When the Doors Close | Holly Fowles-Pazdro on What Keeps You Going When Nobody Else Is There

Content Warning

This episode contains first-hand accounts of childhood physical and sexual abuse, family estrangement and difficult periods of mental health.

If any of these topics may affect you, please take care of yourself while listening.

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You are not alone.

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Holly Fowles-Pazdro grew up not feeling safe, not feeling seen and not feeling allowed to say so. She spent her teens escaping into drugs and parties because that was easier than going home. She spent fifteen years in film and TV doing hair and makeup, working eighteen-hour days, going to the toilet to cry and coming back out smiling. Until the day her back collapsed on set and she could not get up.

 

What followed was an eleven-hour surgery, months alone with a litter grabber, a wean off opioids, and the beginning of one of the most profound personal rebuilds I have ever witnessed.