Jennifer Weiner on Ozempic, ageing and growing some boundaries!

The Shift with Sam Baker

Sam Baker Ltd

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.8 • 525 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guest today is the bestselling American novelist Jennifer Weiner. I first encountered Jen When her debut novel, Good In Bed, was thrust into my hands by someone I worked with on Company magazine. It was the first time I’d ever read a mainstream novel whose lead character was a fat woman who didn’t need fixing. Good In Bed was a smash hit on both sides of the atlantic but for some reason it has taken until now to make its way to the big screen. It’s being adapted for HBO and starring Mindy Kaling. Jen followed that up with In Her Shoes which was also made into a movie, starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley Maclaine. And since then she’s written 15 more novels, and an essay collection, as a well as writing a column for the New York Times. Like Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes Jen has an unerring talent for being able to make you laugh and cry and nod in recognition all on the very same page. Her latest, The Griffin Sister’s Greatest Hits, is another surefire hit, tackling sisterhood, our relationships with our bodies, how we’re endlessly judged on our looks and the way the world - and the music industry - treats women. Jen joined me from home in Philadelphia to talk so much good stuff. We discussed Trump, Nora Ephron, body image, ageing, her mum coming out, wishing she had her daughter’s boundaries, why she loves writing middle aged women and so much more. * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠, including The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠. • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠ • The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Production. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Jamie Lang and Sophie Haboo have arrived on Disney Plus.
0:04.5	We're having a baby.
0:05.5	We're having a baby.
0:07.2	I've always wanted to be mom.
0:09.4	And we're bringing you on our journey through everything.
0:12.4	I have no idea what we're doing.
0:13.6	Thank you. I have more of an idea.
0:15.6	I think of it like a Tamagocchi.
0:17.8	At the end of all of this...
0:20.0	We're going to have a little baby.
0:21.8	Raising Chelsea, a Hulu original series streaming exclusively on Disney Plus.
0:27.3	18 plus subscription required T's and T supply.
0:35.0	Hello and welcome to The Shift.
0:37.3	The podcast aims to tell the no-holds bar truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by me, writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker.
0:45.9	My guest today is the best-selling American novelist, Jennifer Weiner.
0:50.5	I first encountered Jennifer when her debut novel, Good in Bed, was thrust into my hands by someone I worked with on Company magazine.
0:59.0	It was the first time I'd ever read a mainstream novel whose lead character was a fat woman who didn't need fixing.
1:05.8	Good In Bed was a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic, but for some reason, it's taken until now to make
1:11.8	its way to the screen. It's being adapted by HBO as we speak and starring Mindy Kaling.
1:18.3	Jen followed that up within her shoes, which was also made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz,
1:23.4	Tony Collette and Shirley MacLean. And since then, she's written 15 more novels and an essay
1:29.3	collection, as well as writing a column for the New York Times. Like Jojo Moise and Marion Keys,
	...

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