Emily Maitlis: The Truth About THAT Prince Andrew Interview, BBC Exit & Future Of Journalism

you got the call about your interview with prince Andrew what's the first thing you think about when you know that you're the person being charged with arguably the most important Royal interview in our lifetimes this week on high performance Emily maitless I did a job that I absolutely loved right I worked at newsnights BBC News night for 20 years and I loved it but it really took its toll on me I was living off vodka and caffeine you know and it sounds crazy but the one was to wake you up when you were too tired to think and the one was to send you to sleep when you were too wired to sleep 2014 to maybe 2018 I was traveling a lot I was covering really traumatic events and I'd done two weeks literally where you change beds every single night I'd be lying if I if I said it didn't actually take its toll in a sort of human way so can we ask you about you as a journalist now as opposed to a BBC journalist because you've made this decision to walk away from the institution would you tell us a little bit about your decision to do that [Music] thank you very much thank you thank you very much indeed Okay so we've come to the point in the afternoon that I know you're all very excited about after all our conversations this morning about high performance high performance in the workplace high performance from a personal perspective we're now going to meet someone who truly is high performance she's a broadcaster an incredible professional she has carried out one of the most talked about interviews of the last few years if not the most talked to that interview of Our Generation but what goes on behind the scenes how does this person view high performance it's time to find out ladies and Gentlemen please welcome to the stage Emily maitless [Music] thank you hi how are you well I'm very well all the better for making my entrance with a cup of tea but it is that sort of time of the afternoon I hope you don't mind absolutely not um apart from your team making skills how would you describe high performance I think it's about getting yourself to a place where you are happy with who you are and it sounds very obvious but actually whether it's about what you look like what you feel like what you sound like whether you're getting up each day to do a job that you like love rather than something that sort of terrifies you or defeats you or frustrates you I think it's about finding the your inner place where you can say I've actually got to somewhere where you know you're going to have bad days you're gonna have really bad days but broadly you sort of think I I sort of you know you like who you are you like what you're doing you like what's around you and I suppose that for me is quite important it's it's a it's a mental Place rather than a sort of a grades Place yeah I think that some people think high performance isn't about that I think it's about success right but what value does success carry if you're not happy if you don't have that in a piece that you've just spoken about so would you mind sharing with us how you got to that point what the journey looked like and perhaps some skills that you employ that other people listening to this could um I think it's about working out for yourself what's going to result in you feeling like the day's gone well and it sounds really sort of silly but you know I did a job that I absolutely loved right I worked at newsnights BBC News night for 20 years and I loved it but it was and it was very satisfying like you know mentally challenging intellectually but it really took its toll on me and it took me a long time to admit that that I was um I was there were times I was I was living off vodka and caffeine you know and it sounds crazy but the one was to wake you up when you were too tired to think and the one was to send you to sleep when you were too wired to sleep and I just looked back to that there was a sort of crazy period I'd say around 2014 to maybe 2018 I was traveling a lot I was covering really traumatic events I remember getting off a plane having been on a sort of circuit campaign following Donald Trump you know around sort of America in 2015 this was you know before he'd been elected before we even thought it was you know sort of a proper sort of chance and I'd done two weeks literally where you change beds every single night you know and you're flying internally every single you know and and you spend all your time in sort of airplane Air that you can't breathe eating rubbish food all the rest of it and I came back and I remember my phone had broken and so you can't operate as a journalist without a phone right it's just sort of rule number one and I remember thinking it was Friday and I was like oh should I just leave it for the weekend I'll just be completely switched off yet it doesn't matter be fine and then I just had this niggle and I was like no I've landed I'm gonna go straight into BBC I'm going to get somebody to check it out they gave me a sort of you know replacement I got something got the SIM card I was like okay well fine I've done that but I'm not bloody switching that on and then the bataclan attacks in Paris kicked off it was the 13th of November remember that really well because it was Friday the 13th and I remember hearing my phone at two in the morning and just thinking I can't deal with this I've literally I haven't I don't even know what country I'm in what bed I'm in what city I'm in what time it is I was my time zones were completely short and um I literally sort of reached out I think I'd taken a sleeping pill as well and just like shoved the phone under the heaviest book I could find it was about like war strategy you know a thousand page two I was just like I'm just gonna sink whatever is happening there and not deal with it and I just turned it off you know it's like I couldn't deal with it and it kept ringing and at six a.m I was like okay there is something telling me to get up and it was my editor saying get on the next train you know to to Paris and I remember asking this Dreadful question which every journalist recognizes and no human being ever ever wants to ask which is how many yeah and I I was literally there sort of going am I making this choice depending on how how big the tragedy is like I don't want to start thinking like that that's an that's an appalling way to think but that I think reflects what I was sort of going through physically and mentally I just couldn't deal I couldn't I hadn't had a proper night's sleep I hadn't had my phone working I hadn't you know I'd been sort of I drugged myself to sleep and pulled myself awake and they just said you know we think it's more than a hundred get on the first train and you don't you haven't really got time to think right so you just I always have a grab bag ready and I would just sort of you know the trouble was my grab bag had already been used because I've been grabbing to go to America so I had to sort of start all over again you know where where you clean underwear where's the you know where's the bits and pieces and I remember getting on the Euro tunnel the Euro you know yourself and an email came through and it was an advisory and it was meant to be a really helpful advisory from the BBC and it said um anyone traveling to Paris beware of an unmarked black Renault um which is packed full of explosives and I was like Jesus like it's unmarked like it's a black Renault like how what am I you know and I remember thinking that's not helpful because you know what how can I be aware of an unmarked black Renault you know that might be full of explosives and so all it does is sort of fuel your paranoia more and more and more because you're going towards this place that was still live that was still full of terrorists that hadn't been tracked down that had 130 I think it was dead by that stage and you've still got to do a professional job you know and so I think just having recognizing just the toll that that is taking mentally you know on your head and on your body and I remember you know sort of turning up sometimes at vigils in in the US did a lot of awful school shootings and you know gun crime events and I would turn up there and I'd go right is the vigil six or seven and I thought no one should know the pattern of a U.S school shooting vigil that well that they know it's either going to be six or seven like I shouldn't I don't want to know the drill that's not a drill I ever feel comfortable you know being able to kind of plan around that's not the person or the journalist I wanted to start off being and so I realized I was getting into this slight you know mindset where I was just covering trauma almost like uh a really normal thing okay come on I think the original bit six it might be a seven but if it's at seven then we'll just get you know Starbucks first you know you don't you don't actually want that to be your mentality or your head and course you know the adrenaline of it and the sense of a story well covered or an interview well done or um a sense of being in the place and hearing the voices of people and the the tragedy that they were feeling people telling you their stories is very flattering you know it's very it it's very emotional and it's and it's a sort of trusting sense and so it's it's great in the sense that you think yes I've delivered something back to base I've I've done this but it it you know I'd be lying if I if I said it didn't actually take its toll in a sort of human way yeah so what strategies have you learned that haven't they that anybody here while listening to this would be able to adopt and employ to be able to keep that demarcation between a demanding job professionally and demanding challenges outside of work um I've learned that you try and keep your promises to your kids and I learned that the hard way because I funny enough I was just remembering back because it's my son's birthday next week and when he was two you know baby I got offered this shift I just thought I couldn't turn down I just started presenting and it was an amazing Newsnight shift and I sort of threw him at my best friend and said oh you know because they had birthdays you know kids very similar birthdays I was like can you take him you know he'll be fine he's only two he won't remember and then I went on a well it's sort of true you know but but you do that's the trouble and I went on air and I did possibly like the worst interview or the worst collection of interviews I'd ever done my head wasn't in the right place I was really stressing about so many things I felt I kind of under you know it's undervalued his day and all the rest of it and actually in the clear light of day in the logic you know he's a darling boy and we get on really well and he never comes around going oh you weren't there for my second birthday but there's something about you trying to get your roles right that I think is really really key to that whole period and sometimes it's not for the kids it's for you it's exactly what you say though it's that sense of demarcation and a few years later I mean well many years later um I think it was it was 2014 and I remember my editor called me up and it was another one of these like can you like get that you know sometimes it's really funny sometimes at the BBC you get um an emailed plane ticket before anyone's had a conversation with you so I'm just not kidding you're just kind of scrolling through you're like oh gosh um I'm booked on a plane to Glasgow ah I wonder when anyone was gonna say anything or I'll say oh look oh hungry Budapest anyway this time it was it was about the refugee crisis and they said can you you know this there's a big full sort of steam of a story Gathering a lot of refugees are arriving from Syrian Syrian war in Hungary and hungary's closed it's railway station and it doesn't want to take them and they're all building up on The Concourse and they're trying to get to Germany and it was a really extraordinary and actually pretty emotional story of people who had kind of left a war zone and were trying to get to what they thought was the new you know the New Jerusalem the sort of new promised land and my Deputy editor said to me oh can you you know can you go and cover this story I said to him no um sadly I've just booked um a llama tour for my for my my son's birthday and I've got the cousins coming and he was and he was really kind of delicate with me he's like yeah um do you think maybe the story is quite important and you know we could we could find a way around it and I was like well I have paid the deposit and it I don't know what I was doing I had paid the deposit and it's in Peterborough so obviously I've got to go up to you know Northampton it's it's going to be quite complicated and I now recognize that actually what happens is there is a sort of there's a slight sort of vacuum hole in your brain which takes you from the present which is like oh I've just booked a nice llama tour with my kids and their cousins to oh my God the biggest story in the world is kicking off on the border of Hungary and you have this space where you you're but that side of your brain hasn't quite computed that side of the brain and so you end up kind of sounding like complete Wally okay no can't cover that because I've paid the deposit on the llamas you know and then I remember my Deputy attorney just went I'll just leave that with you a few moments oh I'll come back in in 15 and of course can't remember what you know normally for me it's a run it's something physical it just shakes it all out kind of you know and I suddenly went yeah I'm not about to I'm not about to give up that story but I am going to get back in time for the Llama farm and I did I did I did I did hungry in sort of 48 hours and then got to bed at two o'clock that morning um woke up at 4 30 to catch a 6 a.m flight home you know and you could not see me on that flight because I just took a blanket and put it over my whole heads and just went can't talk yeah can't think but it was really important to me you know on some level to to get back to that and I'm not at all trying to set up and I think this is really important I'm not trying to set up impossible standards because again it actually wouldn't have mattered if I'd miss the story there are plenty of other brilliant journalists could that could have done it and it wouldn't really have mattered if I'd missed the llamas because there are plenty of other ways you can celebrate a birthday and all the rest of it but I'm just sort of taking you through my mindset which was that at that point it felt really important that I didn't lose track of the kind of the sort of the things that were keeping me saying the continuity you know side of things I actually think it's like it's a really valuable thing to share because you know we talk often on this podcast about empathy over opinion and this breeds empathy for the life that you've lived in the career that you've had and actually the the opinion for most people would probably be look at Emily maitless powerful glamorous well-read bright hard-working in-control person I mean I don't wanna I don't want to interrupt I just think you know we can fill that's only my opinion um where was I um but actually the truth is that you know we're all struggling we're all searching we're all trying to find a way through and I think this conversation about you know doubt and imposter syndrome and fear and not knowing is a far more powerful conversation than actually just going oh yeah well I find life easy which none of us do that's the truth so I'd like to to fast forward to the moment you got the call about your interview with prince Andrew what's the first thing you think about when you know that you're the person being charged with arguably the most important Royal interview in our lifetimes four letters yeah you know you can choose what it starts with but that's the first thing that goes through your head so um just as I'm talking to you now I can feel I can feel my solar plexus and I can feel you remember that feeling yeah yeah I mean it's not a one-off it's every time somebody comes to you with you know an interview where were you then when you found out about this one well it wasn't fully enough it wasn't that I was told in that way because we had been part of the bidding process so right from the very beginning um we had a brilliant sort of team at Newsnight and we had gone for I think two possibly three visits to the Palace and the first time we'd met um his advisor his sort of assistant and we kind of came out and we were like I think that went well you know when you can't quite tell you're like did that go well I think it went well yeah was it all right did she like and you you replay each other's words like oh she liked it when you said that oh no but she liked the bit where you where you said oh I think are we okay anyway and then you're just playing a waiting game and to be honest there are so many interviews that don't come off right we're always bidding you know bit for everyone you've been for presidents and popes and Gordon you know you just you just keep bidding basically yeah and so it's never a surprise when something doesn't come off because by then you've just had to you know realign and move on to the next thing and so we kind of did it and then there was a little pause and then we got invited back and at the point where we were invited back I was like okay this is quite serious so can I just jump in there and ask what's going on in your head do you know you said that four letter word is your immediate gut response yeah what are you telling yourself um I'm fighting two things so sometimes you deceive your own head right and I do it quite often if I'm scared of something I go oh no I don't I don't think it'd be very good oh no I don't think I don't think it's that important oh I don't know I don't think it'll really you know so instead of saying how amazing you try and push it away and you go oh I I know I I don't think it's what we do I don't think I'd be very good at it I don't think that's for us you know you find ways of sort of excusing the not doing it or the it not being a success I really don't think anyone was really expecting that you know so you you you're trying to put a little bit of insulation between you and failure aren't you because the alternative is that you say I'm gonna do that and I might screw it up right so instead of admitting that to yourself which is too big a thought in one go you go oh I don't think anyone would uh no I don't think we'd really miss that you know and and the truth is no one if we hadn't got it no one would know so you've always got that to hide behind no one no one knows right until you actually do it but you're palpitating because you are thinking this could be the biggest thing I ever do quite simply I mean professionally journalistically this could be the biggest thing I ever do and if it goes wrong it will be the worst thing I ever do and you never think this will be the best thing I ever do because that's not I don't that's not how I'm wired right I think this has all the potential to be a car crash which it was but not not necessarily in the way yeah I was sort of thinking and so yes I think you try and protect yourself from the fear by saying oh you know lots of things going on so that's the sort of neurological feeling which is I'm really nervous I'm really scared of this and that's when you need a brilliant team around you because your team is the person who says of course you're going to knock it out the park of course it's going to be brilliant and we're gonna get to that place right and it's never you on your own it's brilliant camera people it's brilliant lighting it's brilliant sound it's the person who is role playing with you across the table right who is being the prince who is putting you through your paces and I can honestly tell you that my editor Esme Wren played that role and she was way tougher I mean I was terrified of her by the end of our hour because she would push back at me in a really sort of hurtful incisive way that left me sort of stuttering and actually that's the next thing isn't it it's it's preparation you want to be so clear and and sort of just learn it in a funny way it's a weird word but you know what I mean you want to know how did you know what to learn though like what was the focus of your body I went through every bit of research I could find so I treated it like a school project right type in the name read everything that has been written watch every documentary go and follow all the different splits on the trees who's that person who's Stephanopoulos who's that who's at the party what were they doing who's Virginia du Frey how does what's her connection to him what's their connection to them what's the date why does it matter that that was Florida not New York what's the difference between the jurisdiction in the in a Florida Court versus you know a little St James Island so you are you are trying to again insulate yourself from mistakes right I wanted to be word perfect I couldn't I couldn't tell you those dates now but if you'd ask me that I would have done it like a mastermind candidate you know contestant I would have said no that was 2017 not 2008 you know or that was the 18th birthday not the 21st birthday that was the time he went there sorry no no I'm interested because I love the depth of research you do but before you start that do you you have an objective for That interview if you had to Define what success would be for you it's a really simple objective actually which is that you want to get the most out of your interview and out of your interviewee right it's as simple as that so if I'm doing an interview that leaves people confused I've failed right and if I'm doing an interview which has interrupted or cut somebody short or not got to the bottom of something I failed and so the way we prepared for it was I sort of think you know in Lego like when you're just freestyling Lego you build your blocks if I'm making a house you get your foundations in place you don't just build one Tower up right oh I'm just going to follow this one thing I've learned until it topples over you go first question second question third question fourth where's the bridge between that one how am I building on that and so there's a series if you if you go back and look at the interview I was just trying to get things confirmed so did you go there did you go to the Manhattan house yes I did did you go to the island yes I did were you on the jet yes I did because if at any point the answer is no then 10 questions you've got don't work so if he'd suddenly said to me I was never in the house in Manhattan I was never in the Epstein House suddenly I'm thinking oh blimey I've got to rethink that and you've got to recalibrate really quickly so part of an interview is you explaining to the audience what you're doing I'm just checking that I've got my facts right on that I'm checking I've got my facts right on that then you did that is that right yes then I think it was 2018 you did you know whatever it is and you're building you're you're building the structure of the narrative that everyone understands so all that is not it's not difficult stuff but it is it's slow and if somebody had said at that point only you've only got five minutes the whole thing would have been over because I couldn't have ever got to a place where I was asking as it were the bigger questions you know the fundamental questions the allegations that I was putting to him only worked once you had the whole structure sort of solidly in place the value for people is really great here because it doesn't matter whether you're interviewing a member of the royal family or you're focusing on a job or something in your life that's important you know the attention to detail finding tools and ways of calming yourself which is what you did really important as well so you do all these things you tell yourself it doesn't matter if you don't get it but you still do get it then you do the deep deep work which we should all be doing for things that we really care about um I'm sure you had some fear which is a great indicator that this thing actually matters to you so you sit down with your producer and you work and work till between you you've nailed it right so there's very little I'm sure you could have done extra when you walk through the doors of the palace even so with all of that prep please tell us how it felt to walk in to that building Dreadful I mean you know Dreadful actually and you can tell the nervous like I normally okay here's here's you know a life secret right I'm the most efficient Packer I've ever met right I I love neat packing right this is a detour but I'm just going to give you an example of this I always travel with a little coffee pot you know like a stovetop coffee pot and I was with my boys once in a little sort of Beach Place very sort of low-key really sweet and I put the coffee on the stove uh you know the morning we got there late put the coffee on the stove to start the morning after and the lid starts popping up and down popping up and down and I'm like oh that's a bit weird what's going on here and I see because it's it's pressure from the thing I see this little red child sock to push the lid open and my boys are like Mom what have you done and I was like sorry I saw a cavity in the coffee pot and I just thought I'd put all your socks in the top so that I wouldn't waste any room in the luggage right they were literally the socks were packed in the coffee pot and I forgot and then the coffee started boiling the socks not a great start to a holiday either for my coffee or their socks but I'm just saying when I go on holiday I'm very very tight and tied with my packing the morning I went to Buckingham Palace I had a bag so big of what extra jackets extra shoes extra trousers it was it was a slight you know reflection I think of the state of my mind yeah yeah that I I couldn't quite decide I was like what if I've got the wrong thing or what if I what if I have to go outside or what if I'm you know it was almost too prepared instead of going in and saying I'm very happy I'm very happy with what I've got on and that's fine I was like I might spill coffee I might spill tea I might be sick what did you do to come out of this red brain I hid in the loo yeah I hid in the loo and and I'm not really joking about that because the one thing I would say um is that a good interview is made in the five-minute silence that you spend on your own before it and I think that is golden time for me it's golden time and what do I mean by that that as soon as you're shown into a room particularly an overroaring room like a a Buckingham Palace Ballroom which was where we were everything starts you know there's people kind of checking makeup there's lights there's somebody miking you up there's people come and Shake Hands there's somebody who introduced themselves there's like do you want to teach it they're all lovely it's all helpful but you lose your silence right and actually at that point you've got your game face on and you go oh hello lovely to me oh no oh that's kind of you oh no I wouldn't know sugar and you know you're starting to be somebody that is that is sort of playing the social game right and I suddenly realized that I just wasn't ready I just wanted five minutes on my own so I excuse myself and I just I said oh you know is there a ladies it's not you know a lady that's a it's a Bucky and Palace hello it's sort of amazing and I just locked the door and I remember just sort of sitting in the corner going right where's my head how do I find Clarity how do I just let everything go silent I don't want to be saying hello don't want to be shaking hands don't want to be fiddling around don't want to be checking buttons I just want to know where my head is before I go in and do this interview what did you find you you wait for a single note that's what you do and sometimes you just you have this blinding Clarity I can't explain it any other way but you you've got this bug of questions in your head or on your sheets or your notes you've got you know I had like 30 questions and then you think just like you've said damn it what what's the question that you're asking what's the what's the purpose right and we always say that in news with headlines if you can't write a headline in five if you can't tell a story in sort of five words it's probably not the right story it's probably not the right headline once you've got the clarity and that single note sound which is like what am I going in I'm just going in to find out and that was the moment when I realized that the only role I had wasn't you know wasn't to trip up it wasn't to wasn't to confuse it wasn't to wasn't trying to be cut I was I was the one person in the world at that point who could ask the questions that the women wanted answering right that was all and so actually it's Inc if I found a place of relaxation because suddenly you're just the conduit and you you take your own mind out it's not it's not my ego it's not my questions it's not I'm just trying to get to a place where the questions that everyone has been asking that have been you know ricocheting around the press and well why did he do that what was that about and how did he go back and why was he still friends and should he have known that about the thing and bro that's all I had to do I just had to be the sort of the the cable yeah that asked the questions and that was what I was there to do so when the interview goes on then it gets to where you've established the facts you've built the foundations then you have to ask those saving questions what was going on there was it still the process of just asking the question or did you have a pause for thought so maybe check yourself and go do I dare to go in with this you're listening so hard because the trouble with questions is if you're not careful you're sticking to them right and as you both know sometimes that's the worst thing you can do yeah because you miss what they've just said right so the most essential bit of that whole process is your ear like has he just told me that it takes bravery though doesn't it well I think the whole thing the whole thing takes a different mindset which is do I know what I'm trying to ask here and it's not that you're not asking the questions that you sort of want answered but you are listening and there were certain points in the interview where I thought oh that's interesting oh gosh I wasn't expecting that you know just little phrases that were used which told a whole story in themselves for example like when he said he'd been too honorable right that was one of the phrases he used I said why didn't you tell Epstein after he was you know convicted of of you know pedophilia that you you couldn't maintain a friendship with him and he said I went to his house maybe that was wrong but I maybe I was too honorable and I just thought oh that's going to strike a really weird note right it's just it's I'm not sure that's gonna sound how he wants it to sound and so that was one and then there was another point where he talked about um I said didn't you hold a party for you know Maxwell he went no and I thought oh my god I've got this wrong because I had my notes and I checked and I'd done all the research and I was like no my research is crumbling and then he looked up and he went who's straightforward shooting weekend and that was the point where I just thought where but I I get it we're on different uh sort of visions of reality here because he meant like for him a party is 500 people you know it's a it's a ball and the straightforward shooting weekend was kind of 16 people staying in a country house most people watching llamas is it it does right it's just I mean it's it's and I the trouble is I'm not I totally got it yeah I got the fact that within his context that was totally different right but it didn't mean that when I'd said there was a party I was wrong it just meant that you know for me a house party with 20 people is quite a big deal right for him if it's less than five fewer than 500 that's not a party and so it was just sort of recalibrating kind of understanding that genuinely from his own position you know from his own obviously you know exalted very different childhood he came at things very differently and so there were just those moments where I had to sort of just tweak my brain a bit and understand that he was he thought he was you know he was clarifying and he was but it's there were just these odd turns of phrase yeah so let's talk about um the reaction then to the interview because I think that in the modern era particularly in the social media era the interviewer is as under the microscope as much as the interviewee so the interview comes out and I'd love to know how you react to other people reacting to your work you know how are you with scrutiny and all that sort of stuff it went out on Saturday nights and I had my friends staying and we always um we always do a run to queue right we do like a long 10 mile run and so next morning Sunday morning we got up and we ran along the bank you know did our River Run and she said oh God we've got to talk about this we've got to talk about this and I was like no I don't actually I don't want to I was really happy with it it was all fine it had nice feedback but I didn't I just didn't want to talk about it I was like no when I'm panicking about something then I want to talk right my running chats are really important because they help me sort out my head and my brain and oh I don't understand this and am I getting this wrong once I've done something I'm like yeah let that go I was very happy to let it go and I remember we um we ran all the way and then we got to our little coffee shop you know stopped for coffee and just a couple of people said oh like the interview but that was it and so I actually came away thinking oh that's it was actually quite quiet sort of it's all been quite quiet you know I hadn't seen any of the and then obviously the Press over the next few days just kind of took off I think I think I'd expected it to be a a quieter Landing in a way um and you are under the microscope of course you are you know but I think at that point I was happy with the job we'd done and I also knew that they had been we'd been very careful each step of the way that we were including the palace you know and his team in what we were doing what time it was going out checking after it had gone out you know were they happy and so we felt there hadn't been any Ambush you know there hadn't been any moment where it's like oh you know just slip that one out it had all been done rigorously in accordance with what they knew was happening and so actually I could walk away I sort of walked away from the noise at that point because I sort of thought yeah you know what I'm in my head going back to the start in my head I'm happy with that it you know I I was fair they knew what we were doing no code of honor was broken you know we didn't there was nothing s under the you know under there yeah what I mean you know yeah yeah yeah and so it was sort of it was fine actually and and I think I you know it was it was sort of it was good but I think going back to your question what we've seen now and it's really interesting on interviews like um Andrew Tate recently on the BBC or Elon Musk who also did the BBC that there is no automatic Authority for the journalists and what do I mean by that that you know in the Halcyon Days you know in the olden times you go with your cameras and your mics and you've got your platform and you are the sort of authoritative you know I'm the journalist and I'm the broadcaster and I'm interviewing you and now particularly you know Elon Musk right he's got his own platform so as soon as he does an interview he whacks it out right so there is no sense of the the journalist dominating the interview same with Andrew Tate he recorded the whole thing he puts it out to his you know eight million obviously 16 million you know so you as a journalist feel seriously scrutinized because you are you are their interviewee just as they are your interviewee and I think that does change the whole dynamic it makes it very yeah tense actually well it levels the playing field you know so can we ask you about you as a journalist now as opposed to a BBC journalist because you've made the decision to walk away from the institution that seems like quite a brave move it seems like it was a comfort but it would have almost been a bit of a comfort blanket to have been surrounded by that would you tell us a little bit about your decision to do that I think I don't really believe in a job for life actually and I mean great if it works you know great if you're happy I'm not saying that everyone has to change job but actually for me I've done 20 years and that's a long it's a big chunk of your life you know in one place on One show and particularly a show you know as I mentioned that doesn't get you to bed before one in the morning you know I was raising kids going to bed at one getting up you know running at sort of sort of you know getting a kid's kids off to school at sort of 6 37 then running then having to catch up on everything for the day and then start all over again and it does take its toll actually on your on your body and on your sort of brain and I think I decided that 20 years was enough um or gonna be enough yeah and then actually what happened was I'm just obsessed by U.S politics and we had the best like most extraordinary election you know of 2020 in the US where it was the covert election Biden versus Trump and then Trump wouldn't acknowledge that he'd lost and then he brought all the lawsuits and then we had the whole thing with the hair dye and the you know Garden Center and the press conferences and and then it culminated in the January the six riots you know it was a kind of it was attempt to overturn democracy and actually the idea that I would leave during that whole period was just crazy and so I kept on staying for the next bit and the next bit of the story you know it's like not being able to sort of walk away from the story and so I suppose really it was once we got to the end of what I've what felt like the end to me of that whole thing which took us into 20 21 that I started thinking okay now it's yeah now it's probably time to you know look for the next thing and [Music] I'm I'm actually I don't Linger on goodbyes I've noticed that about myself you know that I'm not somebody who if I say I'm going I thought you know I think my friend always says I'm terrible at parties because I have this sort of like quit while you're ahead you know just go enjoy it and then just get out so I don't unlike my mum you know if my mum says goodbye and she's still there an hour later normally with exactly the same person that she's just said goodbye to and there's nothing more frustrating than going mom I think I think we've done I think we're I you know I think they're trying to think just a cab people who don't say goodbye at parties say five years over the course of their lifetime saying goodbye to people is that all right what am I gonna do with that so I suppose I don't I'm not I'm not big on Nostalgia so once the decision was made and it really helped me that I was leaving with mates right yeah so we always describe it as a sort of Thelma and Louise moment you know I mean without hopefully though you know kind of suicide but you know fingers crossed but we we left in what felt like fast car with a roof down and all hair blowing in the wind and there was something quite exhilarating about that you know because we were we weren't we weren't leaving out of you know anger or Umbridge or even you know boredom or anything we were leaving because we were like I think I think we've got a plan here you know and yeah I've got that thing again when I started talking I'm like oh my God this could all have gone you know Belly Up could have gone really badly wrong but we thought we had a plan and actually you have to be prepared to fail right you have to be prepared to fail and if I had failed at that point with what we want to do next I like to think I would have gone well I you know I had I had great successes I had great stuff I wrote a book I did the interview I you know just what you know let's see what comes next um but I think it was really helpful for me to know that yeah I'm I'm going to do I'm going towards something I'm not I didn't ever feel like I was walking away I wanted to walk towards it yeah in many ways signifies a lot of your career like incredible bravery just making sure there's that small comfort blanket of having in this case someone with you but you know completing the preparation all those other things you always looked for something just to give you that little parachute if you needed it but journalism is very team you know it's very team orientated so I suppose that is that's really key to how it's very easy to be brave when you've got you know people that are helping you quietly taking the Mickey you know yeah absolutely yeah sadly we're just about out of time but we just like to very quickly run through our quick fire questions with you oh no three non-negotiables that you and the people around you need to buy into um I don't like d for Behavior no Divas okay I hate people telling me to relax okay I hate that because it normally means that they're they're not doing something that they probably should be doing yes and the third thing is I'm I hate lateness I'm I'm I'm very punctual um generally and I I had a boyfriend who reminded me years after we broke up that I had a 15 minute Rule and if he was 15 minutes late I'd just gone so rather than get angry or shout or Grump or anything I just go and again I've saved a lot of time not waiting for people what's the single best piece of advice you've ever received ask for things don't particularly for women you know there's this great line I'm going to quote Captain Moran who says from the Bible the meek shall inherit the earth and then she puts in Block capitals women this does not apply to you and it's such a good piece because you know a lot of women in their professional lives sort of think that they'll just be recognized you know oh it must be my turn it must be my turn they don't realize that all the blokes in the room are going up and sort of going can I have that can you send me there can I cover that story and actually be the person that is prepared to ask for things because otherwise they never know that you want them right so I'd say that's been really helpful to me brilliant and does that tie in with the question what one piece of advice would you give to a young Emily just starting out her career well the thing I'd give to like any teenager or anyone starting out actually is learn a language right put in the time when you're 14 even if it feels boring and frustrating and embarrassing you will never regret that you know it opens the world to you so I'd say yeah learn a language it's the thing I'm weirdly most proud of for myself that I've that I can open my mouth and blurt things out and and not feel embarrassed about that and I like that and the final question Emily is what's your one golden piece what your one Golden Rule to live a high performance life sleep [Laughter] change yourself on sleep for me it's sleep if you know and exercise and the other thing I'd say is on your days off I stay in my gym kit because I get so much more done so if I don't have to put my work clothes on I just I run around in trainers I run around in you know swimming kit gym kit I get more done brilliant I love that you never get invited anywhere but that's fine no problem you leave early anyway so it doesn't matter look honestly thank you so much for that we could have spoken for hours I think for people who like the whole world does from the outside have an opinion of you and your job and the life you've lived you know to hear actually the strains and the stresses to hear the detail that you go to to hear what it's like in the public eye when an interview like that um comes out but then also to understand a bit about a Really Brave decision to walk away from the BBC which let's all be honest 20 years ago nobody did maybe even five years ago nobody did it so um I'm really really interesting insight and we can't thank you enough for sharing that with the high performance thank you so much Emily maintenance ladies and gentlemen [Applause] hey guys it's Jake here listen before you go please do me just one favor hit subscribe it makes such a difference to us the more subscribers we get then the bigger the channel becomes the bigger the channel becomes the bigger the names we can attract and the more impact we can have for you so thanks for watching and please subscribe right now

Channel: High Performance

Views: 443,760

Keywords: Football, Podcast, The High Performance Podcast, Jake Humphrey, Damian Hughes, Liquid thinker, emily maitlis, emily maitlis newsnight, emily maitlis prince andrew highlights, emily maitlis prince andrew, prince andrew, prince andrew interview

Id: A0x6G5AW6Uw

Length: 50min 39sec (3039 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 28 2023