Tuppence Middleton: ‘You never really will have control, and that’s okay’ | 4
How Do You Cope?
Wondery
5 • 695 Ratings
🗓️ 10 March 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do you navigate everyday life when you can’t trust your own mind?
John is joined by actor Tuppence Middleton, best known for her role in the Downton Abbey films, to talk about her lifelong battles with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD.
Diagnosed with the condition in childhood after a mystery illness, Tuppence describes her experience of OCD as ‘living with a nest of scorpions’ inside her brain. She talks about surrendering to her compulsive thoughts, her reluctance to have therapy, and how becoming a mother has affected her condition.
On Thursday in our bonus episode The Gratitude List, Tuppence shares the 5 things that she is currently grateful for.
Tuppence’s new book ’Scorpions: A Memoir’ is out now.
You can send in your thoughts and reflections to [email protected], or follow the show on Instagram and TikTok @howdoyoucopepod.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to episodes of How Do You Cope early and ad-free? |
| 0:04.7 | Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:09.2 | This advert is brought to you by Macmillan Cancer Support, a registered charity. |
| 0:14.1 | If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, the Macmillan online community is here. |
| 0:19.6 | Macmillan's online community is open 24-7. |
| 0:23.0 | It's a free, safe space to connect with people who get what it's like to have cancer. |
| 0:27.6 | You can browse groups, ask questions to an expert, share your experience, or just see what |
| 0:32.6 | others have to say. On the online community, no question is too big, too small or too personal. Their members have all |
| 0:39.7 | been there too. Plus, it's completely anonymous. Search McMillan online community today. |
| 0:49.0 | Hello and welcome to How Do You Cope with me, John Robbins. |
| 0:57.1 | This is the podcast where I sit down with a range of very special guests to ask them the question, |
| 1:01.5 | How Do You Cope? |
| 1:02.6 | Because we all face different challenges in life, and we handle them in completely different ways. |
| 1:07.7 | Today's guest is the actor Tuppance Middleton. |
| 1:10.7 | Tuppance made her first television appearance in the show Bones |
| 1:13.4 | in 2008, and two years later it was nominated for the most promising newcomer at the Evening Standard |
| 1:19.0 | Film Awards. Since then, she's starred in the films The Imitation Game, Jupiter ascending, |
| 1:24.4 | and Downton Abbey a new era. On television screens, she's acted in a range of shows |
| 1:29.1 | from the BBC adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace to Charlie Brooker's acclaimed Black Mirror. |
| 1:35.0 | Tuppence has lived with obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD since childhood. Her first book, |
| 1:40.4 | the recently released Scorpions A Memoir, details her journey with a condition in intricate and |
| 1:45.6 | immersive detail. In the book, she likens her intrusive thoughts to a nest of scorpions |
... |
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