Widowed AF: Real stories of love, grief and beyond - With Rosie Moss

Rosie Moss

British Podcast Awards 2025 - Winner. In 2018, Rosie Moss lost her husband Ben in a diving accident, leaving her widowed at 37 with three children. Finding grief resources shallow and platitudes empty, she created Widowed AF—a podcast offering honest conversations about loss. Through guest stories and expert advice, the show covers practical challenges (finances, single parenting) and emotional realities (anger, loneliness, joy). From processing her own grief to building a global community, Rosie helps others feel less alone. The podcast provides tools and shared experiences for rebuilding life after loss.

  1. vor 4 Tagen

    Renata Scofield on Cancer, Sudden Loss and Raising Two Young Daughters Alone

    For ten years, Renata Scofield and her husband Colin packed a lot of living into a short time. They met online despite living a block apart, married quickly, moved countries, built careers, welcomed two daughters and created a life together in Edinburgh. Then, in April 2023, Colin was diagnosed with kidney cancer that had already spread to his lungs. The treatment appeared to be working. Five days before he died, doctors told them the immunotherapy was shrinking lesions and things were looking positive. But what nobody realised was that the cancer had spread to his brain. A sudden stroke changed everything. In this episode, Renata shares the devastating reality of becoming widowed while raising two young girls aged just three and six, with no family nearby and no time to prepare. She talks about doing school drop-offs and pick-ups while her husband lay in hospital, making the decision to switch off life support, and the practical chaos that follows when the person holding your family together is suddenly gone. We also talk about Colin himself: a fourth-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu, a devoted hands-on dad, and the calm, steady presence who made everything feel possible. Along the way we discuss children’s grief, the importance of community, returning to work after loss, and why preparation is one of the greatest gifts we can leave the people we love, from wills and insurance to the passwords we never think to share. A conversation about love, resilience, solo parenting, and finding a way forward when life changes in an instant.

    Renata Scofield on Cancer, Sudden Loss and Raising Two Young Daughters Alone
  2. 13. Juli

    Funerals: Everything Nobody Tells You | With Poppy Mardell

    Most of us don’t think about funerals until we’re forced to. And by then we’re expected to make some of the biggest decisions of our lives whilst barely able to think straight. This week Rosie is joined by funeral director Poppy Mardell, founder of Poppy’s Funerals, for one of the most practical, eye-opening conversations we’ve ever had on Widowed AF. Together they dismantle the myths surrounding death, funerals and grief, exploring why so many of us feel rushed, overwhelmed and completely unprepared when someone dies. They discuss why the funeral industry remains unregulated, why there often isn’t the urgency we’re led to believe, and how reclaiming time and choice can make an enormous difference to grieving families. Rosie and Poppy also talk about seeing the person who has died, whether children should attend funerals, the importance of ritual (whether you’re religious or not), and why wakes might be one of the most important parts of saying goodbye. They also look to the future of funerals, from direct cremation and natural burials to water cremation, human composting and what really happens to thousands of unclaimed ashes. Whether you’re recently bereaved, supporting someone who is, or simply want to feel less afraid of talking about death, this is an episode everyone should hear. In this episode: • How Poppy went from Sotheby’s to founding one of the UK’s most progressive funeral companies • Why the funeral industry is still unregulated — and why that matters • The myth that funerals have to happen quickly • Why seeing the body can help us “see to believe” — for adults and children alike • Practical ways to include children in funerals without overwhelming them • Creating meaningful farewells that genuinely reflect the person who has died • Why rituals matter, even if you have no faith • Direct cremation, natural burial, water cremation and human composting explained • What happens to unclaimed ashes — and why the law is finally changing As always, if this episode resonated with you, please consider leaving a review or sharing it with someone who might need it. It really does help more grieving people find the podcast.

    Funerals: Everything Nobody Tells You | With Poppy Mardell
  3. 29. Juni

    Holly Matthews: “Just Tell Them I Was Alright” | Brain Cancer, Anticipatory Grief & Parenting Through Loss

    What happens when you have to grieve the person you love before they’ve even gone? This week I’m joined by Holly Matthews. Holly is a former actress, TEDx speaker, founder of The Happy Me Project, and was widowed at just 32 when her husband Ross died from grade four brain cancer, leaving her to raise their two young daughters alone. But before any of that, there was a Pimm’s promotional job, an instant connection, and a love story that moved at lightning speed. Holly and Ross built a relationship full of adventure, brutal honesty and the kind of laughter that makes two people feel like they’re speaking a language nobody else understands. Then came headaches. Anxiety. Focal seizures that were dismissed as panic attacks. Until one scan changed everything. Holly talks candidly about anticipatory grief, watching the person you love slowly disappear while they’re still alive, and the impossible conflict of desperately wanting more time while also wanting their suffering to end. We also discuss what good healthcare communication looks like, why Holly later stood in front of a room full of brain surgeons to tell them exactly where they were getting it wrong, and how a single compassionate doctor made all the difference. As always, we don’t shy away from the harder conversations. Holly shares what it was like preparing two little girls for the death of their dad, why she chose honesty over euphemisms, and the practical ways she’s helped them navigate grief ever since. This is a conversation about love, truth, parenting, neurodivergence, identity, and what it really means to live fully when you’ve learned just how fragile life is. In this episode we cover: • Falling in love almost instantly and trusting your instincts, even when everyone else thinks you’re making a mistake. • The symptoms that were repeatedly dismissed before Ross’s brain tumour was finally discovered. • Anticipatory grief and losing someone long before they physically die. • Hospice life, dark humour, and navigating the final weeks together. • Why the way doctors deliver devastating news matters so much. • Raising bereaved children with honesty, curiosity and space to ask every question. • Neurodivergence, masking and building a life that feels authentic after loss.

    Holly Matthews: “Just Tell Them I Was Alright” | Brain Cancer, Anticipatory Grief & Parenting Through Loss
  4. 22. Juni

    S4 - EP22 - How’s the Weather? Erin Clark on Grief, Love and Learning to Live Again

    What do you say when “How are you?” feels impossible to answer? This week I’m joined by Erin Clark, whose husband Greg died suddenly from a heart attack in 2021 after more than 30 years of marriage. One moment they were enjoying a simple family dinner with their children, and the next Erin found herself performing CPR on the man she’d loved since she was 19. In this deeply moving conversation, Erin shares the reality of losing her person overnight, the guilt she carried after falling asleep in a different room for the first time in three decades, and the crushing loneliness of learning to navigate a world that no longer made sense. We talk about the strange business of grief, the impossible task of telling your children their father has died, and why the second year can sometimes feel even harder than the first. Erin also shares the story behind How’s the Weather?, a simple but powerful question she created when she realised she no longer knew how to answer “How are you?”. Together we explore the idea that grief, like the weather, is constantly changing. Storms give way to sunshine, only for clouds to roll back in again. This is a conversation about enduring love, surviving the unsurvivable, and finding your way back to life one tiny step at a time. If you’re currently in the thick of grief, consider this your reminder that surviving today is enough. 🎧 Trigger warning: This episode contains discussion of sudden death, CPR, grief, trauma and bereavement.

    S4 - EP22 - How’s the Weather? Erin Clark on Grief, Love and Learning to Live Again
  5. 19. Juni

    S4 - EP21 - Chatty Episode- The Life We Never Got to Have with Julie Farrin

    In this 'chatty' episode I’m joined once again by the wonderful Julie Farrin, who first appeared on Widowed AF to share the story of losing her husband Andy to glioblastoma just months after they were married. A year on from her first appearance, we’re talking about what happens after the immediate chaos of grief. After the funeral, after the paperwork, after everyone else has gone back to their lives. What does rebuilding actually look like? Julie opens up about losing not only her husband, but also the future they had planned together. We discuss the children they hoped to have, the difficult decisions that followed Andy’s diagnosis, and the complicated grief that comes with losing a life you thought was still ahead of you. We also talk about widowhood without children, redundancy, identity, therapy, dating apps, panic attacks, endometriosis, hysterectomy grief, body confidence, boudoir photoshoots, yoga, friendship and learning to put yourself first after years of caring for someone else. Along the way, we explore why so many widowed people struggle to find purpose after loss, the pressure society places on us to “move on”, and how rebuilding your life often starts with something much smaller: learning that you are worth getting out of bed for. It’s an honest, funny and deeply moving conversation about love, loss, womanhood, friendship and discovering that life isn’t over just because everything changed. Whether you’re newly bereaved, years down the line, or supporting someone through grief, I think you’ll find something in Julie’s story that resonates. As always, if this episode speaks to you, I’d love to hear from you. You can find me on Instagram at @widowed_af or visit the website at www.widowedaf.com.

    S4 - EP21 - Chatty Episode- The Life We Never Got to Have with Julie Farrin

Info

British Podcast Awards 2025 - Winner. In 2018, Rosie Moss lost her husband Ben in a diving accident, leaving her widowed at 37 with three children. Finding grief resources shallow and platitudes empty, she created Widowed AF—a podcast offering honest conversations about loss. Through guest stories and expert advice, the show covers practical challenges (finances, single parenting) and emotional realities (anger, loneliness, joy). From processing her own grief to building a global community, Rosie helps others feel less alone. The podcast provides tools and shared experiences for rebuilding life after loss.