If you scroll through Pip Edwards’ Instagram page, her life may seem picture perfect. You’ll see how she runs her super-successful athleisurewear label P.E. Nation. You’ll also notice she’s a big advocate for women’s health and rights, and loves to work out, too.
Edwards’ social media also features her beautiful home, her son, plus her escapades with her close friends – aka Australia’s super-cool fashion set. Bottom line? She’s successful and loved by her peers and employees – and she has herself to thank for that success, because she’s created it herself.
In her own words, she’s a “multitasking turbo freak”.
But behind the mum-of-one’s beautiful life, the woman who seems to have it all… doesn’t. One thing she’s missing, she explained to Mamamia recently, is the option of having more children.
Watch: Pip Edwards speaks to Mia Freedman on No Filter. Post continues after video.
And for Edwards, that’s a “hard pill to swallow”, she shared in a candid interview with Mia Freedman for the No Filter podcast.
Pip became a single mum at 27, a year after she welcomed her son Justice – now 16 – with fashion designer, Dan Single.
“I obviously had a kid young, so I would never take that for granted,” she said.
“But it was easy to fall pregnant.”
Life happened, as it does, and Edwards felt she had “all the time in the world” to consider more kids down the track.
“If you look at the way I chose to live my life, which is, like I said, it’s turbo speed – I have a very clean, lean diet. I train all the time. I barely sleep. My body is under a lot of duress, from travel and stress.
“I am a candidate for early menopause. But no one told me.”
“When I was 39, I started having these crazy flushes,” she told No Filter, adding that they were “debilitating”.
At times she would find herself dripping with sweat, unable to sleep, and was flustered all the time.
“I think I survived about a month or so enduring that going, 'what the fuck is this?' And then went to the doctor,” she shared.
“I got my egg count done. And it was very, very, very low.”
At 39, Edwards learned that she was perimenopausal – meaning her chances of having another baby had dropped significantly.
Listen to part one of Pip Edwards' candid chat on No Filter with Mia Freedman. Post continues below.
With that realisation, the entrepreneur decided to embark on the fertility process of freezing her eggs.
"I was like, ‘You know what? Yeah, maybe I did want to have more kids.' Maybe I didn’t. Maybe it was dependent on the partner that I met…
“It was about having the choice.”
The opportunity to freeze those remaining eggs was taken away too, because in the thick of the COVID pandemic, elective surgery (which is how egg harvesting is classified in Australia) was put on hold.
The news was a shock to the system. But being the powerhouse she is, Edwards has taken it in her stride and counts her blessings. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
She told Mia, “I've done such a good and big job of getting my son to nearly 17. And I've done it, and I've survived it. And he's amazing. I don't even know if I can imagine having a 17-year-old and a baby, or a 20-year-old and a baby; like physically, I don't know. And mentally.”
Still, “I want the option.”
The news meant Pip needed to grieve.
“Not because of the desire to have another kid, but just that I wasn't prepared to not. I still actually think about, what if I meet the man of my dreams, but a big part of his dream has children? What does that conversation look like?
“I think I'm a woman that's created all my opportunities in life. I create every opportunity I do, I go for an opportunity. And being told I don't have that? [It’s a] pretty hard pill to swallow.”
Edwards’ health is now her biggest priority. She’s turned to alternative medicines to help relieve her perimenopausal symptoms, with a heavy focus on food and exercise.
“I've had to go to a naturopath and really look at my diet. And how I train you know, it is a lot.”
So, what’s next for Edwards? Her future is about taking hold of her own narrative, continuing her therapy sessions, and simply “letting go”.
During her No Filter episode, she was vocal about the importance of therapy in her life, and the various forms she’s tried over the past decade. Right now, she’s finding success with neuro-linguistic programming, which used techniques that aim to change unhelpful thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and communication patterns.
While neuro-linguistic programming isn’t a recognised form of psychotherapy, it’s widely practised and is often used as a supplement to more conventional therapies.
“[What] I’m doing at the moment in my therapy, which I know I've spoken a lot about, is I'm working on future-proofing myself. I look into the future and I start to see and feel what it is.
“The future, it's coming. And I'm ready for it. There's a lot of joy. There are a lot of smiles. There's a lot of inspiration and travel, there are feelings.
“Feelings is what I'm imagining.”
Feature image: Instagram/@pipedwards
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