Look at my beautiful body | Morgana O'Reilly

About this episode

Morgana O'Reilly discusses her journey with body image and self-acceptance in a candid conversation with Petra Bagust.

Morgana O'Reilly is an actor, writer, and one-woman force of nature whose credits span Billy T James Award-nominated theatre, Mean Mums, Neighbours, an Emmy award-winning covid comedy thriller series called INSiDE, and White Lotus. Her one-woman show ‘Stories About My Body’, a sellout tour exploring what it means to live inside a female body across the seasons of life, has just been made into a film, crowdfunded on kindness and released into New Zealand cinemas in July. Buckle up for a rollicking ride. In this kōrero, Morgana and Petra have the kind of conversation that goes absolutely everywhere and enjoys every twist and turn. They talk about bodies, the loathing, the wrestling, the slow, imperfect, ongoing journey of coming home to yourself. Morgana shares the internal voice that shows up when disappointment strikes (“too fat, too old, too fat, too old”), as well as the realisation that her body has been bearing the brunt of any professional rejection for years, when really it's never been her body's fault at all. Morgana offers her insightful framework of whether she’s engaging in conforming or adorning as a woman and an actress. It’s a very useful frame of reference for…

People in this episode

Host: Petra Bagust

Guest: Morgana O'Reilly

Topics covered

• body image
• feminism
• self-acceptance
• beauty standards
• personal journey

Keywords

• body image
• self-acceptance
• feminism
• beauty standards
• Morgana O'Reilly

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Billy T James Award, New Zealand

Books & works: Stories About My Body, INSiDE, White Lotus

More episodes of Grey Areas with Petra Bagust

• Pushed to my limits | Sir Ashley Bloomfield · June 3, 2026 · 1h 29m
• Give it a nudge | Brodie Kane · May 20, 2026 · 1h 19m
• I've already fallen on my face | Robyn Malcolm · May 13, 2026 · 58 min
• GSM - The issue affecting 84% of menopausal women | Dr Iona Weir · May 6, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Telling the truth under pressure | Barbara Dreaver · April 29, 2026 · 1h 14m
• Hormones, HRT, and why you're not broken | Dr Lara Briden · April 22, 2026 · 1h 23m