Since welcoming her first child Benjamin Fox in March 2018, first-time mum Zoe Marshall has been using her platform to spread two poignant messages: Parenting is really tough at times and it’s time to start being truthful about it.
“I don’t feel men get this pressure but with women, there are these underlying bitchy jabs. Saying vaginal birth is best is an attack on women who have to have C-sections. Saying breastfeeding is best is still an attack on women who bottle feed,” Zoe, 34, who is married to NRL star Benji Marshall, also 34, told WHO magazine’s editor Keshnee Kemp on the podcast, Raw Talks.
Through social media, the former TV host and podcast host has encouraged women to focus on their own lives, their own children and their own parenting methods, rather than tearing others down for doing something they might not agree with.

“We have to start having conversations about whatever is going to work to keep your family harmonious and you full of joy because that is going to make a happy, thriving child,” the media personality says. “Not a C section, not a bottle, not whatever cereal (they eat.) We are so suffocated as women. Then throw in having an intimate relationship with your partner, a conversation with your girlfriends and a career! God forbid we have a nervous breakdown.”
In the last year, Zoe has been refreshingly candid about the ebbs and flows of motherhood, speaking openly about being diagnosed with endometriosis, her struggle to conceive, her battle with postnatal depletion, the pain of breastfeeding, and what it’s like to work and care for a newborn.
“Birthing a child takes the cake this year. Everything else feels like a blur. Even struggling with postnatal depletion for months is a blur. I stayed in bed for weeks. The transition of bringing a tiny human home. The fear,” she wrote on Instagram late last year. “It was so damn intense. Taking on 3 jobs and breastfeeding exclusively is enough to drive the calmest mumma mad.. (idiot at first, amazing now). But the biggest highlight has been the new people that have entered my life. And the old ones that have held me (or Fox) through some dark times.”
By sharing her own story, Zoe hopes it’ll encourage women to be real and raw about the struggles that inevitably come with being a mum.
“Women always say, ‘I’m totally self-sufficient and I can look after myself.’ Why can’t we shake things up and say yeah, it’s really hard and you will cry in the fetal position a lot but also, we’re going to find a way to band together and support each other through little tips and tricks like, ‘I saw this specialist, this naturopath really helped me get through my post-natal depletion’ or ‘try and just offload your kid for one hour to someone or get your friend to come in so you can have a nap.’ We don’t need to suffer in silence.”
Hear what Zoe has to say about drinking blended placenta, finding time for sex and feeling her late mums presence on this week’s episode of Raw Talks.