Real Life

Aromas like flowers, coffee or perfume used to smell disgusting to Dunedin graphic designer Trina Liggins (35). But after ground-breaking surgery to cure her rare disorder, her life has changed. Getting a bunch of roses used to make me want to throw up. To me, the smell of flowers wasn’t sweet or romantic. Instead, they […]

They look like a typical loving mother and child – the little girl skipping happily and holding hands with the smiling woman as they walk along the beach. The woman calls out, “Be careful!” as the child races away to clamber over the rocks. The pretty four-year-old calls back, “I will, oum.” But Maria* is […]

Julie Aiken (35) of Christchurch was devastated when the lover she met online refused to accept she was having his baby. So she took desperate measures to find her son another dad. When I hear about people trying to find their birth fathers, I always think of my two-year-old son Blair and how one day […]

As I waited on the stage with the other girls in the beauty contest, I could feel my heart thudding in my chest. Then I heard my name. “The first runner-up is… oelinda Bennett!” There were cheers from the crowd as I went forward to get my sash. The person handing it out had to […]

Aucklander Karamea Matthes (26) thought she’d never have another baby after being hurt saving her son’s life. But baby Kalani is proof miracles do happen. “When I look at my tiny daughter Kalani, I can hardly believe she is here. My month-old newborn is the baby I thought I could never have, the child I […]

Lorraine Kondra (48) is standing by her convicted paedophile brother Colin Trevor Davies, despite being forced from her Christchurch home after her neighbours learned about his application for home detention. To my ex-neighbours, I want you to know I hold no malice against you. But my friends have been sworn at and abused when they […]

Tracey ocoahon (34), of Christchurch, was forced to watch her lover being stabbed 70 times by her jealous ex, was smeared with the murdered man’s blood and then kidnapped with her four young children. With the killer now jailed for life, Tracey reveals to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly how she survived that hellish day, saved […]

Aucklander Jacquie Jarry (48) hid in a closet to escape her son’s violent rages but then she took control of her parenting and turned their relationship around. She tells her story exclusively to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. With one arm wrapped protectively around my baby, I crouched down in the closet, pulling the door shut […]

oum-to-be Jen Stephens (28) of Palmerston North found the road to romance bumpier than expected when she decided to date while pregnant. The guy seemed really interested in me when he sent me the first few messages on the dating website. “So, what sort of things do you like to do?” he asked. “Do you […]

Karly Smith of Auckland has been keeping a painful secret under her hat – she’s losing her hair. I woke to see my Dad leaning over me. It was barely light outside. “Karly, come with me, there’s something I want to show you,” he said. Whatever Dad had to tell me, I didn’t want to […]

Atawhai was only 10 years old when she died tragically in 1990. But her best friend from childhood, Talita oulitalo (27) of Auckland, believes Atawhai is a guardian angel who helped save her baby son’s life. This is her thank-you letter to the little girl she has never forgotten. “Dear Atawhai, I still remember the […]