131 Perfectly Imperfect Inside The Chaotic Comedic Mind Of Millie Ford
If you're a lineman in charge of keeping the lights on,
🎙️
Published 9 days agoDuration: 1:491313 timestamps
1313 timestamps
If you're a lineman in charge of keeping the lights on,
Grainger understands that you go to great lengths
and sometimes heights to ensure the power is always flowing,
which is why you can count on Grainger
for professional-grade products and next-day delivery
so you have everything you need to get the job done.
Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click Grainger.com, or just stop by.
Grainger, for the ones who get it done.
Worried about what ingredients are hiding in your groceries?
Let us take the guesswork out.
We're Thrive Market, the online grocery store
with the highest quality standards in the industry.
We restrict 1,000-plus ingredients,
so you can trust that you'll only find the best high-quality,
organic, and sustainable brands all free of the junk.
With savings up to 30% off and fast carbon-neutral shipping,
you get top-trusted groceries at your door,
and you can stop worrying about what your kids get their hands on.
Start shopping at thrivemarket.com slash podcast
for 30% off your first order and a free gift.
I'm Mike Boris, and this is Straight Talk.
You're getting all this.
Are we on? Oh, my God.
Millie Ford, welcome to Straight Talk.
Thank you for having me.
Millie Ford, the singer. Millie Ford, the actress.
You've had massive success in TikTok.
Do you think people relate to you because we are sick to death of perfection?
A hundred and fifty percent.
It's like I am so chaotic and scatterbrained,
but it also gives me the ability to find humour in chaos
and be relatable for people.
I'm not living a perfect life,
and we need people.
We need people to show the realities of life.
Just be yourself.
Can we talk about it?
Yeah, I've only talked about it to my family and friends.
You can be first.
So, oh, my gosh, we're getting very deep,
and it's like 10 minutes in.
She's supposed to start.
Millie Ford, welcome to Straight Talk.
Thank you for having me.
You look great.
Thank you.
Can I just comment on your shoes?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, we just talked for about five minutes.
We might have got it on film, but we just talked about,
we've got to talk about your shoes.
More importantly, I won't talk about your socks.
Okay, good.
Because that was the one.
Okay.
That was the one comment I made to myself coming in here.
Here it is.
Shoes.
I said, I also didn't tan my legs,
so I didn't think my feet were going to be shown on here.
But that's okay.
They're great.
I'm just like raw and real.
Chanel.
That's a Chanel sign.
These are Chanel, and they're pearls.
They look awesome.
Thank you.
They look nice and relaxed and comfortable,
but they do stand out.
I had to say something about it.
Thank you so much.
So, Millie, tell me, I want to go backwards,
but I want to start from where we are today, right?
Okay.
What are you doing?
What are you doing right now?
So what's your main game day-to-day?
Tell me.
I heard you when you came in and you said,
look, I'm a one-man band because we expect you to walk in
with a big entourage, makeup specialist, hairstylist, blah, blah, blah.
So you're a one-man band.
What are you doing?
What's your deal?
It's all me.
I think people in my life would argue that it's time
that I did actually expand my team of one.
And I'm not going to lie, this is all you need to know about me.
I put out a PA.
I had a call out on my story, Instagram story, like in August last year.
And I still haven't selected my PA, so I had to do it again.
Did you get any responses?
I got hundreds.
And I looked at that and I thought, I can't do that.
So I put it to the side and I was like, by the time it came around to this year,
I was like, most of those people would have jobs.
So I did it again.
And so I did another call out three weeks ago and I've managed to go through them,
but I haven't actually contacted them because for some reason I've like resisted,
bringing someone on, even though I know it's the best, it's okay.
I know what it is.
I've worked backwards as to why it's because I, so I work from home.
I'm so nervous about having someone in and amongst my private space and losing like freedom almost.
And so I'm like hanging on to dear life to this last bit of freedom because they come and work at my place.
It's very hands on job.
And so I'm like, I know I'm procrastinating it.
And.
And it just scares me to think that like, I'll have a stranger in my house.
That's the main thing, which is such a weird reason, but I love my privacy and I think I'm just kind of like in my head about it.
But I'm at a point where I'm so aware that I need to like put in like, you know, spend money to make more money, like pay someone to come and help build my life out more.
Cause like, I can't do it all alone.
That's what I'm learning.
It's sort of the admin role.
It's an admin role.
Admin role, which is what I need the most.
Another thing that I'm learning is like, you know, you don't have to be good at everything, which that's not my forte.
I literally cannot do admin work to save my life.
Like I am horrible.
And I always, this is something I always tricked myself into is like, I put a list together of things that I wanted them to do for me.
And I was like, I could do that.
I could do that.
Oh, Millie, you could just do that.
Just scribble that out.
You could just do that scribble out.
And I realized it wasn't.
About whether I was capable of doing it.
It was actually like, so I could free up my time and had more capacity to do other things that I do enjoy.
And that are the crux of who I am and my business.
So.
So like if you're, Millie, if you're, if you're paying someone, I don't know, 50 bucks an hour or whatever, whatever it is to do admin, arguably you'd be earning for your talent more than 50 bucks an hour.
So wouldn't it be better for you to spend 50 hours a week earning whatever you can earn per hour for yourself.
Yep.
Than having to be doing these administrative jobs.
You get someone else to do it 50 bucks an hour.
I mean, just mathematically.
A hundred percent.
The logic is there.
However, my brain doesn't work the same way.
And so it takes me like a long time to grasp that I'm way better off doing that.
I also have ADHD and OCD.
So I very.
For real.
For real.
Like diagnosed clinically.
But I literally.
It's the way my brain works.
It's so warped and like I know the logic.
I know that that's what I'm thinking is irrational.
But for some reason, I still resist it because it feels unnatural to me.
Do you feel like you need to control everything?
Is it is a part of it?
So that's part of it.
There is a control tendency.
I think in the past when I've worked with people, they haven't done the job as well, not as in working for me, but they've in a team, they haven't done the job as well or I've ended up doing it anyway.
And so in.
The past, it's been a bad decision for whatever reason.
And now and I'm like, oh, my gosh, like I need to actually find someone who's going to do the job.
Well, what if I can't find someone?
And it's just been this lengthy back and forth.
And I'm just like an overthinker anyway.
But I was going to say, is one of the hallmarks of ADHD and perhaps obsessing as well.
But is it overthinking?
In other words, not overthinking.
I hate that.
It's called ruminating.
Yeah, ruminating.
Exactly.
Ruminating.
Yeah.
Or, or thinking about every single possibility that could occur.
And when you think about everything, single possibility, you will never get to them all because there's so many of them and then you can't make sense of them and then you don't do anything.
Yep.
It's like totally a control thing.
So I, it's actually, this is a great segue into chatting about the OCD stuff, which I didn't realize I had.
But one of the parts of it is the ruminating.
So you get these obsessions with something and then you have to like perform a compulsion to neutralize yourself, to make you feel better.
And there's a whole range of these, like it could be anything, but you perform the compulsion to neutralize it, to make yourself feel better, then you can continue on, but it's all like pretty irrational stuff.
So for example, for me, I have this weird thing where I actually laugh because it sounds so dumb when you say it out loud, I have this weird thing where if I think about every possible outcome that could potentially happen, I feel like I'm not going to be able to do it.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
So if I think of every bad thing that could potentially happen, it's not going to happen because for some reason that has worked in the past.
So I think about, I like to be prepared.
Yeah, you don't want to be caught on the way.
Yeah.
So you think of every single thing that could happen.
So I'm like prepared for any scenario.
And also I think of the bad stuff because like, there's no way that I'm going to predict something bad's going to happen to me.
So if I think of all the bad stuff, that's going to happen.
that's gone it's this weird way and so I do this to myself by sitting it's just the way my brain
works and like it's obviously we chatted before it's like anxiety based and all driven and that's
the that's actually the interesting thing the common denominator with ADHD and OCD that a lot
of people don't know is it's anxiety driven and yeah it literally comes from this like this worry
about not being able to do something or controlling something so you ruminate on everything so is that
and so how does the OCD express itself then so what does that mean for you does that mean
you're pacing up and down or you're washing your hands or like or you just can't stop thinking
about something okay yes so there's a lot of time wasted so I'm now medicated for it which
has changed my life so the medication that I started taking so last year I hit oh my gosh
we're getting very deep and it's like 10 minutes in um I feel like we should extend that a little
bit to like the middle what I was going to say was last year I was having
a really really tough year probably about this time last year actually and I finally had a really
dear friend of mine chat with me about um potentially going to see a doctor um because
we were kind of like oh we think that you might have ADHD am I maybe oh really just just last year
yeah last year my friend my literally my cousin my best friend she knows me so well and she's just
been met like it is so fast and you're just there's so much going on and like she can keep
up with it but like I I'm I'm very like fast paced in the way that I think that I I it's kind of like
um a stream of consciousness sometimes I'm actually thinking ahead of what I'm saying
and she's just like let's just go go to the doctor and chat about it and then she referred me to psych
that all happened but then when I was at the psych she was like actually I want you to do
this questionnaire for OCD as well and that came out like a hundred percent really strong and I'm
and basically when I figured that out I looked back and I was like oh my god there's so many
things that I did that I didn't realize were um kind of symptoms of OCD so for example
the ruminating is one of them um but when I said about the time wasting thing so much time is
wasted because you need to go and check things or you have to do certain systems in your head or like
patterns in your head or um
for example I had a really weird one where I felt like the light switch wasn't off perfectly so I had
to flick it off like a certain number of times to make it sure it felt right um or checking things
like I know that I've put my keys in my bag I see it happen but as I like two seconds later I go to
the door and I'm like did I actually put them in there oh I'll just check and then I'm like yeah
but did I actually do okay check again like it is just those tiny things it's not even
that's like a very simple simple example of it but other things would be like perfectionism is a big
one so and not in the sense of just like everyone thinks it's like clean like everyone's like oh my
gosh it's all about being like washing your hands and that is one form of it but that doesn't happen
to everybody but perfectionism is one so for example I would like I feel like there was times
when I actually a lot of people ask me when I'm doing my content and like social media I would
do things a billion times like to get it perfect and waste so much time on this tiny detail that
probably didn't matter to everybody else but for me I actually physically couldn't move on like I
literally you're stuck you like know that you shouldn't go back but you kind of give in and
you're like I'm just gonna do it so you just waste so much time it causes you so much more
inefficiency it's inefficient and it's it causes you more anxiety just from like overthinking
um so there's those kinds of ways and then I had some like extremely dark intrusive thoughts
um and which means what what's it mean what do you mean what do you mean by that really dark
as in things involving death and like violence um and I actually had to move out of my like
place two houses ago because it was just getting too much and it's so weird because you don't
want to hurt anybody you know
no one wants to hurt you but you can't get this thought out of your head once it jumps in and
you're like why did I think of that that was so weird and like oh what's wrong with me wait what
oh my gosh oh like you know or you'll just be sitting like you'll literally I'll be like lying
in bed and I'll be like oh my god I just like can't get this thought out of my head I'm like
I'm just checking things like locked and like you get so worked up and then I wasn't sleeping for so
long and then it was just this whole thing um and I just thought I was going like a bit I was just
over the top um this is last year this is last year and then when I went and found out and then
I went on these meds and they were there for anxiety and that has basically oh my god when I
so I was basically like a literal um troll in my bed for two months just like adjusting to it
adjusting the chemicals yes yes the there so the serotonin um uptake that's the one
yeah uptake inhibitors whatever yeah that one so I have the
and they've obviously changed the chemicals in my brain. But then I remember the first day
that it started to kick in. I started crying because I was like, wait, this is what it's like
to not have a little voice in your head. That's telling you everything's going to go wrong all
the time. It's like tunnel vision. I was like, oh my God, wait, what? This like, I did not realize
how bad my anxiety was. I thought that I was like, oh yeah, I've got mild anxiety, but it was so
debilitating. I wasn't getting anything done. And I ended up booking a trip to Europe two weeks
before I went and I went on my own, something I would have never have done had I not like
kind of gone through this process. And it changed my life. And I think it's like, you know,
obviously touching on meds, it's not for everybody. I totally get that. For me, it has worked so well
to help me get to a place where I want to be, where I don't have to take them anymore. But it's
just, oh, and I've got to be careful. I've got to be careful. I've got to be careful. I've got to
So that was for the OCD and then afterwards I had to start taking
the stimulants, which is for my ADHD.
Which sounds odd, a stimulant for ADHD.
I know.
But it helps you focus on a task.
Mm-hmm.
I have some experience with family members in relation to this.
You know, it's funny because sometimes we get a bit weird about,
oh, I don't want to talk about it, you know,
and people might think I'm something, that I'm crazy or whatever.
And to me I don't really give a shit.
Like I remember years ago when I was under a bit of pressure,
like many years ago, for about two years I started watching,
looking at number plates and I became obsessed with number plates,
other people's number plates.
And then I started to take the view that the number plate was,
I could interpret the number plate and the number plate was actually
had a mathematical sequence in it.
And then I could, and that,
and that those sequences were telling me something that I should be doing
or should not be doing.
And it started off as a bit, I thought it was a bit of a weird thing.
I was sort of joking with myself.
And over a period of time I became obsessed with it.
And I had to go see somebody about it.
Yeah.
And it was just my response to stress and pressure.
Yeah.
But my response is that I'm an obsessive person as well.
I get that like with work or business.
Yeah.
Or anything I'm interested in.
Yes.
And, yeah.
And I had to take some medication to help me out too.
And people should talk about it more.
I mean, you're a young woman,
but it's great that you're prepared to talk about it.
Maybe your generation is more like that.
My generation is definitely not like that.
To be prepared to talk about these sorts of things in a public sense.
Now I don't care.
Yeah.
But the only solution to these things is actually someone tapping on the
shoulder and telling you, hey, Mark, that's a bit weird.
Yeah.
You know, what you're doing.
Like, because it was one of my sons saw me staring at it.
Yes.
And then I started talking about it.
And then in the end I got myself, you know, I fixed it up.
I still get it every now and then.
I can get it a little bit.
I can still go back to non-plates.
I can remember non-plates.
Yeah.
They stick in my memory.
Yeah.
Interesting.
And I think about them for days.
Yep.
And then I started seeing patterns.
Anyway, it's a weird thing.
But it's not about me, it's about you.
But I just wanted to, why I wanted to say that is because people think,
well, Mark doesn't, you know, doesn't have any dramas.
But we all do have.
We all have dramas.
And we've all got to be prepared to talk about it.
Have you, Millie, at any stage openly discussed this with,
you know, you've got massive audiences.
Have you just openly discussed it with your audiences?
So I do, I have touched on it.
So I spoke about it when it was happening.
I mentioned that because I had this new lease on life.
I was like, oh, my God, like I'm living again.
Like it was so weird.
I was like grieving in a way this time that I'd lost because, I don't know,
I looked back and I was like, oh,
had I known this?
Like five years ago, who knows where I could have been by now?
Like, that's how I took it.
But I was like, no, it's better that it's happened now.
I wouldn't change anything about it because I didn't have any of this
throughout lockdown.
And I think that's obviously when I started and that's how I was so like,
I was actually able to function in that way.
But anyway, back to the question.
I spoke about it once it had happened.
So this is me like going off on a tangent again.
I spoke about it once it happened to my audience.
Very, um,
like very candidly, like I kind of was like, yeah, that's fine.
Like I can, I can say whatever.
And I answered a few questions and people were pretty interested.
Um, and then there's like this part of me that also didn't want my content to
completely change into my ADHD makes me like this.
And I do this with my OCD.
Also victim stuff.
Literally.
And I was like, oh, like, I don't want to be that person.
It's like, oh, sorry guys.
My ADHD made me late.
Like, no, like I'm not.
Going to do that.
I'm not going to make it my personality.
So I was pretty firm about that.
So yes, I addressed it and I'm open about it.
And if people ask me about it, I'm very happy to talk about it.
Um, I spoke about it on a podcast as well, which was really helpful for
me to kind of like, yeah, talk about it openly because it is important.
But, um,
but it doesn't define you.
It's the most, no, it doesn't define me.
How'd you come to terms with that?
So I just realized that I got to where I am today or like, I guess
last year without any, without any of that knowledge that I had anything
like that.
So that means that who I was as Millie got me there and that's what makes me,
me like, yes, I am so chaotic and scatterbrained and disorganized.
And like, honestly, I'm like, why me?
Why am I, why was I created to be incredibly disorganized?
And some people like my sister, most organized person ever.
I was like, that's not fair.
Like, that's what I'm annoyed about.
However.
It also gives me the ability to find humor in chaos and be relatable for
people because a lot of people can relate.
We need people to show the realities of life because it's just, it's,
I'm not living a perfect life.
And I was, it was pretty easy for me to be like, yep, it's not me.
It's a part of me.
Um, I'm working on it and it's helping me set up systems and stuff like
getting a PA to, so I don't have to heavily rely on people.
I don't have to heavily rely on them for the rest of my life.
Um, but I think that comedy and chaos, that's not a bad term that, um, it's, it's quite a good turn of phrase, but what do you mean by comedy and chaos?
I mean, do you actually think your, your brain is chaotic?
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Like it's actually, you know how you were saying it?
Someone needs to tell you that you're weird.
I like my cousin was like, Mil, I know you're weird, but like, that's weird.
You need to go see like, I am like the most, like, there's just so much in here.
And it's so funny when I start speaking to someone new and we'll just like jump, jumping, like, like next thing next.
And like, wait, hang on.
We were talking about, and I'm like, sorry, I just have so much to say.
Just keep up with me.
Like I've got so much to say and there's just so much going on in my brain and it's, it's, it makes me, it causes chaos in my life.
So for example, um, before I.
Chaos for you or chaos for me?
Chaos for you.
Chaos for others.
For everybody.
Literally.
Including yourself.
Including me.
So for example, I'll be in the middle of doing something.
Like I'll be in the middle of doing, this is a very ADHD thing, but in the middle of doing a task and then something pops into my head and I was like, oh, that'd be so funny.
Wait, I wonder if I have that shirt from 2008 still in my wardrobe.
Drop everything.
Like say you're doing the dishes, dishes dropped.
I need to go find that shirt from 2008.
Do I have that in my wardrobe?
I'm going to go rifling through.
Oh my God, there's a dress.
I'm going to try this on.
I haven't worn this in ages.
Is this blah, blah, blah, blah.
Oh my gosh.
My phone rang.
Okay.
Call.
And then at the end of the day, I'm like, I forgot to finish doing the dishes.
So that is like, my life is just, I swear three quarters of the time.
I'm just cleaning up after myself because I've left a trail.
It's like, you know, Millie's been here because there's just half finished things everywhere.
Um, so there's that chaos, but also I went through a pretty toxic stage of just like, I guess in dating as well.
Like you can be pretty chaotic as well.
And.
I'm not really like that anymore.
And actually, I don't think I was ever that bad, but like probably doing things that I wasn't.
I probably shouldn't have because it's chaotic and it's like for the story, you know,
You mean like going over different blokes or.
Yeah.
At the same time.
This is a rogue.
This is such a, not at the same time, but more like this is a rogue story or like, this is probably not a good time to go see this person.
I'm going to go do it anyway, because it's a funny story.
So like almost creating content.
From my life, because it's funny and like, this is something I've noticed while in this job is like, when I sit now, I'm like, oh, that's a good, that's content.
Like I'll think of something.
Oh, that's great content.
It's like anything that happens, good or bad.
If it's bad, good content.
Like, it's so weird how I try and turn everything into like, and this is also not a great thing, but you kind of try and think of the positive in the, the negatives of like, well, at least there's a funny video out of it.
Sort of thing.
I mean, what do you do there?
You actually go and record something.
Oh yeah.
I record a lot.
Actually, lately I have taken a bit of a step back just because I needed just to breathe, but I record so much and like, you know, come with me to Melbourne or whatever.
Missed my flight.
Oh, whoops.
Missed my flight.
Sort of thing like that.
Obviously that's not great, but people like the journey and they like to see themselves in you as well.
Why do you think that?
Do you think that, do you think that people like to see that someone else fucks up as well as them?
Yeah, a hundred percent.
In other words, we're sick of seeing people's perfect lives.
A hundred and fifty percent.
It's like, that was the main thing I got when I started doing my content was everyone was doing these perfect videos, makeup, filters, everything.
I turned on my camera, like I put my phone up against like a stack of books, press play, had no makeup on, hair undone.
This was in the middle of lockdown, probably wearing pajamas and just started filming.
I was like, I don't care.
I had a green screen background and everyone was like, oh, this is so rude.
This is so real.
Like I can see myself in you or like I can relate to this.
It's so nice and refreshing.
And then it was kind of actually, it was good for a while and it's still good.
However, it starts to put pressure on you to like always be real and like that.
And if you start to kind of like move into like, oh, why are you putting your makeup on and why are you getting dressed up for the camera?
Like, that's not you.
You're like, we don't like it.
You know what I mean?
Like there's always something you get, you kind of pigeonhole yourself in the relatable girl.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You put a square around yourself and which you can't step outside.
Having ADHD, that's not, that's not that personality.
That personality steps out all over the place.
Yeah.
You step outside the square all the time.
Yeah.
You're never in the square.
People think you're in the square, but you'll step out of the square all the time.
Yeah.
In fact, you don't even know there's a square there.
To me, it's like a triangle.
Yeah.
I like that.
It's a triangle.
Not too long ago, running a business looked a lot different.
A good location and a solid reputation were enough to keep a customer base happy.
No websites, no social media, no SEO, just old school networking and persistence, of course.
But times have changed.
In today's digital world, your business needs more than just a great product.
It needs visibility.
That's where Squarespace comes in.
Whether you're just getting started or expanding your brand, it's the all-in-one platform that
makes building and managing your online presence simple.
With Blueprint AI, creating a professional, customized website takes just a few clicks.
Plus, powerful tools like automated client invoicing, online courses, and memberships
help you generate revenue effortlessly.
So, you can focus on growing your business instead of juggling logistics.
Head to squarespace.com forward slash mentored for a free trial, and when you're ready to
launch, use offer code mentored, M-E-N-T-O-R-E-D, to save 10% off your first purchase of a
website or a domain.
Work today moves fast, but monday.com is here to help with their work management product.
It's built for more than just marketing teams.
It connects entire organizations to bridge the gap between strategy and execution.
Plus, with built-in AI capabilities, your team can work smarter, not worse.
Harder.
Maximize your marketing impact with the first work product you and your team will love to use.
Visit us at monday.com to learn more.
So, like, you've had, would you attribute, though, you know, you've had massive,
massive success in TikTok.
Would you attribute those, you know, those views and the people who follow you and watch
what you do, would you attribute that to the fact that people like to see frailty?
I don't know.
I don't mean frailty like in an old grammar, but intellectual frailty that, as opposed to
perfectness, because I think, I think I am.
I'm sick of watching perfection all the time.
Yes.
I'm over it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And some dudes are perfect, by the way.
You know, everything they do is perfect.
But, like, definitely not my world.
Do you think people just relate to you because we are sick to death of perfection?
Yes.
I think that is the feedback that I get as well.
From people who message me, they'll be like, thank you so much for, like, like, you've
inspired me now to, like, I don't know, start posting or something because I don't have,
you know, the perfect house.
It's not all set up perfectly.
You know, how, like, you see videos online and their houses are so immaculate.
It kills me.
And you're just like, that is their job.
They have spent hours putting that together.
It's not realistic.
But no one sees that and they make it look effortless.
And as soon as you.
Kardashian style.
Yeah, literally.
It's like they've got a team of people.
Like, they're at home all day setting up lighting to make it perfect.
Like, you cannot relate to that.
And even I catch myself doing it.
Like, if I'm setting up my camera and there's, like, an ugly box in the background, I'm like,
oh, there's a box.
I'm going to move that.
Like.
Well, then how do you reconcile that part?
Yeah.
Because, you know, you're a perfectionist on one side.
Yeah.
And do you edit your own stuff?
Yes.
Yeah.
So you're a perfectionist in that you're the talent in the video.
Yeah.
And then you do the edit.
And when you're doing the edit, you see the shitty black box.
Yeah.
You're being a perfectionist.
You want to, I better redo this.
Yeah.
How do you sort of reconcile all that?
I know.
It seems like it's two opposite ends.
And I think there'll be times when I'm moving the box and, like, I move the box and at the
end I'm like, oh, I should have just left it there.
Oh, whatever.
Like, I kind of, I always catch myself trying to give off a certain image or
perfect image and it'll be after it happens.
And I'll be like, oh, I should have just said that.
Why did I do an introduction as though I'm, like, on a talk show?
I should have just spoken like this.
Like, I do that all the time.
I'll be like, I'm going to go and talk about this today.
And you turn the camera on and it's like you're in an interview.
And I was like, that's not me.
That is not me.
Do it again.
And I catch myself when I fall into it.
So there's the perfectionism of, like, you're trying to be too perfect.
Stop trying to be perfect and just be yourself.
What about this, Millie?
What about me?
What?
What about if you, I mean, it's not for me to solve anyone's things,
but, like, I mean, the fact that you walked in in an imperfect sense,
in other words, you didn't put spray tan on your leg and you got your socks
on, but you got together with a pair of beautiful Chanel shoes.
But that's actually perfect.
So imperfection is perfection for me and for most people, I think.
Most of us recognize that there is no such thing as perfection.
And if we see it's perfect, we think it's not authentic or it's been dressed.
Yes.
You know what I mean?
Yes.
And it's not real.
It's not the real deal.
Yeah.
And, you know, like, if you had, if you made yourself just the talent, maybe your PA dash
could be a producer as well, could be the person who edits your stuff.
Yeah.
And then you had, and if you had a neutral edit, because I don't edit anything here.
It all gets edited by my team.
Because I know if I was editing it, I would be so fucking critical of what I'm doing.
Yeah.
It would nothing to forget to edit it.
Yep.
That's me, yeah.
These guys here who edit my stuff, they edit it to their, to their level, to what their
perception is.
And they're more like the audience.
That way I don't have to get caught up in it.
Yeah.
And I don't send myself crazy.
Yeah.
That's maybe what your PA could do for you.
I think so.
I actually advertised for like a content person with it.
And the people that kind of came back, like there've been some, definitely some good options,
which has been great.
And it's exactly what you're saying.
It's like figuring out that it's imperfectly, perfectly imperfect because like with the
socks, this was like literally a matter of time.
I was like, you're running late.
You just need to go.
Like, I literally couldn't control that.
Had I had more time, I would have scrounged around to find the right socks.
But I think you get to a point where, yeah, then it becomes toxically perfectly imperfect.
And that's why you see this weird.
You transition into people trying to make their feeds look effortless and imperfect,
but you know that they've put time into making it look imperfect.
It's still stitched up.
And you're like, oh my God.
But this is an example of you overthinking.
You're already thinking the possibilities.
You're already going through.
They've spent their time on making it look perfectly imperfect.
And you're like, how do those girls do it?
They just look effortlessly cool.
And I have just embraced the fact that.
That's cool though.
Perfectly imperfect is actually cool.
That's cool.
And then there.
But if it's real.
Only if it's real.
If it's real, if it's real.
And I'm like, I wish that was me so much.
And I think the main takeaway from all of this is like, I just need to show up as myself,
whatever that is.
I'm going through different stages in my life.
Like one of them is chaotic.
Then, you know, I get on my medication.
Things are a little bit more together than I'm like, you know, having an amazing peak
in my career.
And like all these different Millies kind of show up and I just need to show up to my
followers and my audience as that version of Millie, whatever it is.
And I think it's just about authenticity at the end of the day.
And that's for what I'm putting out there.
But for myself, realizing that literally the reason why people follow me is because I'm
not perfect.
And I, I, I actually, this is a weird thought, but I have tried to kind of move into a little
bit more of a, uh, put together state of my life.
And like, you know, a lot of things do need to be put together, but then showing up online
as more perfect.
It doesn't work for me.
So I, as in like, I'll post like a hot photo or something that I think looks good.
The girl's like, post it, you look hot.
And it doesn't perform nearly as well as me dress up as an old lady with no makeup on
and a cardigan speaking in a high like voice.
Like it is so crazy that no one wants me to be hot.
Like they're like, nah, do your comedy.
Like do your funny stuff.
We like that more.
And so it doesn't like, it's weird.
I'm like, okay, this is weird.
Like I actually, people, everyone is telling me just be yourself.
Don't try and be put together.
Don't try and be this perfect person.
Obviously you can enjoy that and celebrate that when that happens.
But it's so weird how you like need to just stick to what you're good at.
And what your audience likes.
And what your audience likes.
And it's, there's that strategy in that too, because then you like start to lose yourself
and like, you know what?
I've had that recently where I'm just like, I feel like I've lost my spark a little bit.
Like where, where did she go?
And it's definitely due to like overthinking.
And then like, you know, I moved house and like you just get stressed.
And whenever I'm stressed, I just have no creative drive.
I can't, I'm like, how can I think of an ever, an idea ever again?
You sound like, you sound like an artist.
You know, like someone who's looking to be inspired to paint something.
Yeah, I get inspired.
Or to write something.
Yep.
You know, then they need to get a certain set of conditions in order to do that.
Yeah.
You know, like, you know, it could be going to the south of France because they need a
certain light.
Yes.
At a particular time of year to be able to paint a certain type of painting.
And a lot of, you know, famous artists actually have, have gone through those processes.
I remember the late John Olsen used to talk about how he spent a lot of time in France
and I can't remember which part of France.
So because at a certain time of year, because at a certain time of year, the sun was at
a certain level and it gave a certain quality of light in order to allow him to paint some
of the most beautiful paintings he'd ever done.
But at any other time he couldn't do it.
And like when you.
You just talked about being inspired or when I mentioned about inspiration and then you
talked about the difference between your Millie the hot photo versus Millie the creative,
creating herself to be the old lady with the cardigan on.
I think audiences, if they really like Millie taking the piss, in other words, doing something
funny, that they get disappointed when they see Millie hot.
Yeah.
That's what I found.
They want to see Millie the funny person.
Yes.
Because that's, you're a funny person.
And if I go to a restaurant which serves great, I don't know, it's a meat restaurant and all
of a sudden they start trying to dish seafood up to me.
I don't want to know about it.
That's in my brain.
That's the meat restaurant.
Millie's the funny person.
She's a creative.
Yeah.
So where does your, where do your creative ideas come from?
Like you do take the piss.
So you're a little bit like the uninspired, the inspired unemployed blokes.
A little bit.
Like a female version.
Like they come up with some sort of practical jokers, mad capping, funny shit.
So where do you get your inspiration from?
So do you walk down the street and you see some old lady sitting there buying a cup of
tea?
How do you work it?
Literally that.
Like it'll be at the most random times.
Like I genuinely do feel like I put the pressure on myself, but I do feel like there's pressure
on me to like find moments, little moments in the day that, that they're not going to
people forget like are happening to everybody.
So I remember when I first started, it just was overflowing.
There was all these ideas.
I could do this, that, and that.
And everyone's like, how do you think of these things?
Like, how do you think of it?
I was like, well, I have a whole list.
Like I think of something, write it down.
And then I go through it and it was all just kind of like coming out and then absolutely
creative block hits.
And you're like, I can't think of anything.
And so I'll go for a walk, but I find that if you try to go looking for it, you don't
find it.
So I need to distract myself and I need to like switch off.
And it's usually, you know, how they say like, yeah, like your best ideas in the shower or
like before bed, it's like your inhibitions are kind of down.
Like you kind of.
You're relaxed.
You're relaxed.
You're not overthinking it.
And that is exactly the same, same as me.
And I had an idea actually walking over to the studio, completely different, completely
different to what I do.
But I was like, oh, that's a funny.
I'm just going to jot that down.
Don't even know why it came to me.
It was because I was listening to a song that reminded me of a moment that reminded me of
a person who'd spoken about that, who reminded me of that, that, that.
And there was like a, as like a zigzag of connections.
And that was my inspiration.
I wasn't going.
To do what?
To do a post?
To write a, to, sorry, yeah, to make a skit about an idea that I had, which I'll do later.
But it was so weird how it came about in the most unsuspecting.
I was just like driving here.
I wasn't thinking, I've got to think of three ideas before I get to the studio.
Like it's got to be, it's, it's in those moments when you force it, they don't work for me.
If I ever, I feel something's forced, it usually doesn't perform that well.
And which is why when I'm working with brands, I like, I'll be honest with them and I'll
be like, this is not going to do well.
It's way too forced, way too prescriptive.
Like do they, do they, do they rescript for you?
Yeah.
So some of them, some brands are amazing to work with and they just like get it.
And they're like, you know, your audience, like you have not come this far and like not
learnt along the way what your audience likes.
And then some of them are just like, nah, it needs to be like this, this, and this.
Like you need to say our brand name in the middle of the screen for like 10 seconds.
And I'm like, trust me, everyone, like no one's even going to make it to the end of
the video.
Like there is no point.
And a lot of brands are flexible and a lot of brands want you to do it their way.
And like, I try not to work with them if that's the case.
How do you work?
How do you work that out?
How do you cull those?
So I start from the get go.
I'm very upfront.
I'm like, I need creative control over the final asset, depending on the situation, obviously,
like if it's, you know, a bigger project, but if it's just a regular skit or whatever,
like tell me the key messaging, what's the brief or like, I need to come up with like
the creative idea, the concept.
I can't be shoved something in my face.
It just doesn't work.
Um, and if they're not happy with that, then it's like obviously a pass.
But most people are really good at being like, okay, no, we totally get that.
Like, you, you know, your audience.
Um, but I'm pretty brutal.
Like I won't, like, I don't, I won't work with something that someone or a brand that
doesn't feel authentic to me.
Like I genuinely will just be like, it's not inspiring.
I don't want to get up and, and like do this video no matter, you know, the price on it.
Like it actually doesn't work for me.
Um, I like, I just don't find, I don't, I'm not inspired.
And also I feel like.
I've let my audience down.
It's cringy.
I'm just like, oh my God, I just post this one.
It's like, no, like I want to post stuff that I'm really proud of.
And like, that I know people will enjoy.
Um.
Do you feel like you need to get a bit nervous about it first?
I mean, how important is it?
I feel like it's a bit edgy or it's a little bit, a little bit on the edge and like, do
you, in order for it to work for your audience or is it, or is it going to be sanitized?
I'm pretty like family friendly with my content just because I have so many generations watching
me like.
Like I'm like everywhere from like little kids in school and then to like grandmas and
like moms who were like, like, Oh, you're my favorite.
Like I love you.
Keep doing it.
Like that vibe.
And I'm like, okay, these whole families are watching me.
Like I know, like I don't know them, but they've messaged me being like, we used to, or we
still do.
We watch your videos before class.
Like during lockdown they'd put on one of my TikToks and be like, all right.
Like, and I'm like, you're showing it to kids.
Like.
to be safe for them to watch and not, I don't want the teachers to be like, oh, that's such a shame
that we can't play your videos anymore. And also another interesting fact is, well not fact, but
thing I've learned, a learning. I am so happy that I did decide to be kind of brand safe because
the opportunities have been like, there've been so many opportunities that have come from it,
as opposed to if I'd been incredibly out there and like, that's not even me anyway. Like I do
like to have some sort of like nice, I don't know, like not nice, but like, I like it to be
digestible basically. Like I'm not like a hard hitting, like abrasive person. No, like I'm not
like that anyway. So I am really glad that I, that I stayed to that, stick to that because it's just,
it, it works for me in that way. It's very true to who I am.
I'm not going to try and be someone I'm not, but I know for other people being abrasive and being
like a little bit like naughty or whatever works for them like that. And that's fine. And they do
it best. I'm not going to try. That's because that's them. I mean, I've had sitting right in
that chair is the Spaniel. I don't know if you know who the Spaniel is. I wouldn't be surprised
if you've never heard of him, but he's a very popular guy, but he's the opposite to you. And
he says things that are always controversial, but that's his audience. And that's him, by the way,
he loves it.
He loves that. And, and it works for him. But if you're, it's very interesting that
you talk about, you know, like how your mind is chaotic and your life is chaotic. But at the same
time, it seems to me pretty clear that you're, you're running this like a business because you
actually do know your audience. The two things you know is yourself, what your talent is.
Very self-aware, if nothing else.
No, but totally. But that's, that's a big deal. But also your audience, you know,
your audience does and doesn't like, or you definitely know what your audience,
likes. Maybe you don't know what they don't like, but you definitely know what they like.
And you, I know I said the bad word feed, I hate the word feed, but you, you provide it to them.
Yes.
You deliver it and distribute it to them.
Yes. I joke about that. I'm like, mum, mum's feeding you guys today. Like I've got content.
Yeah. I'll be like, mum's just left some dinner on the table. And then I like post a video.
But do you actually dress up for these things now?
So, okay. This is a good segue.
Get into character.
This is a great segue. So I...
Don't you hate that word though? Segue.
Segue.
It's hard to spell too.
It's a different segue to like a...
Segway, ride-on segue.
Yeah, it is.
It's different.
It's totally different.
I learned that way too late in life.
I don't know what you're talking about there, but I know the ones you're talking about.
Yeah, like the little ride-ons they do on the holidays.
Yeah, yeah. I don't use them anymore. I don't think, I think they're illegal, but sorry.
Are they illegal? My parents were.
No, no, no, no, no. We can't do this.
Sorry. Back to it. Okay. So basically, what were we saying?
I don't know. I can't remember now.
Oh, we were saying?
As you said, this is a good segue.
This is a good segue.
About getting into character.
Oh, yes. That's right.
You got me.
You're fucked up now.
Sorry.
This is family friendly. I won't even swear.
That's the Millie effect, honestly. I basically, so yeah, I get into character. I started,
okay, so I started, this is an interesting thing. I started my videos not even thinking twice.
Well, I thought maybe once. I didn't think twice. I thought, okay, teachers wear cardigans.
I'll just literally, this is the only cardigan I have. Chuck it on. I get a hundred million
comments about the cardigan. I was like, okay, people love the cardigan.
I can't do this.
I can't keep that. And I'm like, okay, it's a cold day and I happened to be wearing a
turtleneck. So I'm going to just chuck on the cardigan over the turtleneck. People say,
oh my gosh, like your turtleneck. It's the perfect. Suddenly I have an outfit and that's
my teacher outfit. And I was like, I didn't actually make that. However, now I've got
a costume and I cannot wear that turtleneck ever again in public. So that and the mum,
I think it must've been a cold day. And I had the puffer on. Everyone's like, oh my
God, the puffer is mum. And I was like, oh, this is so weird because I didn't think about
it. But I also was like, oh my God, this is so weird. And I was like, oh my God, this is
my mum also. Yeah. My mum wears a puffer. What character created? So they kind of naturally
created, but then also, so it was, it was good because it was distinguishable. Everyone
was like, oh, mum characters on, teacher characters on, whatever. And then it got to
a point where I was like, oh, I don't want to put on the outfit or I wish I could film
that right now, but I don't have the outfit with me or I can't bother to change. And I
was like, oh, I feel like I'm letting people down if I don't do the outfit. And so I slowly
like, I kind of, it's a bit more malleable now. Like sometimes I'll like wear the puffer,
sometimes I won't, but basically. Do you give them a name by the way?
Yeah. So Mrs. Brown is the English teacher. I had like a project and we needed to name
her. I was like, Mrs. Brown. And then the mum's name, I believe is Julie, because someone
said it in a video and I was like, I need to stick to that now. So they, some of them
have names, the art teacher's called Bronwyn. Like I let the audience.
Bronwyn is an art teacher. Yeah. But the audience named her. So I was like, can you
tell me? So I got the audience, like my followers to like name her and whatever had the most
likes. I just picked that one. So that one worked. But like, so they, these characters
are like, it's so weird because they've developed into these much more like definitive characters
now. Every time there's like, you know, then I added glasses, then I added like an upside
down watch because they always do that. I was like, why? Literally why? And then like
stuffing teachers down, sorry, stuffing tissues down their sleeves. And so I was doing that
and I was like, these characters like develop.
Over time. And so now I really do feel like I step away and then I step into character.
It helps me. It's like, if you're playing a TV show character, your costuming helps
you get into it. So that was really good. But then now I'm at a point where I'm like,
I have done these characters so much, right? Like I started three years ago doing it and
it's, yes, it's become part of me, but it's, I have so much more to offer the world. Like
I've got so many other interests.
And, um, it's trying to find that balance between like still giving people entertaining
content, still being myself, still being authentic, still being funny, um, not being perfect,
um, still being interesting, relevant, um, but also being myself and being vulnerable.
Um, but we want to see more of you Millie. Oh, but we want to see more skits. Show us
the behind the scenes. No, we don't want to see behind the scenes. We just want to see
the videos or like, but there's just.
There's so many different things that people want to see.
That's good.
Which is good.
Gives you plenty of choices.
Does, but then there's like that kind of double-edged sword with choice because then you're kind
of like which direction I go in.
For you it would be.
For me.
Yeah. Because there's too many choices.
There's too many choices.
And too many possibilities or sub-choices within the choices.
Exactly. So I've been through this like mental dilemma actually recently. It's probably a
good time to talk about it, but it's been very much like these characters who I just
adore so much.
Yes.
I also don't want to fatigue them. Like I don't want to run them into the ground that I can't ever
pull them out again. And so, cause I'd love to turn them into a show one day. Like it would be
so awesome to have a show about like mums or something. How fun. And like, I would hate to
be like, oh, I can't ever put on a puffer jacket anywhere ever again, because it reminds me of
like, it's just been overdone. So then you kind of start to step away. And this is where I have
this mini like identity crisis of like, okay.
I've got this platform. I'm not doing skits as much. What's going on with me? Like, what am I
doing? Like, who am I? And I've taken some time to like, think about it. I'm like, okay, what am I
interested in? And the natural segue was like acting. And I've wanted to be an actor ever since
I was a little girl, but I didn't pursue it after school because I didn't have the confidence.
And that kind of grew with the platform, like the confidence of like, hey, I can do this.
You certainly drag an audience.
I literally was like, I was literally like, I can do this. And then the home and away opportunity
came up, which was so exciting. Actually, I did a tiny little cameo on Bump on Stan. And then the
home and away opportunity came up and I was like, oh my God, I'm screaming.
How did that come about? Did they ring you?
No, so they, oh, actually I think what happened was because it's very like, there's a lot of
there was like, they needed a last minute character or something. And so they put a call
out for, um, my character who was actually an influencer and they asked me to come in and
audition. I auditioned and everything. Um, and then I got it and I went in and I did a whole day
of shooting and that was like so much fun. Um, and it just like showed me a little of the behind
the scenes on, on set, but it was, it was literally, it came. So this was,
last year in August, um, while I was kind of having like the identity crisis, I was like,
and then I was like, okay, great. And since then, it's not like I've been like
overwhelmed with acting work. Like it just doesn't work like that. And so I'm kind of like, okay,
I've done that thing. Like, all right, tick. Like we've got one thing on the portfolio. Now we've
got to be like kind of working on something else. So like, you kind of are always coming back to
like, who am I? And like making sure that I have like a strong foundation in who I am,
because I don't want to get lost in.
As a performer or as Millie Ford?
As Millie Ford.
So how do you separate these things? So you've got Millie Ford, who's, um, you know, Bronwyn,
Millie Ford, who's blah, blah, blah, the other characters, Millie Ford, who's at home away,
Millie Ford, who's a singer, Millie Ford, et cetera, et cetera. TikTok, the whole thing.
What about Millie Ford, the private person?
Yeah. It's so weird.
Where's time for her?
I, I know. And I like, I can be very different in part, like not different,
but I think I am myself online, but like, obviously there's so much I don't show.
No, but you've got to pass your personality. That's the issue.
Yeah. That's it. Yeah. And I think I, it's so weird because I, I do think about this and like,
I make sure that I like make space for me to feel really sad if I need to one day or like