Bella Mackie - ‘I Will Never “Fix” My Mental Health’
Bella Mackie began her career as a journalist, writing for publications including the Guardian, Vice and Vogue, before writing her bestselling debut, Jog On. The book explored how running helped her rebuild her life after the end of her first marriage triggered debilitating anxiety and panic attacks.She followed it with How To Kill Your Family, a darkly comic novel about a young woman methodically murdering her wealthy relatives. It spent 47 weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list and is now being adapted for Netflix, starring Anya Taylor-Joy. Two more novels followed, including her latest, Claws Out - another bestseller, this time taking aim at the absurdities of North London’s liberal elite.It’s a world Mackie knows well. She grew up in North London, the daughter of journalist and campaigner Lindsay Mackie and former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, and still lives there today with her husband, Radio 1 DJ Greg James.In this episode we cover her OCD, how she feels she hasn’t ‘fixed’ her mental health - and perhaps never will, her ‘failure’ to leave home and what it’s like to be married to someone painfully level-headed. This bonus episode is brought to you by @arlalactoFREE - all the taste, easier to digest.IN THIS EPISODE00:00 Intro02:51 True Crime Origins04:11 Rewriting Crime Tropes07:17 Funny Draft Fail10:37 Success Fuels Anxiety14:57 Living With OCD22:02 Childfree Choice Backlash30:41 Cozy Season Sponsor Break31:35 Failure to Launch Confession32:15 Living Near Mum and Dad33:48 Therapy Rejection and Detachment34:43 Anxiety and Codependency Roots37:31 Privilege Nepotism and Validation39:26 Tony Blair as the Adult44:01 Driving Cycling and Creative Life💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:Anyone else’s mental health is an island you can’t get to. OCD is like Pokemon, you can catch them all. Greg [my husband] lies down on me when I have an intrusive thought and does a chicken dance on me to make me laugh. 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Bella’s novel, Claws Out, is available to buy now: harpercollins.co.uk/products/claws-out-bella-mackie?variant=56397858537851 Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com📚 WANT MORE?Dolly Alderton - swap.fm/l/XM98joc3GFEMTsLfkEfR Caitlin Moran - swap.fm/l/CaitlinMoran 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.orgJoin our community of subscribers here: https://lnk.to/7i0moR Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: askhowtofail.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias TorresAssistant Producer: Shania MandersonSenior Producer: Hannah TalbotExecutive Producer: Alex LawlessHow to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcastsTo bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
Every success story you've ever been told is incomplete. How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is the part they leave out.Each week, Sunday Times #1 bestselling author Elizabeth Day sits down with someone extraordinary - and asks them about the moments that didn’t go according to plan and how these failures shaped them. Kate Winslet on body image. Malala Yousafzai on rewriting her story. Pamela Anderson on refuting shame. Phoebe Waller-Bridge on creativity. Salman Rushdie on survival. Emilia Clarke on fame. What happens when the people you most admire stop performing and start telling the truth? Five hundred episodes in, we're still finding out.With sold-out nights at the London Palladium and Sydney Opera House, millions of listeners worldwide, and a British Podcast Award to its name, How To Fail is one of the UK's most successful podcasts. And yes, we're aware of the irony. Pick an episode. Start anywhere.An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment production.All guest booking is managed from an official Sony Music email address.Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcastsTo bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]
- No. of episodes: 408
- Latest episode: 2026-10-19
- Society & Culture
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