I've already fallen on my face | Robyn Malcolm

I've already fallen on my face | Robyn Malcolm

From Grey Areas with Petra Bagust by rova | Love It Media

May 13, 2026 · 58 min

About this episode

Robyn Malcolm discusses aging, mental health, and her experiences in the acting industry with Petra Bagust.

Robyn Malcolm is one of New Zealand's most beloved actors. And at 61, she is, by her own account, having the time of her life. In this kōrero, Petra sits down with Robyn who’s beaming in from Glasgow, while watching squirrels in the park, writing a new project with After the Party collaborator Diane Taylor, and settling into a life that looks nothing like the one she'd have planned, and everything like the one she was always meant to live. This is a conversation that goes everywhere and earns every turn. Robyn and Petra talk about what it actually feels like to arrive at 60, the falling-over-less-scared-of-it, the inhabiting-your-own-space, the finding-it-funnier quality of a life that has already survived its worst moments. Robyn talks about aging in an industry obsessed with youth, the Mar-a-Lago face appearing on actresses she admires, and why aspirational casting is, in her view, utterly false, because what women actually want to see on screen is themselves. They get into Robyn's late ADHD diagnosis, sparked, she says, by a Grey Areas episode, and the Rubik's Cube moment when everything she'd been told about herself clicked into place. The laziness, the avoidance, the…

People in this episode

Host: Petra Bagust

Guest: Robyn Malcolm

Topics covered

  • aging
  • mental health
  • ADHD
  • menopause
  • self-acceptance
  • acting industry

Keywords

  • Robyn Malcolm
  • Petra Bagust
  • aging
  • ADHD
  • menopause
  • mental health
  • acting

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: After the Party, Aotearoa

Places: New Zealand, Glasgow

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