Latest news with #HappyPlaceFestival
Fashion Network
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
In real time, Sweaty Betty challenges perfection with 'Ultimate Studio' campaign
The response is a 'grounded and emotive creative platform' that features women practicing yoga in garages, parks, kitchens, and gardens — 'everyday spaces made meaningful through movement'. Directed by the agency's head of creative, James Benn, the work is centred around four documentary-style hero films rolling out across digital, social, print, CRM and retail. Community stories come from collectives such as The Self Love Lab and Basic Space who feature throughout. Within the campaign, Gung Ho will also bring 'Ultimate Studio' to life through a series of on-the-ground activations, beginning with the Ultimate Wellness Retreat in Suffolk. A real life imagining of the Ultimate Studio, based on real insights of what the ultimate yoga space can be, the retreat will include a range of references from the campaign along with contributions from talent such as The Self Love Lab and Inner Landing Studio. 'Ultimate Studio' is also now live across all Sweaty Betty channels, encouraging women everywhere to embrace their bodies, their environment and the notion of sisterhood which remains central to the Sweaty Betty ethos. Additionally, the brand will launch a live programme of inclusive yoga sessions at Fearne Cotton's Happy Place Festival this summer. Sweaty Betty chief marketing officer Kerry Williams said: 'Strategically, Gung Ho just understood the journey we were on with our consumer and brand positioning. The studio space has become so saturated, and we wanted to reassert our authority within this category, with new silhouettes and tactile performance fabrication, that is stylish and secure to perform in. 'We know her ultimate self is only achievable when she makes the first move, and where she chooses to move looks different to all women. Gung Ho and our Sweaty Betty team articulated this narrative perfectly in their storytelling.' Gung Ho chief creative officer Gareth Davies also said: 'This campaign reflects the soul of the brand and the sisterhood it represents. It holds up a mirror to our consumer, showing the strength in her struggle and the power in showing up.'
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Fearne Cotton: "I wasn't doing so well mentally in my old career"
Fearne Cotton is redefining what happiness looks like in her 40s. "It's just maybe a level of average contentment that I'm aiming for – I don't even know if I'm needing to land on happiness," says the podcaster and author. "I'm pretty happy these days when I just feel even and average. I'm not looking for euphoria. "It's about those moments where there's a bit of mental peace and I just feel kind of balanced," the 43-year-old explains. "It's not circumstantial. Before I'd think, [happiness is] being on a holiday with a beautiful beach and no laptop and having a nice cocktail. But actually I could do that and be going mad in my head." The former BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 presenter, who rose to fame first on children's TV and later Top Of The Pops in the early Noughties, says her old TV and radio life "hugely" affected her mental health. "I wasn't doing so well mentally in my old career," says Cotton, who announced her split from husband Jesse Wood in December 2024 after 10 years of marriage. The pair share two children, Rex and Honey, and Cotton is stepmother to Wood's two children from a previous relationship, Arthur and Lola. She's largely left the TV and radio world behind, and says live broadcasting is not a position she wants to put herself in at the moment. "I think it's so exposing, people are incredibly judgmental. "There's no room in traditional media, certainly not when I was growing up as a teenager in the early Noughties, in my 20s, to be thoroughly yourself. "There was no space to fade up the microphone on Radio 1 and say, 'I'm feeling like death today'. You've got to be jolly and play music – so people probably only saw that side of me, and I was terrified to show the other side of me." Cotton – who has been open in sharing her struggles with depression and OCD – started the Happy Place Podcast in 2018, interviewing famous faces and notable people, exploring themes of mental health, wellbeing, and happiness. A year later she launched the Happy Place Festival and now also writes self-help, healthy eating and children's books. "I believe that what I've created, very luckily, is a career where I'm not waiting around to be chosen by anyone because I'm deemed good enough, or popular enough," she says. Cotton considers herself an introvert, but says, "I wonder how much of it is naturally, authentically who I am, and how much of it is almost a response to the more troubling times I've had being in the public eye – where you're so instantly judged and people so easily make assumptions, and you're so hyper alert to what you've said, in case someone takes it the wrong way. "So sometimes I wonder, am I an introvert? Am I naturally someone that likes to be in my own company, or is it just because it feels safer? But, she admits: "I crave being on my own with nothing to do, and then when I'm in it, I'm a bit lost, so I sort of have to push myself, because I actually feel great when I've had a good experience with other people." Connecting with other people is a big theme of both her podcast and festival (now biannually in London and Cheshire). "I hope [people] leave feeling a bit better really. "I know when I'm going through something that feels mentally trying, I always assume I'm the only person on the planet that's ever felt like that, because you get into that sort of narcissistic vortex of hell where you just think no one else has ever had these awful thoughts or felt so low." From guest speakers and workshops to meditation, sound healing and yoga classes, "People have deep conversations off the back of hearing talks, it might make you feel more connected to other people who have been through tricky things. I want people to come together and feel like it's a safe space to explore whatever they're going through in their lives and their heads and [know] they're not alone in it. "Once you have said that thing that you feel awful about in the past, or you're worrying about in the future, or the thing that you're very uncomfortable with, that you couldn't say out loud, I think there's so much power in that, there's an immediate sense of relief." Cotton says she'd be "in trouble" if she didn't go to therapy every week. "I feel lucky I get to do it because it's not always accessible and it's expensive, but I really need that time to talk to someone about what's going on in my head and sift through all the obsessive thinking that I can get stuck in, and [the] negative thought loops". Still says she's "a million times more confident than I was in my 20s – I'm perhaps learning the most about myself than I ever have." When Cotton is feeling off balance, "I usually start to not like myself quite quickly. Like self loathing is never far away, so I have to really watch that… "I start to look at the past and that becomes a bit obsessive, and my OCD kicks in. I might start getting into a bit of an obsessive thought loop, I do some of the more cliche things, like I have to check all the windows are locked and check the ovens are all turned off. But more so, it's the loops of thought that I get stuck in. The OCD is still on off, it's not debilitating." To counteract and rebalance, she loves smaller social occasions. "I like really small dinners, like one-on-one with a mate or two mates. I love painting – it makes me feel absolute euphoria like nothing else, if the painting's gone well. And even cleaning. "I love having my house really tidy. If it's a mess, I cannot cope with life. I have to have everything in its place, neat, with a candle on. I just need everything visually to be in place, so I feel like my head's not such a mess. "I actually enjoy the process of doing that. Every morning, I get up, clean the kitchen before the kids get up, get their lunch boxes sorted or their snack boxes, do a couple of emails. I just like everything being in order. When everything gets a bit chaotic, I don't cope very well." Walking helps, "which sounds so basic", she says, "but there's something about getting out of the house and not being trapped in it all – walking, getting a bit more perspective, seeing other humans. "I'm constantly trying to recalibrate and work out what the best thing is in those moments. I know that yoga is going to suit me better than a HIIT workout." But like any working parent, she does "whatever I can fit in, because the mornings are just absolute chaos!" "So many things you read, it's like, oh, just get up earlier, do half an hour of yoga, make a smoothie. Yeah, if you've got kids and a job… good luck with that one!"
Wales Online
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Fearne Cotton 'out of her depth' as Alex Jones fills in for major milestone
Fearne Cotton 'out of her depth' as Alex Jones fills in for major milestone A number of behind-the-scenes revelations were made on the most recent episode of the Happy Place podcast Fearne Cotton attends the press night performance of "Macbeth" at the Harold Pinter Theatre (Image: 2024 Dave Benett ) Fearne Cotton's successful podcast, Happy Place turns seven this week, and to mark the milestone, Fearne let her friend and BBC One Show host Alex Jones take the reins and interview her for a change. During the episode, they touched on a number of key topics as Fearne, 43, reflected on what she and her team have accomplished over the years, as well as some of the standout moments from interviews, and they also addressed some of Fearne's insecurities and doubts she has had along the way. Discussing the moment when they brought the Happy Place Festival to a larger scale, Fearne said, reflecting on the moment they had when they decided to make the event bigger and better in 2019: 'We went full scale straight away, which was terrifying. Terrifying." For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter She continued: 'I felt completely out of my depth. Huge imposter syndrome when I turned up. Like, this is too big, I don't like it. I don't know how to walk around this and feel ok about this being something we've done, it was just very overwhelming. 'But now I think we see it as just a big celebration, a bi-annual celebration.' Article continues below They also dived into how Happy Place has grown into a full-blown brand, and Fearne didn't shy away from talking about the lows that came before it all kicked off. She noted when she spoke about her career in radio and the backlash that came with being in the limelight: 'I thought it was all true. Every negative thing said about me was true and I left radio. 'I mean, this is sort of like incrementally down the line and I just thought, what am I doing?' What is the point of any of this? 'I had no clue. And I honestly thought at that point maybe I'll just quit everything because it's all too painful and then I wrote a book called Happy and that was the first time I guess I'd talked about anything remotely real because a lot of the time there's no space to do it on radio. 'You've got to entertain people.' Alex agreed with this sentiment, noting: 'You're never the full version of yourself because, and it's not a choice, you can't be.' On the subject of being in the limelight, The One Show host Alex revealed to Fearne, who recently split from husband Jesse Wood, that she: 'Rarely watches anything back" because of her voice 'How am I even on the television?' she questioned but Fearne quickly interjected, saying: 'Because of that voice! The Welsh accent, it's lovely little sing-song dialect, what is not to love?' For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter But Alex responded: 'No! Disgusting', adding: 'I want yours!' Fearne also spoke candidly about mental health, self-worth, and the reality of making mistakes in public in the episode, giving listeners a peek behind the scenes at what it is like to produce the podcast on the level she is now on. She said: 'I've made tons of mistakes doing the podcast, and just with Happy Place in general and that I think is all part of it. 'I'll always own up to it, or talk about it publicly that we did something wrong or badly or whatever.' Fearne continued: 'I'm sort of accepting of myself. My flaws and my good side and I think when I get to that place mentally, that is a happy place.' Article continues below Thanking Alex Jones for her appearance, Fearne added: 'Thank you so much for doing this! I was like, who is gonna be the slickest interviewer in town? It's Alex Jones.' You can listen to the latest episode in full on Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts.
