Uplifting women: Heidi Anderson’s Champagne Confidence Podcast

It’s taken a good decade for former radio host Heidi Anderson to be able to confidently say she loves the skin she’s in.

Helping to uplift other women is the focus of Heidi’s new podcast Champagne Confidence.

Back in 2012, Heidi revealed live on air the tortuous relationship she had with her body.

She told radio listeners how she couldn’t look in the mirror without feeling an overwhelming sense of disgust.

“I wish I could sit here and tell you that I love myself because that’s what people expect me to say, but I can’t. I absolutely hate my body.”

In 2015, Heidi told Radio Today of her pride in the emotional rollercoaster that was the Happiness Project, which began after she read a book called The Happiness Trap by Dr Russ Harris.

“The book is based on scientific research around the psychological trap and vicious cycle we tend to spend so much of our lives in. The harder we strive for happiness, the further away we get from it.”

“He guides you through processes and techniques to start living and get out of your head. I’m fixated with losing the last five kilos in weight. I use the term “The Last Five Kilos” as a metaphor to describe the last hurdle in your quest for happiness. “The Last Five Kilos” could be absolutely anything. I wrote an article about this in my column for a local publication Perth Now, I was then contacted by so many people who wanted to join me on the quest.”

Now, in an interview with the West Australian, Heidi says “I still remember, I used to look in the mirror and every single nasty thing I could say about myself would come up.”

“I always felt pretty confident in my personality because I could make people laugh, but it was when I started talking about body image issues on radio that my whole world changed.”

Her self-love journey began when hundreds of people called in.

Ten years down the track – after stints including a lucrative radio gig as part of Heidi, Will and Woody and welcoming her son Memphis into the world – there’s been a dramatic shift.

Now, she’s building up other women to realise their potential. Women who want to wear that bikini on the beach, but are too worried about what other people might think.

Champagne Confidence is described as a how-to podcast, embodying the spirit of the girl at the party who’s had a couple of glasses of bubbly. She’s effervescent, outgoing and doesn’t care what other people think.

The new podcast combines Heidi’s storytelling with new ways of getting out of her comfort zone, with new episodes to drop on Sunday evenings.