In this episode of Begin Again, host Davina McCall sits down with longtime friend Amanda de Cadenet for an intensely personal conversation about childhood trauma, addiction, recovery, and reinvention. De Cadenet, now 58, reveals for the first time that she was sexually assaulted at age 14 and placed in state care while simultaneously hosting live UK television, navigating paparazzi intrusion and tabloid coverage throughout. The conversation traces her journey from wild-child TV presenter to married mother at 19, through her escape from brutal UK tabloid culture that body-shamed her post-pregnancy and drove her to flee London overnight for Los Angeles, where she started over anonymously. De Cadenet credits her daughter Atlanta with saving her life by prompting sobriety at 22, and describes getting sober as the dividing line of her entire life. She details reinventing herself as a photographer and interview host, creating The Conversation TV series and podcast to give women a platform to discuss stigmatized topics like postpartum depression, grief, and perimenopause. The episode moves through her recent work as a certified grief counselor following compounded losses including her father's death, and her embrace of attachment-based grief therapy. McCall and de Cadenet connect over shared experiences of addiction, recovery, perimenopause, and the particular vulnerabilities of being young women in the public eye without boundaries. De Cadenet emerges as remarkably self-aware, attributing her ability to connect with anyone—from Jane Fonda to strangers—to lessons learned in a children's home that showed her everyone shares the same human emotional experience regardless of zip code.
De Cadenet described leaving the UK abruptly with then-husband John Taylor and infant daughter Atlanta due to brutal tabloid body-shaming after pregnancy. She abandoned her London home mid-life and fled to Los Angeles permanently, not returning for a decade. The media called her 'Amanda de Flabonnet' and published photos of her breastfeeding without her knowledge.
Read this moment →De Cadenet described how she reinvented herself as a photographer by bringing a box of photos to GQ magazine's photo editor while simultaneously appearing on their cover as a model. The office was shocked she would pivot from being their cover model to seeking work behind the camera. She ultimately succeeded in transitioning careers despite skepticism.
Read this moment →De Cadenet disclosed for the first time that she was sexually assaulted at age 14 at a party and kept it secret out of fear of being blamed. She described seeing her attacker on the street afterward and carrying deep shame, believing it was her fault. Only after getting sober at 22 and undergoing therapy did she realize the responsibility lay with the perpetrator, not herself.
Read this moment →The TV presenter revealed she was removed from her parents' custody at 14-15 and placed in a children's home while simultaneously hosting live late-night television. Police drove her to school daily and escorted her between classes while paparazzi attempted to photograph her. She described the media scrutiny and institutional care as terrifying, particularly given her public profile.
Read this moment →The interviewer revealed that having her daughter Atlanta at age 19 was the turning point that led to sobriety and likely saved her life. She got sober during pregnancy and stayed sober to be a conscious parent, breaking what she described as generational trauma. Atlanta shifted her focus away from destructive self-absorption toward caring for someone else.
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