DORÉ

What a season, what a season!!! Today is the last podcast of our first season and I can’t tell you how happy and proud I am of the wonderful stories and guests we’ve been able to listen to. We’ll be back in September, but in the meantime I didn’t want to let you go without coming back to my favorite moments from Pardon My French.

I started PMF because in this faster and faster paced world, I wanted to take the time to sit down and really talk with people that inspire me. You’ll see that my favorite themes, the ones like finding yourself, your creativity and your art of life – all while keeping a sense of humor – are definitely covered in the most beautiful, meaningful ways.

Here are some of our favorite moments. But first, let’s talk about how our guests found their way…

[podcast_episode episode=”255016″ ]

Knowing what you want to be from a young age is a pretty rare and special privilege. Many of our guests reminded us to embrace our inner selves, our budding desire to create, and the support of those around us in order to grow into the people we’re meant to be.

MICHAEL KORS
On trying certain things and knowing they are not your calling…
I took acting lessons. I looked around and I thought, I can’t dance, I can’t sing, I’m in a room full of people who are all very talented and at the end of the day, the minute I would leave my acting class, as a teenager, all I wanted to do was go shopping. I just wanted to be surrounded by fashion. So, I tried things and I was self-aware enough to know that, you know what, you like it, but it’s not meant to be your calling.

MICHELLE MONAGHAN
On having a supportive upbringing…
I think so much of my success came with the foundation and the way in which I was raised. And I witnessed it so much with my folks and the way they embraced children and the power of faith, like never underestimate your child and believing in your sons or daughters. Really having that encouragement set the groundwork for who I am today.

PHILLIP LIM
On following what excites him…
I wanted to find where I belonged. I didn’t have a dream. Some people have dreams early on, and that’s amazing and you should follow you dreams. I just had to follow what interested me and excited me. The thought of putting on new clothes or turning something into something else, that’s like winning the lottery to me.

CORINNE BAILEY RAE
On knowing that music was going to be a career…
I started a band called Hellen when I was 15 with my two best friends and my boyfriend at the time. Just the fact that you could think of a song, go and practice in someone’s bedroom or living room, and then go into a bar or club and stand on stage and play it, and the audience actually believed it was a real song.

GAD ELMALEH
On the pressure of fame and embracing taking a break…
I really like being anonymous. It’s really enjoyable. What I discovered is that being anonymous helps me to create because I am not stopped in my thoughts, in my creativity. I can walk for hours and think about my stuff and my new material. It’s very enjoyable. I love it.

Sometimes screwing up is inevitable. But it also teaches you about strengths, weaknesses, and knowing when to ask for help.

ZOSIA MAMET
On the hardest part of having an epiphany…
The hardest thing about having an epiphany is what you do after you have it. You can have as many epiphanies as you want but it’s how you then apply that newfound knowledge to your life that actually makes the change.

JOAN JULIET BUCK
On what writing the book showed her…
I don’t have anything to show for my life except what’s in my heart and that’s what I put in the book. And by writing the book, I realized actually, it has a been a full rich life. I just didn’t take the swag bags, the trophies or try to get the golden ring.

GWYNETH PALTROW
On role models…
I think it’s a really good challenge to have no role models and not to say, I want to do it exactly like she did it. And instead say no, I’m creating my own path, I have no role models here and I’m going to do this my own way.

CLARE VIVIER
On learning the business side as a creative…
There are so many creative people who don’t know how to run a business. I think the thing we always have to keep in mind is what we don’t know how to do. And how we can surround ourselves with people who do know how to do the things we don’t know.

JENNY SLATE
On not avoiding mistakes…
Mistakes never seemed like something to avoid. It just seemed like being active was the most important thing and you’ll make mistakes, but restriction, repression, those are the things that lead to you to make mistakes that are harder to recover from.

Accepting who you are is not easy. Insecurities are a natural part of being human, but remembering to have perspective on the big picture will aid in not letting them eat you alive.

ROSE BYRNE
On the pressure of perfection in the entertainment industry…
Probably when I was younger I was more worried about that kind of stuff and I think as I’ve gotten older, I have become more relaxed in terms of that idea for perfection of your career or your physicality or whatever it might be, especially in this business. I think I have become more laid back about it and have become more stressed out about other things.

KERRY DIAMOND
On feeling okay not knowing everything…
I don’t pretend to know more than I really do and I’m not chef obsessed. You meet a lot of people who are, do you know this person or have you been to this place? I don’t get intimidated by what I don’t know. I’m fine saying I have no idea what restaurant you’re talking about, I don’t know that chef or that thing and I’ve never had a cronut or whatever!

ESTHER PEREL
On how insecurities change over time…
I’m not describing another species. I’m very much a part of the whole thing. And you have the insecurities when you’re young, and you have the insecurities when you’re less young. As a conclusion I say, if I had the confidence of today with the looks of then! When I had the looks I felt very bad inside, and when I have lesser looks I actually feel quite good! Cause I have experience, maturity and I care a little bit less about – does everybody love me?

HILARY SWANK
On comparing yourself to others…
If I am in a place where I’m comparing myself, it’s the quickest way to not feel good about yourself. That is someone else’s journey. It’s ok to say things like, that person has achieved this and I look up to that and that’s something I want to achieve, and if that makes you work harder, that’s healthy.

DAPHNE JAVITCH
On taming the negative voice in your head…
Quieting that voice, even though she’s still kind of around sometimes, but significantly adjusting that and building a friendship with myself, that is a life changing experience.

JESSI KLEIN
On how having a child changed the way she felt about herself…
I wore two skirts for a year. That’s not an exaggeration. Two skirts from Splendid, maxi skirts with elastic and a t-shirt. And I was like, I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks because I created a person and I’m keeping them alive and this is the most I can do, and fuck if anyone cares.

How do you thrive in a world that’s ever changing? Wanting change is one thing, actually fostering it is another. Words of wisdom on making $h!t happen.

JESSI KLEIN
On the importance of showing up…
Women need to feel like showing up, to march, in your own life, in a really honest, brave way makes a huge difference. It really does.

HILARY SWANK
On making the most of our time…
I really feel we have to step into our life every single day and be disciplined about what’s important to us and not put off tomorrow what you can do today. And I know it sounds so cliché, but it’s so true.

ISABEL MARANT
On finding the positive aspects of Instagram…
The internet is a beautiful thing. There are beautiful people on instagram and there is no barrier between an artist and a managing label. They post a song and they don’t have to pass through labels and it’s just fantastic!! I wish it’s going to happen for fashion because I believe there is a ton of talent and it’s a fast quick way to show your work and your personality by passing through press and a fashion show that costs a fortune. I love this opening window for the world and you can really exchange and find people who have the same ideas as you. I just love it. It’s going to change the world.

ROSE MCGOWAN
On what we can do to be more conscious and help others…
Hire women. Do it on purpose. If it doesn’t work out, hire another one. But more than that, in your own life, when you see those billboards, do something about it. When you see, hear men, gay or straight, or other women, talking smack about other women, or saying things that are negative, correct them. And then say, would you like to get a drink? People always think it has to be this huge confrontation, it really doesn’t.

All right, now, there are times to be serious, and there are times to laugh until you feel abs forming. Some of our favorite funny moments with our very funny guests.

ROSE MCGOWAN
On dating in L.A….
I was living in Silver Lake and I dated somebody in Venice for like a month, and I was like, you’re geographically too far, I can’t do it. And then I went out with someone in New York for three years right after that. And that was easier than going to Venice from the other side of L.A.!

GAD ELMALEH
On wishing there was a perfume detector…
You know what, I dated a girl and I think she was the most beautiful girl I have ever talked to in my life. In London. A model. But, she put perfume in her hair. But not the perfume where you are like, oh what is going on, no a perfume that my aunt in Marrakech wore that reminds me of when I was a kid. My big, fat aunt who was screaming at us as kids. So it’s impossible.

EMILY MORTIMER
On the being able to share weird, dark thoughts with your best friend…
You can say the worst, weirdest, most screwed up stuff that goes on inside your head and you know the other person is not only going to forgive and understand you but they’ll love you a little bit more because you admitted to it.

INDIA MAHDAVI
On humor in her work…
You’re sitting on this sofa, it can be used as a daybed, so you could lie down on it. So it is called Oedipe. When you’re speaking about your complex, oedipe is complex, you could be lying down with a shrink!

CAROLINE DE MAIGRET
On finding out there’s an age limit to plastic surgery…
I went to the dermatologist to show them a beauty spot on my ear, last week. He said, so well get naked and let me take a look at everything and said everything is fine. But, what are you going to do about your face? I was like “what?” and he was like, “yeah, you know it’s almost too late because now if we start doing injections it’s going to change the way you look.”

JESSI KLEIN
On getting a job in the Development Department at Comedy Central…
I was going to temp for someone because they’d fired their assistant. I was cool enough, could Xerox and send FedEx, and they were like, you’re amazing! The bar was very low.

And the best of the podcast. Some of our favorite rapid fire questions, like what’s your favorite swear word? (It’s called Pardon My French after all!)

What advice would you give to your 20 year old self?

Elle Macpherson: Not to worry so much, it’s all going to be alright in the end. If it’s not alright, it’s not the end.

Anna Bond:Nobody really knows what they’re doing. I feel like everyone is sort of faking it until they make it.

Grace Bonney: Don’t be afraid to pivot and change.

Jenny Slate: Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Gail Simmons:Not be afraid to be who I am, instead of who people want me to be.

Hilary Swank: Don’t worry so much, that’s still my advice to myself.

Ok, we got it. Basically, just relax! And so, what does a happy life mean to you?

Gwyneth Paltrow: I think to like yourself. If you like yourself, your life is happy.

India Mahdavi: A happy life means several things. One is to be in accordance to your dreams as a young person, second is that you enjoy your everyday life, and it’s also being surrounded with people you love.

Jenny Slate: Being able to go full out with how much you love another person. To fully trust them and for them to trust you. Partnership. And evolving creative expression.

Jessi Klein: At least a little nugget of joy every day, friends and health.

Rose McGowan: Solitude and peace and women and children and people not being hurt.

Hilary Swank: A happy life to me is having the freedom and ability to make a choice.

But, wait!….We can’t forget Pocket PMF!

These are the shorter episodes where we often cover more intimate subjects like sex in the beginning of a relationship and what things we’d never do behind closed doors…..we got words of wisdom and secrets to a successful marriage….and we talked about the reasons behind our tattoos….

Thank you so much for listening and sharing with the people you love. Thanks you for taking us with you on your car rides, taking us with with you on the subway or on your daily walks, and also don’t forget to take us to the beach!!

I’m so happy I took the chance to try something new with Pardon My French and I’m so excited to come back in September with new amazing guests. Love you guys! Happy summer!