If my mistakes help you, that's a life well lived

Self-help superstar Mel Robbins tells Sally Saunders why her daughter dropping F-bombs was a life-changing moment

- Sally Saunders

It's an old saying that most overnight successes have actually been hard at work for years, and perhaps never is that more true than in the case of Mel Robbins.

Her star has been on the rise for a long time: her podcast has been flying high in the charts since she launched it in 2022, and she's been writing best-sellers for the last 10 years.

But since the launch of her new book, The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can't Stop Talking About, she's gone positively stratospheric. Whether it's her viral morning routine, her take on the menopause, or the 'Let Them Theory' itself, it's been hard to find much media in the last few weeks that hasn't mentioned her. Articles, podcasts, TV shows, other books: you name it, the world is talking about Mel Robbins.

Understandably, it's hard to catch up with someone so much in demand, and when you throw in the California wildfires, a bout of covid and various other craziness, it takes quite some effort for us to connect. So I'm surprised when we do eventually meet for a call: far from the mega-star image, who is used to appearing with the likes of Oprah, Jay Shetty and a Kardashian, she is in fact the most warm and funny woman complete with a single roller in her hair and no make-up.

'I'm running around like a lunatic this morning, because I spread everything out in a hotel room, and then, and I'm like, "Where did I put that stuff?"' she laughs. 'It's ok, you can see me in my natural state.' It's the most disarming, generous start to an interview I can remember, and it's Robbins all over.

She's one of the world's most followed and sought-after experts in mindset, behaviour change, and life improvement, but her overwhelming emotion is not pride, but gratitude.