids for a lot of time, but I do get to stay in a hotel filming something for like about three days, so I do get to have a rest. That's right. lot of guilt or a lot of anything like that. But at the beginning of this year, everything was packed in just too much with work. And it's the only time I ever sort of had a bit of a mini breakdown. And I just thought, I can't do this, I can't do this. I don't know what's going on in school. I don't know what's happening with the kids. Eva had a complete meltdown because I just hadn't been there because I was um promoting my buck and doing buck festivals and stuff, so I just wasn't home like I normally am. And you know, it was and and so for the first time ever, I just phoned my agent and said, I'm just not doing anything And she said we can't and I just went, Fuck it, not doing it. I'm not doing it. And so then she said, Is there can you just manage to do a bit? And I just went, no. And I turned my phone off. And I just went, fuck it. Okay. If I get fired from stuff, I get fired. What are they gonna do? I mean, you know, as long as I can earn enough money to put the house over our head and have some food and we can all have a laugh together. I don't fucking care. That's the attitude I'm in. I didn't know you had that in you at all. Oh my God, yeah. You said no and you meant no. Yes. And you stretched my phone off and just ignored everybody then for the moment. And a woman who employed no as a full sentence. Yes. And they pushed back and they said, Oh, you can't do that. And you said, Yeah. Fuck it. I went, fuck it, no. I'm just not. Oh that's very. I mean, because what is the worst that's gonna happen, right? Say I lose all of my jobs and it all just goes wrong and whatever. Well, I know that wherever I go, I will do something and I will make a success of it. And James is always quite surprised by this because he's a Scorpio and he's from Bradford. And what's our star sign? I'm an Aries. I'm an Aries and I'm Welsh and I just I don't know, I'm just sort of my personality is that we are complete and utter opposites. So he will always go into something with the negative angle of, but what if it doesn't work? We need to make sure that we've got all eventualities covered. And I'm like, it is gonna work. If I have said yes to a film and I have to learn how to play the saxophone in 24 hours. Of course I can do it. Because why wouldn't I be able to do that? So, you know, I know that if I just I I've now gone, you know, I can just say no. I can say no and I want to sit on the sofa and I want to eat chocolate and I just want to watch John Burnsell on Netflix today. And nobody is gonna stop me from doing it. Fuck the lot of you. This is great. Because I think that once you've reached national treasure status, as you have, you can say no, but a lot of women especially don't know that. And I think with you, we've come to know you as being so nice, perfectly nice and kind. And I don't know if it's like your actual demeanor is very nice. Your face is so beautiful and friendly and nice. The Welsh accent certainly helps. You don't see a lot of Welsh villains. No, you don't, do you? But do you know, as I've got older , I think, and I mean I'm getting into it, you know, like, but I think I do do a whole load of masking. But what me now, right, right, this is me. This actually is me. But James, right, would say to me, God, people don't know the real you. But I think people do, because I think because people have seen me as Stacy and being all really sweet and really nice like all the time. Although in series one, Stacy wasn't like that, and you know, it was all much earthier and raw in the first series. But I do think people always think of me as being really sweet and really nice because I think actually I am like that. And I am always very positive and always up for something. I'm quite impulsive and I don't like moaning. And and I think I'm very feist y. And but I do think I get I get exhausted sometimes. I did an interview the other day, and the woman said to me, Do you think you've got ADHD? And because I go from one thing to the next thing to the next thing and I don't know if that's my personality and if it's I always want to achieve something and then I choose something and I do it a hundred percent and I get really good at it and then I go right okay done that. And then I go on to the next thing. And I've always thought that's my personality. You thought about it, like shall I delve into ADHD and you got distracted. You didn't look at it again. Yeah. And then I said but I said to James the other night, do you think that I could be somewhere on the spectrum? And he went, Yes. And I was like, what the fuck? Do you actually really think that? I was expecting you to say no, but you really do. And he said, Well, I think that we all are to be perfectly honest, you know? I think you definitely are. You're a firstborn daughter, only child, you have all these kids, you're really competent. Like if that's if that's what a little sprinkle of ADHD is doing for you. So you know you were saying about am I really n nice and sweet and I think I am, but there is a real feistiness to me. And um you know, like say with with James, I mean we are we are just like poof, you know, like that. But he is much quieter and calmer and slower, more thought out, but I mean, if I've got something that is bothering me, or I'm not the sort of person who will keep it to myself, I like everything out in the open. And I like to just sort of poof, it just all comes out. Like when I when we had Eva, oh, she was only a couple of weeks old, and he was doing voiceovers in London, and it was eight o'clock at night. And now when I look back, I'm like, oh my god, I only had one baby. I don't know why I didn't sit on the sofa, watch Telly and just shove her on the boob. But I was exhausted. I'd got all the way, I'd done the bath, and he still wasn't home. And he thought it would be a good idea to stop and get a takea way. And um he eventually came home by about half past eight. I answered the door and was hysterical, just going, Where have you been? Where the hell have you been? I'm so tired. And then he said, I've brought you a takeaway. I thought, you know, I was doing something good. And I was on the front lawn and I got the takeaway and I screamed, you can shove your fucking takeaway up your fucking arse! And I sort of did a jump, looped it round, and just threw it over the whole of the front lawn. Joanna, I have chucked a takeaway from my daughter's father into the lawn as well. Gorgon, that's amazing! I've done exactly that. Because he was a bastard and because he was out too late and he thought that this measly offering of a takeaway made up for the fact that I had been destitute and trying to look after this really spicy newborn. Yes. And I did the same. Oh my god. Then I was hungry, so I went and retrieved it before the foxes. Well, oh my god, I stormed upstairs, slammed the bedroom door, and he went and sort of collected it off the front lawn, put it on a plate, went upstairs, knocked on the bedroom door, and went, I've put it outside, it's on a tray for you, and I went, fuck off, I don't want it. Waited until I heard him go, and then opened the door, got it, and then just ate it. Great . So not so nice, just Welsh. Yeah, just Wels h. Well, did you have pressure to be nice when you were growing up? Because I think women of our age, it was very much like, you know, keep calm and carry on and be nice and be accommodating. Yes, always. I think being an only child, I was like this golden child. And so I felt very much like I had to be perfect because there was so much love and so much, it was all you know on me . So, you know, but then also my personality, I always did want to be perfect. I would go into doing something, and it's like, oh my god, you've always got to be the best. You've got to be perfect. There's no point doing it unless you do 100% and you do your best. And then I was head girl in my junior school, a head girl in my comprehensive school. I mean, I was like always, you know, got to be perfect. And then, you know, I think then as a woman anyway, you sort of grow up and it's like I don't want to, you know, s you know, put my hand up and say, Well, I don't agree with this or I don't want to make a noise. I just want to put a smile on my face, do my best work, always be perfect. And I think now it was I think it was getting married. I had my first argument with my mum. Because she was I was getting married. I was also filming something in Manchester, trying to get down to Swansea to organise the wedding. And then mum wanted me to go and visit my auntie Kirsteen, just because I was there to go and visit, made this massive row in the middle of Swansea where I just said, I can't. There's just too much going on. I'm sorry, I can't go and visit and just be perfect. I just can't. But this huge argument, and it's the first time really that I turned around and said no. And um and then I mean we were absolutely fine, and we've had arguments since so but most of the time we're just absolutely fine with each other. But that's really the first time I kind of said no to something, and then now at the age of 48, I love saying now and I kind of delight in now going, I'm gonna do shit work. I've just thought, just get on with it. Don't be perfect. Do shit. Do it rubbish. At least you've got the job done. And there we are, it's like it's all done then. And so that is what I'm going into my fifties with. Do shit work and say no. And that's where I am. I like it. Yeah. I don't think that you're gonna be able to live up to doing shit work. I think this is a really good mantra . I don't think it's gonna happen for you. But most of the time you end up doing something good because you start on it and then you end up doing something and it might not be like a hundred percent, it might be like eighty percent. But that's kind of quite good anyway, you know. So that's where what I'm going for now. I'm supposed to actually say, yeah, what is nice in work is that I've started doing my own podcast. Yes. It's called Lush, and basically that has been a relief because it's me or my own. I'm talking about my life, being married, having four kids, four guinea pigs, two dogs, what's going on in my life, what I think about stuff going on, and I'm not having guests each week. Yeah. Because I get quite stressed about that anyway, and I like being on my own. But I've started letting James come on and join me on the pod. And that's been a revelation. Because we're like passing ships in the night. And we're going into our studio, sitting in there for two hours, and most of the time we're going in on an argument. And the other day, he said, What, you actually want me to come in? 'Cause we've just been arguing. And I said, Yeah, come on, just get on with it. Sure. You're professional, James. Yeah, come on. As we sat next to each other, I just started talking, saying, well, to be honest, it was touch and go whether we're gonna start this morning, because we're in the middle of an argument, and we talked about it, we talked all the way through it, and it's become like cappus counselling. Because we're forced to sit there, look at each other, talk about our marriage and what's going on and what we think and feel. I can say to him the fact that you know how I like to have a cup of tea made, but you think it's stupid and you think it should be made this way, and you continue to do that after 26 years of marriage. Basically, I feel that that's because you don't love me as much as you should. And we just talk, and he comes out and he's just like he's absolutely buzzing and he's just like a new man because we're starting to connect. So it's really good. However much he loves you, he does not love you as much as he should. He shouldn't he shouldn't. He should kiss the ground you walk on every single day. Yes. Make your wild tea the way you want it. Yes. So grew for children. Yes. And so much more. And because you are a national treasure. It's tricky for the test because I've done a lot of these now. I think that women who are overstretched, that shows up as as stress, as inflammation. It alters the biological age. But the way that you're explaining it to me, Joanna, you seem like stressed but in a good way. And you're Yeah. But you like it that way and you don't sweat the small stuff. Yeah. You've got a lot going on, but maybe it isn't like, you know, w what do you mean you've got anxiety if you're not actually worried about it? Well yeah, because I can ca I can worry about stuff and there's loads of stuff building up and I can carry that but then I can let it go easily. But I get really, really stressed and it's all piling up and everybody's demanding everything, but then I am very good at I reach boiling point and then I turn around and I just go, fuck off. No, leave me alone. I just want to be on my own. I just want to have some food, have a cup of tea, watch the telly. No, go away, leave me alone. And I can and I can sleep very easily and I and I don't there's that sort sort of whole thing like physically it will be in my body and I can feel my stomach going and I'm like, oh my god, like that but I don't carry it in my head. Okay. I don't worry. I don't care enough about the job or about anyone's opinions of me or about holding everything up, you know, for everybody, apart from like looking after my kids. But I don't care enough that if it all went away and I lost this job, I I I wouldn't be bother And when did the thyroid diagnosis? Gosh, that was in two thousand and four. And my mum had an overactive thyroid when she had me. And so and they took too much of her thyroid out, so then she went underactive. And for ages, I was so I was like mid-twenties, for ages, I just felt really slowed down and really, really ti red. And but I didn't think about it because I mean you know, as a woman, as a young woman, you don't you just kind of just live day to day, and even if you feel really weird, you don't really do anything about it. I mean the most you do is like go to the doctors for a smear test, that's it, you know. And so I would get up in the morning and I put a load into the washing machine and then I would sit on the sofa in the kitchen and I would just stare into space from about ten o'clock in the morning till about four o'clock in the afternoon. I would just sit there and just like stare and just think and I just physically couldn't move. And I remember thinking, oh, this is weird. This is something is wrong after you know a good few weeks. So I went to the doctor and then I had a blood test. And I remember walking home from the doctors, and I could barely walk, I could just get barely get home . And then I got a letter saying we've discovered you've got an underactive thyroid. And your thyroid is the thing, you know, that your body clock, it controls your fertility, your weight, your speed, everything about you it controls. And um , and it was quite, you know, easy. I just had to then go on thyroxine tablets to like prop me up to the right level, and I've just got to stay on those now for the rest of my life. And I don't worry about it, I don't think too much about it, although every now and then I do like to remind the family that if we were on a desert island and we were shipwrecked, slowly I would get slower and slower and slower without any medication until eventually I would go into a coma and then I would die. And I like to tell them that every now and then. Whoa, that's what happens if you don't take thyroxine. Yeah, it'll gradually get worse and worse and worse until well, this is what I've read, don't hold me on this medically. Till eventually you'll go like into a coma because it gets worse and worse. And then that'll be it. And do you know anything about what causes it? Is it an autoimmune thing? Yeah, it's an autoimmune thing. And there's loads of different types of it as well. So what I've got isn't necessarily an autoimmune one, although it kind of is, because my body's attacking itself. But there are far worse kinds, you know, like because with mine, all I've got to take is like the thyroxine every day. And so far, I've been absolutely fine. But with other people, there's like the Hashimoto's disease and all of that sort of stuff and I think it can be a lot worse. But with mine, it's been quite easy to control all these years. And every now and then I'll sometimes get palpitations 'cause it really changes with your hormones and all the different things you go through in life, and now that I've had four kids, yeah, your levels really change. And then when you're pregnant, if you're underactive, you can end up miscarrying or not getting pregnant. And then when I was pregnant, we really had to up my dose of thyroxin and make it a lot Like it's just a lot calmer. And then what about with being in your mid-40s and paramenopause, like knocking at all of our doors and we were not educated about it? Oh my god, not at all. No. How does that impact a thyroid? Because then your hormones would change again. Well, they'll change again, so I'll just probably have have to blood tests. I'm supposed to have blood tests every six months, and then it'll just tell you what your levels are, and then they'll just probably just have to adjust my dose. But what's weird about being perimenopausal is that I never ever thought about that, when having my last child at 44. I just kind of thought, oh my god, would I ever get pregnant at 44? I probably won't. I never thought now, at the age of 48 and having a four-year-old, how utterly exhausting that is. And how my moods are shifting. I don't have the same amount of patience. I'm just very much like, Jesus Christ, can't we just get on with things? And also because my progester one is leaving my body, and you know, the hormones that you know I think it's that hormone which is the mothering and wanting to nurture. So my God, when I was in my thirties, I could take anything. It was just like, oh my God, I don't mind that it's the seventh time you've taken your socks on and off because you can feel something weird, and we still haven't left out you know, gone out the door. And you've taken all your clothes off again. And was just, you know, it's like you know, I could be I could I could take anything at all. Now I'm kind of I have to take deep breaths, and I really my cause patience and my motherly side is now starting to kind of leave. I mean it's still there and I'm still motherly and nurturing. But I mean before I could have done anything and it was like, oh my god, come on, like I got you on my back, you under here , let's get the boobs out. Let's give everybody milk and um you know. Now I really have to like take a deep breath. Yeah. And it was not last year, but the year before. Oh my god, I sunk into this huge depression. Oh no. And I've never in my life ever suffered from depression, ever. And um I was finding it was just this awful heaviness in this darkness in this mood, which s which was just on me. And I'd wake up in the morning and I would just sit in bed and just sob and sob and sob. And I would say to James, I can't shift it. There's not even words for what it is. I'm not sad over anything. And your daughter was two and you're still breastfeeding at this point. Yes, yes. Wow. And so I was like, I don't, you know, there's no words to even describe it. Nothing has happened. Nothing is wrong. I just have this heaviness in my heart. I'm worried about everybody dying. I'm worried that when I die, who is gonna look after the children? Who's gonna make sure that they're all right? And then which one of us is gonna go first? And then who's gonna look after the children? And we're all gonna die. And I have no control over that. And all I could describe was this blackness was just over me and I would just be hysterically crying in bed and I said to him, I can't get through this. Normally I can get through anything, right? I was like I can't get through this. I'm really scared. I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to feel like this anymore. And I don't I haven't got it in me anymore to just push this aside and be the normal me. I just don't I can't do it anymore. I can't do it. And in in the end I went to the doctors about something else, can't even remember what it was, ended up talking to the doctor, and then she said, Well, you've obviously perimenopausal, this is, you know, the menopause is coming and this is why you're feeling like this. And though I didn't have any of the symptoms, it was just this mood and huge anxiety that we were all gonna die. I had no control over anything. What if the kids died? What if I died? There wasn't anybody to look after them. And so she said, Do you want to go on HRT? Yeah. And I'd not thought about it before. And I just in the spur of the moment went, yeah, okay, then right, come on. So she said, Right, I'm going to put you on estrogen . I said, Don't give me any gels, don't give me anything like that, because the dog's gonna end up, you know, if I rub something on my thigh, the dog's gonna brush against me and she's just gonna develop big boobs. I mean it's like you know, I so I said I need some and I don't give me tablets because I won't take them. So she said, Okay, I'll give you the lowest dose of patches and then progesterone, which you know you have to take as well. And she gave me those. And I and I went back home. And then that is the first time that I really contemplated then not ever having children again. Because I have my patches and my progesterone and, I sat in the car and I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. And I phoned James and I was going, Oh my God, I'm not gonna have any more children. This is the end of my fertility in this part of my life. I can't have another baby. Are you sure that I 'm not gonna get my tubes reversed? Because this is it. If I start taking this now, it's over. It's all over. And I hadn't even thought that way when I'd agreed to have my tubes tied. Yeah. Well, cat. I was just kind of like, yeah, do it, you know, let's just do it. That's just I'd never even thought about it. And then I went a whole week and then I thought, oh God, you've got to do something because you're gonna end up doing something stupid here. You've got no control over these moods. This is awful. And so that's the only reason why I then went on the pat ches and oh my god, like straight away, I just went it just completely the that that just lightened and I just went back to normal. And I just stayed completely normal for a whole year, was on them for a year, and then I think I was because then I went up to a slightly higher dose. And I think it was too high for me. Because then I started sort of getting palpitations and started getting quite jittery and nervy and getting that an anzxiety back. So I don't know, maybe I was on too much, or maybe I wasn't on enough and I was starting to feel like that again. And I kind of thought, I don't wanna I don't wanna do this anymore. I just want to go back to being me and if that's with these awful moods or what I don't know I just want to sort of stabilize myself. And because I've never taken supplements, I don't take collagen, I've never put anything in me, I mean my god, I cut my own hair. The most I do is dye my eyelashes. So I just thought I kind of want to reset and go back to me. And so I came off everything, didn't even speak to the doctor, just stopped taking everything, and just thought, okay, we'll just see what happens. And I just slowly started feeling like the old me. And I had energy and I felt good. And I was like, oh my God, I feel in control. And I've been like that ever since. So I'm now 48 and I'm not on anything and I'm feeling fine. Okay. And I think I'll continue like this until I start feeling, you know, symptoms again and then then I might go right, okay, let's look into the patches again or see if I need or whatever. But at the moment at forty eight, I'm not on anything and I'm feeling in control and not depressed and happy. Gosh. I mean it might have even been a bit of postpartum anxiety or when you're having all these kids and you're breastfeeding everyone and you just never know each one could be different. Yeah. And I wonder if it was uh well, our hormones are responsible for so much of our mood, but if it was uh a visit from paramenopause, I always ask myself, like, what is the biological reason, whatever you believe about nature or God or the universe, like, why make women feel that way? What is the purpose evolutionarily? I know. Do you know what I mean? For us to all want to kill ourselves and burn the house down. Yes, because I mean what is it? Because we're good mothers. So it's not like nature's gone, Oh, I can kind of sense that you shouldn't have any more because you're not actually a good mum. So I think you need to take yourself off and take yourself away from everybody, which is what you feel like doing. I mean, like what what is nature saying? Someone said to me that a lot of mums reach parametopods when their daughters are teenagers. And it's like a synchronized rejection of each other. Oh my god, that's so good. I know. That is so good. To make it easier for both parties to move on. I know. And you can see that she is like she's still so loving or whatever. And then every now and then it's like a complete rejection. Yeah. And we had a huge well, it wasn't we didn't have an argument. She went ballistic. And I was trying to keep calm in the situation over a phone. And then she marched up the stairs and she turned around and she just went, Oh, like this to me, and she's never done anything like that before. And I just went, All right, yeah, seen it all before, you know, go up to your room, it's fine, whatever. I'm not starting to panic that she's not wanting to be with me all the time. Although I'm kind of thinking now more about I really need to make sure that we are connecting and we are talking, because you can see her getting going into another realm. And so I keep making sure now that I'm going into her room and hanging out on her bed and we're connecting and we're really talking. Might not be as much as before, but when we do connect, I'm like, right, what's going on? What's the gossip in school? What's happening? What's the how are you feeling about so and so? And we have a real good connection. But it is we're both going like this to allow nature to take its course. Maybe that's why. I mean, I don't know. It's one of many theories. And did she find it difficult that a lot of your attention's on the younger ones? What age of the. Yes. My so my smallest is four . So I've got four, nine, ten, and then Eva's twelve. Oh my god, about to turn 13 at the end of the week. Yeah, and then recently, because I've always been there, because I took time off work, last year is the most that I've just not been there for days and days and days on end. Or like popping back home and then going writes, I'm sorry guys, mummy's got to go now straight away or tomorrow morning early and just not be in there at all. And then when I am there, completely and utterly with Beau, because she's four and she just wants me all the time. I'm still settling her and and then yeah, recently Eva had a complete meltdown. And 'cause it started over, you always find now with with teenagers, something which starts over, something which seems quite small, then really snowballs and becomes absolutely massive and it turns out that it's because this was the underlying problem. You know, so it started out with a talk about something else and then it went all absolutely berserk about you're not here anymore. You just haven't been here. You weren't here for me the last two months. And and it's like and it's really hard because as much as you are trying to be there, this is the most I've gone back to work. And then I'm also trying to look after a four-year-old. And all of my working started, I think just before the Gavin and Stacey finale. So that started in the October. Then we went into, you know, we filmed all of it, then it came out. And then all of the year after that, I was doing my book and then started filming shows and then being away. So, you know, that was just in trying to deal with that and cope with that is really difficult and giving each of them enough time. And if I just had one, my God, it would be like, well God, it's huge. She's becoming a teenager. Everything is changing. We've really got to make sure that we're on the ball with like phones and technology and mental health and hormones. And that's just like something that, you know, just another side of the things that you've got to look after, 'cause you're still looking after a flipping toddler and your perimenopausal and it's it's so incredibly difficult. And do you know what I found recently was talking to all of them, and bear in mind, right, for the last twelve years I've been breastfeeding. I have done all school drop-offs and pickups. I've done all of the food. I've done I've been there solid, right? I've done the whole Shabam because I've wanted to be. The other day, because it's only now recently, in this last week, I've started, I'm not working now for a bit and I've had some time off. I was doing the stool school pickup. I went there, picked them all up. They were like, oh my god, mummy, I can't believe that you're here. Why are you picking us up? I said, Well my gosh, you know, because I've always picked you up and I'm not working this week. They said you've never picked us up. I said, Can I just say, for the last twelve years, can you remember me picking you up from school and dropping you off? And they said, No, we never remember you doing it. So basically, all of that's just gone to shit. It was I mean, it's like don't remember any of it. What they remember is their father doing it in the last year. Haven't remembered the last twelve years of everything that I've done. And this so many people are gonna find this relatable because even my latest baby was born three months ago. So I haven't been around. Oh my god, only three months ago. You look incredible. That's true. Oh, but um no. But um but it's the exact same. It's like the kids don't even remember me. And Fred said to me, Mom, he's four, do you wanna know everyone in my family that I love? I said, Yes. Fred, tell me everyone in the family that you love. He goes, Daddy, number one. Holland. Fana . Violet. And that's the end. Oh my god. I said, you don't love me, Freddie said, no. And I came out of daddy's tummy. Oh my god. And I was like, fuck you. These kids deserve to have their school bags swung around and chucked into the garden as well. Oh my god, that is just so hard. I don't think the mum guilt or just feeling just that little bit shit about yourself ever goes 'cause there's just always something. And this is why I'm glad that you're starting to carve out some time for yourself. You do need to put yourself first. Yeah. Because no one else in that family, no matter how much you have laid on your sword and sacrificed yourself, literally, you physically risk ed your life probably multiple times so that those ungrateful children could be alive. And I know you love them and they're great children probably. But you you moms, everywhere, you do have to reach a point in your life where you go, okay, I'm gonna start eating right. Yeah. I'm gonna like address this borderline Hashimoto's. I'm gonna take myself to Netflix to watch my hunk celebrity crush. Yeah. I'm kind of like, oh my god, everything, all of the hidden things as a woman that are and a mum that are all just put on you, it's really hard. So I'm expecting inflammation, stress, and I and I'm not expecting to have a fatty liver or anything like that because, I I don't think drink enough for that, but I do think I wouldn't be surprised if I'm pre pre diabetic. That is what I'm worried about. Are you ready to find out? Oh my god, yes. I'm excited. Oh my god. What actually is your chronological age? It's 48. Are you ready to find out? Oh my god, yes. Okay, we will be joined now by Dr. Nicola Conlin to reveal the results of your biological age test carried out by the wonderful people at Glycanage . On booking.com it's easy to book your holiday home. And thanks to no hidden fees, there's no more Guys, found a villa, I'm confirming. Wait wait wait. Added fees. We don't do sneaky added fees, so you can go from home to holiday home with no dramas. And relax . On booking.com, finding a holiday home's easy. Booking.com, booking. Get that Toyota electric feel Electric Toyota Urban Cruiser. Available with 0% APR representative and £1500 deposit contribution. And save £1,500 with the Toyota Electrified Saving. Visit your nearest Toyota Center, Hills of Woodford. Price from 29995. Available on Toyota PCP when financed through Toyota Financial Services by 30th of June 2026. Optional final payment indemnities may be required, see website conditions apply. Joanna, we are now joined by Dr. Nicola Conlan, a science woman, to help us interpret the results of your biological age test. Um, what do you think it's gonna be? Oh, I think it's gonna be bad. I think there's gonna be a lot of inflammation. There's huge stress, loads of sugar. I think I have had and still do have a sugar addiction. I wouldn't be surprised if I was pre-pre-diabetic . Um, but there'll be like big stress and also my thyroid. But I am tired, I'm stressed, I don't sleep. Oh god, I d I just hope there's nothing bad with my liver. Yeah. Well we took your blood, Joanna and the people at Glycan Age tested it. And Nicola here has dedicated her career to human longevity. She has over a decade of research and cellular aging, so there is no one better to interpret your results. And uh find out some steps forward no matter what it is. Chronologically you are 48. Your biological age. Oh my god. It's oh god oh god oh god oh my god, I'm 51! 51's not bad! Oh my god! I'm bloody 51! How do you feel about that? Right, I- I a slight shock, because I saw a five and I was like, Jesus Christ , I'm older than 48. Quite pleased that it is under 55, because I was expecting 55 and above. Although I think, because I'm a born optimist, deep inside, I thought, no, but it's gotta be you've been young for ages and you look so young. But it's gotta be you're gonna be forty-eight because you always will be. So I would say that I'm annoyed with myself and I'm shitting myself a bit now. Fifty one but you're in a weird place hormonally, breastfeeding wise, uh diet. Do you know what I mean? So this it's all reversible. Nicola, can you tell us more about this result? Oh god. So this this isn't dramatic. So it's it's a couple of years nudging up. And I've been listening and I've seen your health questionnaire and everything like that. By the way, we don't test your liver, so we don't know anything about the liver. Um but it's it's definitely nud nudging up, which gives us little clues. But the main thing about biological age is it's almost like a little bit of an early warning before it really starts to show us anything else on the outside or how are you feeling. But I think in your case, it's I would 99% sure it's probably going to be to do with the thyroid. Oh yes. Yeah, as Catherine mentioned, this is measuring inflammation. We know hypothyroid ism where you've got slightly low or an underactive thyroid can push inflammation up a little bit. And you've you know you you described excellently earlier about what it is, it's basically involved in your metabolism. So it's it's gonna have an impact on all of your body. And what it really has an impact on is energy production. So how your body, how efficient your body is, it actually turning the food that you eat into the energy that all of your body actually needs to work and all of your cells need to work. And what this test is measuring is basically the health of your cells. So when you have an undractive thyroid, it means that your cells , if you imagine them trying to produce energy, they're just not quite doing it as effectively. And that means that's why you feel that tiredness, that fatigue. It also means you can have issues with sugar metabolism, which again is something you've highlighted. Um so one thing I would say is we do know that if you have an undireactive thyroid, it can cause issues with the way your body reacts to sugar. And we do know that if you have excess sugar, it will push your biological age up. So maybe trying to and I know you did say that before Christmas, you'd kind of had a big overhaul and thought, you know what, I'm not gonna be eating the Bonoffee pie. I'm not gonna I'm gonna really try and focus on myself and eat three meals a day and and really try and improve that. That's really good. Like I was really pleased to hear that. But my first thought is, can I take the cake? Yes, you may. Absolutely. We even have a little box for you. Oh do you. Oh thank you. I will be taking it. But you did say a couple months ago everyone in the house was sick. Is that around the time we took your blood? Yes, it was. Everybody was so bad over Christmas. And also, it's the first time ever that I've genuinely been scared about my health because we got this really bad flu type thing. And it was it really hit me and I couldn't function and it really, really knocked me out. And things don't normally do that. I can normally power through stuff. And I just remember thinking, I understand now why they say that flu kills, you know, the young the babies and also the elder ly. And for a while I thought I genuinely don't know if I'm gonna get back to normal. I mean and that is round about the same time that I did do the blood test. I love that you think you're at the age where a cold snap could take you out. You're like, I'm gonna die of the flu It was round about the time we were going around on a light trail afterwards, because it was coming up to Christmas, and then I was left with this horrific cough, and James had just broken his toe, and we were going around on the light trail walking for ages, and I kept coughing, and by the time we got to the end of it, I was just like a completely wet myself. On the subject of pelvic floor, is motherhood a biological stressor? Like having four C sections, having four children, um, you know, men don't have the same toll on their bodies when they have that many kids. Yeah, so we know that childbirth is it's traumatic. And especially C sections, that's surgery. And we do know there's studies that have shown that actual surgery, the trauma that it causes to the body will increase biological age. But just in in general, hearing about your life, you know, you got four kids, you're working, you're showing up, you're taking them to school, you're trying to fit everything in, that always means that, and I think you said it as well, you're kind of running on this elevated like stress that you described as being able to sort of feel in the body. Yeah. So that even though you're not thinking you stressed, that feeling it that you have in the body is like it's always like there or like sometimes Yeah, so that's fight or flight. That feeling is fight or flight. And that's your body being like on, like switched on, like, oh my goodness, I've I've gotta be prepared, I've gotta be ready to go, go, go, go. And yes, we need that sometimes, but having that on all the time is ultimately causing inflammation. And that's what we're measuring in this test. So the fact that it's really only a couple of years higher, given everything that you said, I think this is actually a really good result. And I think the thing I would stress is something that you said you're already starting to do, but it's trying to be say no and also just take those moments for yourself, like where you just try to bring yourself down a notch and just sort of no phone, no kids, get outside, go for a walk, a little bit of exercise. I know you said you don't do any, but even just walking, fresh air, 20 minutes, 10 minutes, anything that you can try and grab for yourself. Yeah. It's just giving your body that chance to just have a little reset, drop the cortisol down, drop any inflammation down, and it's it's that daily reset that can really make a difference. I love jigsaws, right? And I've got um a Hercule Poirot Agatha Christie jigsaw, and in the kitchen, I've got my arm chair now. Do you know basically like when you move away from home and when you get to like, you know, your 30s or 40s, and then you go back to visit your parents and you are shocked by how old they've become because everything's become a lot smaller, and they've just got like their two , you know, old armchairs and with the newspapers in between, and it's all a bit sort of smarly and all a bit just like where they settled. That's where I am now. I've got the armchair in the kitchen. And I've got this metal thing on legs, which sort of looks a bit like a tablet table if you're in hospital, medication table, and with a board, and I've got my jigsaw on it, and that is like there, right in front of me. My husband is just like, oh my god, it's awful and it makes the kitchen look terrible. But if it works, it works. And I sit there, like yesterday morning I sat there and the kids are gone to school and I thought I've got I need to be getting ready and I thought no stuff it and I sat there and I did my Jake saw with the dog next to me and I was like oh my god this is really nice that's exactly it that ten minutes just switch