Michelle De Swarte on the currency of beauty, money and the void from ageing
Changes with Annie Macmanus
Annie Macmanus
4.6 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2024
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Model turned comedian Michelle de Swarte’s life story has more twists and turns than most novels. A born and bred South Londoner, Michelle was scouted aged 19 and moved to New York to begin her modelling career working for the likes of Dolce and Gabbana and Versace. After two decades on the runway Michelle started doing stand up comedy and eventually moved back to London. Now making it as a successful writer and actor, Michelle is constantly evolving and redefining what it means to live life on your own terms. Her critically acclaimed BBC sitcom ‘Spent’, came out in July. Both written by and starring Michelle, it’s a hilarious, loosely autobiographical story of a bankrupt, ex model navigating the realities of her new life.
In this funny yet reflective episode, Michelle brings her deadpan humour to dive into the extreme amount of change that she has gone through, discussing her upbringing being raised by her single mother, her queer grandmother, her time as a model and what working in the industry was actually like. Annie and Michelle also talk about Michelle’s transition into comedy, money, the currency of beauty and how modelling young taught her the dangers of everyone curating their life on social media today.
Watch Spent now on BBC Iplayer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Changes. It is Annie here. We are well into September and we launched our new series last week with the wonderful best-selling |
| 0:14.6 | author Bella Mackie who gave a just a real honest and raw turn as a guest on changes and she really did have a big impact on a lot of you guys |
| 0:26.2 | especially in how she spoke about her journey with mental illness her chronic anxiety and her O. C. D. It's where when you hear someone |
| 0:36.6 | speak so vulnerable and so openly about their own relationship with mental illness. |
| 0:43.0 | So we thank Bella for that. |
| 0:45.0 | There was so many heartfelt comments from you guys. |
| 0:48.0 | So thank you to Immigrant Barnes, who said, |
| 0:50.0 | I've never felt so heard before. |
| 0:52.0 | Thank you, Bella Mackie, for breaking the stigma and putting into words what |
| 0:55.3 | crippling anxiety really feels like. Thanks to Sue, who said, I was that little girl too, crying in class, and then a mental breakdown at 21. |
| 1:05.2 | No one understood at all and therapy was almost non-existent. |
| 1:08.4 | I'm 45 now and suffered on and off with depression and anxiety, |
| 1:12.0 | I've spent hundreds on anything that might help. |
| 1:14.3 | Crystals, hobbies like Egyptian dancing, everything. I've been thinking recently |
| 1:20.1 | when I will feel cured so it's good to hear it's okay to always have to work on it. |
| 1:25.3 | Thank you also to Lisa who said what a great conversation between you and Bellamaki |
| 1:29.5 | Annie just love the humor the realness and the honesty where these days. |
| 1:34.0 | So yeah, so glad to be able to launch the series with something that has impacted you guys |
| 1:39.4 | and really you know resonated with so many of you and really delighted to bring you our next |
| 1:45.2 | episode so my guest today is the comedian writer and actor Michelle DeSworts |
| 1:51.3 | Michelle's life story reads like an epic novel. She grew up in Council Flat and a |
| 1:56.8 | woman's refuge in South London. Then she was scouted as a model and moved to |
... |
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