‘Even today, the cost continues’: Christie Whelan Browne on speaking out

You might know her best from Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell, but over the past 20 years, Christie Whelan Browne has become one of the most in-demand stars of the Australian stage, appearing in Britney Spears: The Cabaret, The Producers, Shane Warne: The Musical and Muriel's Wedding. But the thing that has kept her in the headlines is no laughing matter – the allegations of sexual harassment she made against her Rocky Horror Show co-star Craig McLachlan in late 2017. Today, Whelan Browne takes a break from rehearsing a musical version of All About Eve to chat about everything from our shifting attitudes to Britney Spears, the joy of an IVF baby and the stress of living through three very public court cases over six years. Today's episode is hosted by senior culture writer, Karl Quinn.   Further reading Karl Quinn's story 'Even today, the cost continues.' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Fran Lebowitz was growing up in suburban New Jersey in the 1950s, she won a school award for being “the Class Wit” – and in her 50-year career as a writer and speaker, she’s repeatedly earned that label. Among her countless famous aphorisms, this zinger: "The best fame is a writer's fame. It's enough to get a table at a good restaurant, but not enough to get you interrupted when you eat." As a writer herself, Lebowitz has published two best-selling collections of essays – and a children’s book – but today she’s better known as a public intellectual, renowned for her acerbic social commentary, sardonic wit, and iconic status in the cultural life of New York City. Lebowitz joins us ahead of her Australian speaking tour for a chat about everything from the nightmare of long-haul plane travel for smokers, to the only monogamous love of her life: her 1979 Checker Marathon car. Today's episode is hosted by Good Weekend senior writer Amanda Hooton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Luke Bateman is perhaps Australia’s most unlikely book critic – a former rugby league star and recovered gambling addict who works as a logger on a remote Queensland property. While hardly your average inner-city literary type, Bateman had always loved reading – especially fantasy books – but living in the bush with only black snakes for company, had no one to talk to about it. So one day in April last year, he posted a clip of himself on TikTok, talking about his love of books. The post made him famous – he now has more than a million social media followers, including Reese Witherspoon. His mission: to make reading cool again, and he is most definitely succeeding. Today's episode is hosted by Good Weekend senior writer Tim Elliott.(Please note, this conversation deals with difficult topics – from addiction to suicide. If you are seeking help, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe has made a career out of chasing the kinds of stories that most people would be wise to leave alone. The New Yorker writer is drawn to powerful institutions and the people at their heart – from the Sackler dynasty, whose pharmaceutical company created the opioid painkiller OxyContin, in Empire of Pain, to the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in Say Nothing. His latest book, London Falling, delves into the story of 19-year-old Briton Zac Brettler, who had been living a double life, pretending to be the son of a Russian oligarch, before he mysteriously fell to his death from a luxury apartment building in London. Radden Keefe, the so-called “journalist’s journalist”, joins us to discuss London Falling, the ethics of true-crime reporting, and a reporter’s need for scepticism. Plus, we get our own scoop on what he might tackle next – and why it could bring him to Australia. Today’s episode is hosted by Spectrum editor Melanie Kembrey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New York food writer, editor and podcaster Laurie Woolever spent the early years of her career assisting two very famous chefs: first Mario Batali, then Anthony Bourdain, for whom she worked for nine years. Woolever was also, for much of this time, an addict – using alcohol, marijuana and sex to get through the ups and downs of work, marriage and motherhood. She writes about all of this in her candid 2025 memoir, Care & Feeding, which suggests that while she did a lot of care and feeding for others, it took some time to learn how to do it for herself.Hosting today’s episode is Good Weekend senior writer Katrina Strickland.Lifeline: 13 11 14.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marianne Perkovic spent decades working in the finance sector. In 2006, she was the youngest chief executive of an ASX-listed company and in 2018, as a banking executive, she faced a grilling at a royal commission. This is not the standard path for nailing the best seat at Australian Fashion Week. In fact, becoming executive chair of the Australian Fashion Council in 2023 was meant to be her “fun board” (while giving her couture credibility with her two daughters).Perkovic joins us to discuss her unlikely role determining the future of fashion in this country, and how she wrested control of Australian Fashion Week in her best Carla Zampatti outfit. She’s also the subject of a profile in the current issue of Good Weekend – "Seriously invested" – and today's episode is hosted by the writer of that piece, fashion editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Damien Woolnough. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Good Weekend Talks celebrates 300 episodes in May, and to observe the occasion we’re hosting a special live event podcast at the Melbourne Writers Festival, where Good Weekend deputy editor Konrad Marshall will be on stage in conversation with the iconic environmentalist, Bob Brown. We’re pleased to offer a 10 per cent discount on a limited number of tickets to the event. Just hit this hyperlink  and then enter the promo code “GOOD10”, while tickets last.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephanie Alexander is a national icon: an internationally renowned cooking guru, best-selling writer and inspirational founder of a nationwide kitchen-garden scheme for schoolkids. She's also the final arbiter of kitchen disputes in homes all over Australia – resolving disagreements about how to store tomatoes and when to take the sponge out of the oven – as the author of Australia's most famous cookbook, The Cook's Companion. The 2.8-kilogram culinary doorstopper turns 30 this year, and Alexander joins Good Weekend senior writer Amanda Hooton for a chat about restaurants and writing, eating and air-fryers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Carr has done hard jobs before. He was premier of NSW for 10 years, and later served as foreign minister under Julia Gillard’s government. But when his beloved wife, Helena, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 2023, he faced the hardest job of his life – learning how to live without her. Carr worked through his deep shock and sadness by obsessively walking the Sydney streets he once presided over as premier, often weeping as he did so. He knows he made his friends uncomfortable by talking too much about Helena’s death at dinner parties. The silence of their shared Maroubra home was unbearable. Carr joins us to discuss his grief memoir, Bring Back Yesterday, about the loss of Helena and scrounging his way forward into what he calls “the left-over life” – a life still full of pleasures like reading, opera and the foam of a wave on your face as you enter the ocean. Today's episode is hosted by Sydney Morning Herald senior writer and columnist Jacqueline Maley.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we talk to Courtney Barnett, who broke into the musical mainstream a little over a decade ago as an Aussie singer-songwriter with deadpan delivery, with work veering from the witty and rambling to something evoking Margaret Atwood. The Grammy-nominated artist chats to Konrad Marshall from her home in Los Angeles, where she's about to release her fourth album, "Creature of Habit".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kathy Lette is a comic writer and pioneering voice in contemporary feminism whose first book, Puberty Blues, was published in 1979. Co-authored with Gabrielle Carey, it catapulted her into the public eye, horrifying her headmistress mother with its graphic depictions of teenage sex and drug taking. She has subsequently written 21 best-selling books and today speaks with The Sydney Morning Herald’s deputy opinion editor, Margot Saville, ahead of the release of her newest novel, The Sisterhood Rules.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.