JACINDA ARDERN 'The TRUTH, the TEARS and the new LIFE I've built

With new her memoir A Different Kind of Power so full of raw emotion and family secrets, the former prime minister shares why it was important to her to be so frank and honest, and how life in Boston has been a blissful time for her, husband Clarke and daughter Neve – but why New Zealand will always be home.

- SOPHIE NEVILLE

When Dame Jacinda Ardern resigned as prime minister in early 2023, it came with a disarmingly simple admission: “I no longer have enough in the tank.” The frank statement and her shock decision to step away from politics made headlines around the world. Some applauded her honesty. Others condemned her for abandoning the problems the country was facing.

But it was only ever part of the story. Now, having released her highly anticipated memoir, the 44-year-old has turned the lens on herself, revealing a deeply personal journey from small-town Mormon girl to global political icon. Within the pages, we meet Jacinda in all her guises – daughter, partner, politician, mother and woman. We discover a childhood marked by her mother’s emotional collapse, a complex relationship with faith, the yearning and heartbreak of fertility struggles, the revelation of a family secret and cancer scare, a battle with imposter syndrome that continues today, plus a good dose of “mum guilt”.

In peeling back the layers, Jacinda invites both her fans and critics to see her not as a headline but as a human being. But there’s no doubt the publication of the book and its raw confessions have thrust her back into the glare of mainstream media, which she describes as an uncomfortable space now she’s become used to an entirely different kind of life.

This is a chapter defined by space, balance and the refreshing freedom that comes with not needing to have all the answers.