Author Jojo Moyes: Me Before You, Rejection & Starting Again In Her 40s

Begin Again with Davina McCall

FlightStory

Education, Society & Culture, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.7 • 970 Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2026

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if success is not the end of the story, but the beginning of becoming yourself? In this episode of Begin Again, bestselling author Jojo Moyes joins Davina to talk about rejection, reinvention, and the story behind becoming one of the world’s most loved writers in midlife. Jojo opens up about the years before Me Before You, when books were rejected, sales were low, and she wondered whether she would have to find a new career. Then everything changed. Her work went on to sell millions around the world, but success brought new challenges: emotional responsibility, pressure, and the painful realisation that she had no boundaries. Davina and Jojo also explore childhood loneliness, becoming fiercely independent, learning to ask for help, and the cost of always saying yes. They discuss why achieving the life you once dreamed of does not protect you from having to begin again. Jojo speaks honestly about divorce, and how even when it is messy and complicated, handling it with kindness can bring a clarity you never expected. They talk about identity, midlife loneliness, dating again and motherhood. How ambition and trusting yourself are the secrets to protecting your peace after years of pushing through. At its heart, this is a conversation about what happens when the life you dreamed of finally arrives, and you still have to learn how to live inside it. Jojo Moyes reminds us that beginning again is not about starting from nothing. It is about learning to honour who you are now, not just who you had to become to survive. Buy We All Live Here: https://amzn.to/4dQHepU 🌟 Follow for more honest conversations about identity, growth, and beginning again. Follow us here:📸 www.instagram.com/beginagain🎥 https://www.tiktok.com/@beginagainpod ✨Follow Jojo: https://www.instagram.com/jojomoyesofficial/?hl=en ✨Sign up for the Begin Again newsletter for all your behind the scenes access, recommendations and much much more at: https://linkly.link/2g2xm (00:00) Intro (02:07) What Is A Narcissist? (09:26) Identifying A Narcissist (15:48) The Different Types Of Narcissists (21:57) How Narcissistic Parents Affect Their Children (30:08) What Is Gaslighting? Narcissism In Relationships (34:18) Shopify Ad (35:19) Why Some People Are Attracted To Narcissists (43:47) Why It’s So Hard To Leave A Narcissistic Relationship (53:15) Narcissism In Kids (01:03:29) Why People Go Back To Narcissists (01:06:04) Narcissism In The Workplace Sponsored by: Do Health - The waitlist is open. Begin Again listeners get fixed early access pricing when they sign up today at dohealth.co/beginagain use code BEGINAGAIN Saily - Download from the app store and use code DAVINA at the checkout for 15% off Shopify - Shopify.co.uk for £1 a month trial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Six rejections come back. I'd written three books by then. But then I pitched me before you.
0:04.9	I went from selling a handful to 60 million. And that all happened in my 40s and 50s.
0:10.7	Wow. Jojo. You are a fantastic wordsmith and a worldwide bestseller writer.
0:16.2	Me before you went round the world. I used to joke that I was like a cockroach. Terrible things can happen,
0:22.6	but there is something in me that just keeps plowing on. If I'm honest, I would have liked to feel
0:28.6	less lonely. But I read a lovely thing recently, which was, I bet you turned into the adult that
0:34.4	you needed as a child. Oh God, sorry.
0:37.6	What are you doing to me?
0:38.9	I'm sorry.
0:40.7	I was trying on versions of myself and then suddenly in a newsroom, I suddenly had a focus.
0:48.1	You getting into journalism was the first step towards the power of the written work. So I wrote me before you and suddenly got so
0:57.4	many offers of work in Hollywood. What happened then? My mum died and I got divorced and then it was
1:04.2	just survives. That's a lot of grief. The world will have its way with you. You just have to keep bouncing back. I want to ask you
1:12.5	about dating in midlife, but also your top bits of advice for anybody watching this who is
1:18.4	getting divorced. The very, very first thing is... First of all, I just want to say welcome to our
1:25.8	humble abode, JoJo.
1:29.6	Do you know, it's funny because we've met before.
1:30.7	We did.
1:33.8	We met quite a strange period of both our lives, I think.
1:37.0	And I want to tell you that I knew we were kindred spirits.
1:42.1	Well, we cut straight to the bristle, didn't we, that evening? And I couldn't wait to get you on here because of the number of times that you have pivoted or begun again.
1:52.5	And I love the way that you are able to verbalise that because obviously you are a fantastic
	...

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