Megan Gale is one of Australia’s most respected models and businesswomen. She’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes in (like when she slammed a publication for putting words in her mouth recently) and her new #100Hours campaign, as L’Oreal’s ambassador, is no exception.
“One Australian woman dies from ovarian cancer every 10 hours, unfortunately we’re not quite there yet in terms of developing an early detection test, and that is the key goal we need help and we need funding to help women,” she explained when The Glow caught up with her recently.
We spoke to the 39-year-old about motherhood, fitness and her biggest beauty disaster.
Do you have any beauty regrets from your younger years?
“Oh gosh, who doesn’t? When I was 14 I was just obsessed with lightening my hair so I used this product called ‘Sun In’ because it was gradual and I thought I could hide it from my mum. I thought it looked good but in hindsight I’m like ‘Woah’. It made my hair that really brassy colour – it was not good at all. I hid it up in my wardrobe behind my soft toys and I would get it out every now and then and put a bit in. Mum definitely knew there was something going on.
When I look back, I just thought she wasn’t being fair – and other girls were doing it so I wanted to – but she was just trying to protect me from ruining myself. And I see it now with River, there’s so many times I’m like, ‘I just don’t want him to be broken at all’.”
Can you tell us what your signature red lipstick we always see you wearing is?
“L’Oreal Colour Riche ‘Bloody Mary’ ($21.95). Really easy one to remember too!”
Some mothers say their personal hygiene just went out the window, and they rarely had a shower when they had kids.
“You can’t. It’s amazing. It just happens. You think ‘How can you not have a shower?’ but it’s the last thing you think about. So the baby goes down and the first thing I need to do is sit down and pump [milk]. That takes ages. So you do that, you put it in the fridge. Then you’ve got to do dishes, then you’ve got to do washing. Everything’s a mess, and then it’s just like, OK, the baby’s up again. It’s just a constant cycle and it just happens."
After giving birth there’s such an enormous obsession with a woman’s post-baby body. Particularly women in the spotlight, like yourself. How do you navigate that kind of intense pressure?
“You don’t. It was the last thing on my mind and it was the last thing I even wanted to think about because my main focus was just letting my body heal. Your body goes through so much with pregnancy and childbirth and then after pregnancy with the breastfeeding and the hormones.” (Post continues after gallery.)
Megan and Shaun's Family Album
How soon after pregnancy did you get back into exercise?
“I remember once I’d given birth and I was still in the hospital I said to one of the midwives, ‘When can I go for a run?”, thinking she would say three or four weeks. And she replied, “12 weeks minimum”. I was like, ‘Really?’. Even then your pelvic floor is so fragile, you need to let yourself heal. I remember going for a run after 16 weeks and literally, I had to stop because I felt like my bladder was going to explode. Everyone’s different."
