How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

The acclaimed actor, singer and producer was born in Los Angeles to a Greek mother and a Bulgarian father who emigrated to the United States in 1949.

You might know her from early roles like Bosom Buddies, where she met her future husband Tom Hanks, and from standout turns in films including Runaway Bride, It's Complicated and her unforgettable scene-stealing in Sleepless in Seattle.

Behind the camera, she helped bring My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mamma Mia! to the big screen.

Alongside her film career, Wilson has built a powerful musical voice, releasing albums since 2012 and collaborating with artists like Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson. She now returns to her solo work with her sixth album, Sound Of A Woman, released on 1st May.

In this episode, we talk about growing up in a traditional, private family but later living in the public eye, bringing My Big Fat Greek Wedding to the screen, her friendships with Nora Ephron and Bruce Springsteen - and how her experience of breast cancer reshaped her life and friendships.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

02:39 Sleepless In Seattle Scene Secrets

04:32 Finding Her Voice

07:53 Labels and Late Blooming

13:07 Privacy to Speaking Out

14:56 Greek Wedding Breakthrough

17:43 Drama School Rejections

27:57 Proving Them Wrong

29:03 Onscreen Friendship Magic

31:03 What Friendship Means

32:12 Breast Cancer and Blame

35:07 Honoring Her Father

39:55 Family Secrets and Privacy

45:50 Building Family Values

47:20 Fired as Ticket Taker

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

I’ve come to a stage in my life where I’m only now just finding my voice, both metaphorically and literally.

We spend so much of our lives shedding those identities that don't work for us anymore until we get to a place where I am now, which is literally the most unfiltered place you can be when you get to a certain age where you just don’t care what anybody thinks and you can tell the truth more fully.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Sound Of A Woman is out on 1st May

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Ruth Wilson – on refusing Botox, being rejected from Oxford and living with her father’s Alzheimer's: swap.fm/l/ZbkfbAmZFOX0zB2u1iiC

Melanie Chisholm – the former Spice girl on mental health, identity and navigating fame: swap.fm/l/OAU4TwoXfjVLvCdrcSYY

Gloria Steinem – my personal hero: on activism, ageing and redefining success: swap.fm/l/WbcOneXzQpdLfYriAQXE

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

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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.org

Guest bookings for How To Fail only come from official @sonymusic.com emails

Elizabeth and Rita answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s guest is a female billionaire: the co-founder and CEO of the Good American inclusive fashion brand and a founding partner of SKIMS, the shapewear and loungewear company. Emma Grede’s close working partnerships with the Kardashian family have led her to become an advocate for empowering women through business.

Now, she’s publishing her first book, Start With Yourself, in which she explores everything from building personal resilience to developing self-forgiveness.

In this episode we discuss her East London mindset, her famously controversial (!) attitude towards work-life balance, being a mother of four (her twins were born via a surrogate) and her experience of miscarriage. Female ambition, fertility, the discomfort of hard work…I’m so grateful to Emma for opening up on subjects that are so often shrouded in silence.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

03:02 Ambition Loves Discomfort

05:57 Growing Up East London

07:31 ‘Too Ambitious’

08:34 East London Business Code

11:15 An Employee Mindset

19:13 Work-Life Balance Myth

26:34 Fearless Hustle Mindset

27:53 ITB Rise and Influencers

29:08 LA Office Ego Crash

31:40 Parenting as a Team

32:56 Fertility Reality Check

38:19 Good American Expansion Misstep

46:25 Mother’s Influence

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

I have always thought about ambition as something that I am entitled to as long as I work for it.

If you want to be extraordinarily successful… Then extraordinary work is required.

You become confident because you know you can get through things and you know what's on the other side of failure.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Emma’s debut book ‘Start With Yourself’ - is available to buy now

The Testaments, a new Hulu original series, streaming exclusively on Disney+

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Melinda French Gates - another extraordinarily successful female philanthropist, who co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization, for 24 years: swap.fm/l/Zr3OTH30YZpvPRiXIkeX

Mo Gawdat - an incredible guest who has been on How to Fail FOUR times - most recently in December last year to talk about the most common mistakes we make in love: swap.fm/l/Daw9T2DZbicGt0aOZZVX

💌 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.org

Elizabeth and Emma answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we are joined by podcasting royalty, Sophie Habboo!

Habboo found fame on Made In Chelsea, E4’s structured-reality show following the lives of affluent 20-something Londoners where she met fellow cast-mate Jamie Laing in 2017. The two began dating - and then launched a media empire. Their podcast, NearlyWeds was an instant hit and was rebranded as NewlyWeds when they got married in 2023.

Habboo now runs the hugely successful JamPot podcast production company with her husband and the two served as executive producers on Raising Chelsea, a new three-part Disney+ documentary following the couple as they face the messy, scary and comic reality of becoming parents for the first time.

In this episode Sophie talks openly about her feelings of overwhelm and anxiety in the run up to their wedding, her ADHD diagnosis, the challenges of being a new mum and the importance of setting boundaries.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

03:50 Family Roots And Motherhood

06:39 Ziggy Bay And Marathon Madness

08:35 Failure One: No Boundaries

10:23 One Day Office Job Disaster

16:01 Wedding Overwhelm And ADHD

20:52 Insecurities and Social Situations

21:53 Anxiety and Imposter Feelings

23:05 Therapy and Psychic Rituals

24:18 Sponsor Break The Testaments

26:12 Motherhood and Fear of Failing

29:36 Love Story With Jamie

33:54 A Surprise Voice Note

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

I do always have imposter syndrome and maybe even as a mother... I really struggle with ‘mum guilt’.

Had I been diagnosed with ADHD earlier, I would've been able to understand and have more compassion for myself.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Raising Chelsea is available to watch now on Disney+

The Testaments, a new Hulu original series, streaming April 8 exclusively on Disney+

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Jamie Laing - on anxiety, insecurity and the pressure of fame. Plus his ‘failure’ to have a long-term relationship [spoiler alert: it all worked out just fine!]: swap.fm/l/QXKrzzpg5hULgBpXWMBY

Dorinda Medley - on young widowhood, dealing with anger and what The Real Housewives of New York taught her: swap.fm/l/Q3MPl0zGn9MShaUdGEi4

💌 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.org

Elizabeth and Sophie answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this debut preview episode of History’s Greatest Fails, Elizabeth Day and Dan Jones argue that the story of Richard’s rise and fall (and rise again) is much more modern that you’d first believe. Not least because of the reality-TV-style discovery of his remains under a Leicester council car park in 2022. 
To listen to the full mini-series, head to This is History: History’s Greatest Fails wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube. 
And more about this episode: In many ways, Richard’s alleged ‘failures’ — which include allegedly killing the Princes in the Tower and overseeing the demise of Plantagenet rule — overshadow Richard III as the reformer that also existed. He introduced trial by jury and translated many laws into English. But those facts are not often what’s associated with him. He’s more likely to be seen as the villainous caricature of Shakespeare’s Richard III. 
He died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. And we haven’t been able to stop talking about him since. 
Yes, it’s time to consider the story of England’s last Plantagenet king, Richard III — a centuries-old tangle involving alleged murder, Shakespeare, vanquish and one mighty rediscovery. 
–
A Sony Music Entertainment production. 
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts 
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] 
Learn more about your ad choices. 
Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
––
Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day 
Producer - Alan Weedon 
Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman

Researcher - Phoebe Joyce 
Executive Producer - Simon Poole 

Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day  

Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of content - Chris Skinner 
Special thanks to Alex Lawless, Hannah Talbot, and Selina Ream

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy Jackson Westwick is a major Bollywood film star with some 14 million followers on social media. Yet she grew up in a working class family in Liverpool. So how did a teenager from Merseyside become one of the most recognisable British actors working in Bollywood?

Today on How To Fail, she tells us her story.

We discuss growing up too fast, how she broke free from a cycle of narcissistic relationships and how she now manages a blended family (Amy has two sons - one with her husband, the actor Ed Westwick, and one from a previous partner). Plus: what she learned from her years in Bollywood and why she’s ’a petty cow’.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Intro

03:13 Chasing Security Not Fame

04:08 Finding Yourself Again

06:35 Growing Up Too Fast

06:50 Liverpool Childhood Roots

11:27 Pageants to Bollywood Break

24:04 Perfect Family Fantasy

25:21 Romanticising Love

26:40 Back To Back Relationships

27:30 People Pleasing Patterns

29:06 Narcissists And Boundaries

31:53 Leaving And Healing

36:39 Blended Family Reality

39:52 Step Parenting Rules

47:05 Listening To Yourself

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

Security comes in so many different forms - and for me it's peace of mind.

If it doesn't feel right, then it's not right... you've got to actually know how you're feeling and not be afraid to voice it.

[On narcissistic relationships]: I confused controlling behavior for somebody who was loving and caring, and in actual fact it was the complete opposite.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Amy’s podcast ‘What’s the Tea Amy?’ is out now

The Testaments, a new Hulu original series, streaming April 8 exclusively on Disney+

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Lily Allen - on early fame, mistakes, relationships and motherhood: swap.fm/l/8Otj3tpmbH5SF4xjVHTJ

Gillian Anderson - on body image, rebellion and refusing to fit in with other people’s expectations: swap.fm/l/7NyZMzkfVOpGyDtlB6k0

💌 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.org

Elizabeth and Amy answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices