Marisa Abela - ‘You never expect to be told you have cancer at 23’

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You’ll know Marisa Abela from HBO’s critically acclaimed hit Industry, where her portrayal of Yasmin - a brilliant, volatile young woman with ambition to burn, earned her a BAFTA. She also starred as Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Back to Black and now returns for the hotly anticipated fourth season of Industry. In this conversation, Marisa spills the beans on her first audition for Industry, why her acting is inspired by The Real Housewives (yes, really) and what we can expect from the new season. We also reflect on her troubled teenage years - and how she was ‘a terror’ to live with, as well as her shock diagnosis with thyroid cancer at the age of 23. Through the subsequent intensive surgery and recovery process, Marisa learned the importance of women advocating for themselves and their own bodies in a culture where women’s health is often overlooked and under-researched. Still just 29, Marisa is remarkably self-aware and wise beyond her years. As an Industry superfan myself, I adored chatting to her and I hope you love the episode too. If you do, please rate, review and hit the follow button! ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Intro 03:15 Drama School and Early Failures 04:23 Navigating Pressure 07:33 Teenage Struggles 27:13 Health Crisis in 2020 29:30 Diagnosis 30:30 Surgery and Recovery During the Pandemic 32:01 The Impact on Body Image 35:36 Advocating for Women's Health 38:45 Support and Love 40:32 Getting Married! 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: At a certain point, the regret of not doing a thing is worse than the fear of rejection. I really do believe that your body has a way of telling you that something's actually wrong and we should listen to it. All of the good things and all of the bad things are what make you, you - and without all of the bad things, I wouldn’t be who I am 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Industry airs on BBC One on 12 January and will be on iPlayer. In the US it airs on HBO on 11 January. Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 📚 WANT MORE? Jessie Ware - reflects on motherhood, ambition and how losing control ultimately taught her to redefine success swap.fm/l/8cUuwGs4vc7tAXiPcDab Letitia Wright - on bullying, rejection and the power of faith on her journey from self-doubt to global success swap.fm/l/orHGF9VMU6s1FOH3bupc Ella Purnell - on growing up in the industry, perfectionism and anxiety. Plus: learning to let go of self-criticism in order to survive and thrive swap.fm/l/8w1oCcVmNutX8qv83MbN 💌 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 Marisa answer live audience questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://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: Suhaar Ali 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 podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This month, we are partnering with Pink Lady Apples.
0:03.8	Hello and welcome to How to Fail.
0:06.4	This is the podcast that believes failure is not a verdict on your character,
0:10.5	rather it's how you respond to it that counts.
0:13.8	Before we get started on this conversation,
0:16.0	please do remember to subscribe and follow so that you never miss a single episode.
0:20.8	The truth is the first ever re-through of industry.
0:25.3	Season one, I was so nervous.
0:28.6	I was cast last.
0:30.1	What was slightly difficult about Back to Black was that there were paparazzi on set whilst we were filming.
0:36.7	Went for the biopsy, got a phone call a couple weeks later saying
0:41.0	it is cancer. This episode is brought to you by Airbnb. I wanted to tell you about one of my
0:48.5	favourite recent trips. Early this month, Justin and I stayed in the most gorgeous Airbnb apartment in Berlin.
0:55.5	We spent our days eating way too much cheese, wandering through Christmas markets with hot chocolate in hand, and exploring some of my favourite corners of the city.
1:05.1	For trips like this, a hotel just never gives us the space or feeling we're after.
1:10.3	Our charming Airbnb was perfect, in a less
1:13.5	touristy neighbourhood but still close to everything. The beautifully-tiled kitchen and cozy living
1:18.6	area became our spot for a pre-dinner aperitivo before heading out into one of my favourite
1:23.8	cities for the evening. I found the place using Airbnb's guest favourites feature.
1:30.0	These are the most loved homes chosen for their stellar reviews and reliability. It makes it so
1:36.0	easy to find the cosiest, cleanest, all around best days, and I can't recommend using it enough.
1:42.8	This episode is brought to you by our friends at Wild Nutrition.
	...

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