Barbara Scully sits down with Laura for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with her own recent run-in with the medical system and opens out into what it actually means to age as a woman in Ireland today.Barbara talks about months of hip pain, a string of MRIs, a suspected stroke that turned out to be nothing, and the moment she decided to step off the treadmill of tests, hand back the prescription and rebuild her strength in the gym. She also shares her type 2 diabetes diagnosis in her mid-50s and the two years of remission she achieved through diet and...
Barbara Scully sits down with Laura for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with her own recent run-in with the medical system and opens out into what it actually means to age as a woman in Ireland today.
Barbara talks about months of hip pain, a string of MRIs, a suspected stroke that turned out to be nothing, and the moment she decided to step off the treadmill of tests, hand back the prescription and rebuild her strength in the gym. She also shares her type 2 diabetes diagnosis in her mid-50s and the two years of remission she achieved through diet and exercise before her mother died and life became harder again.
The conversation moves into menopause, brain fog, mood swings and the language used about older women. Barbara reframes brain fog as an information retrieval slowdown, makes the case that women's anger after menopause is real and warranted, and argues that being underestimated as you get older is closer to a superpower than to invisibility.
There is also room for the story behind it all. Growing up tall in a male-dominated house. Becoming an unmarried mother in 1987 and listening to politicians and clergy describe women like her as a scourge on the radio. The close, unconventional friendship she had with her mother, who set up her own business teaching women word processing in the late 1980s. And the comedy career she fell into in her 60s, now touring with her one-woman show Older Bolder Wiser. Her best-selling book ‘Wise Up’ is available now in Irish bookstores nationwide & on Amazon.ie 📚
🔑 Key Points
Trusting your gut with healthcare
After months of MRIs and a hip replacement referral, Barbara declined the surgery and rebuilt her strength through physio and the gym.
A diabetes diagnosis as a wake-up call
A type 2 diagnosis in her mid-50s pushed her into healthier habits and into remission for two years.
Brain fog reframed
Women in their 60s have decades more information stored than younger people; what is labelled brain fog is information retrieval slowdown.
Anger after menopause is real
As life pressures lift, you have the headspace to notice ongoing inequalities, and that anger is not a hormonal mood swing.
Underestimated, not invisible
Being overlooked as an older woman gives you the element of surprise and the freedom to take risks without caring what people think.
The cost of conformity
A senior CEO told Barbara she would love to let her hair go grey but feared not being taken seriously at work.
Becoming an unmarried mother in 1987
Barbara remembers her father going upstairs to be sick, three weeks of silence, then a quiet "we'll stand by you" on a snowy morning.
A friendship with her mother
Her mother bought her her first baby cham at 12, set up her own business in her 50s and was a collaborator throughout Barbara's life.
📚 Resources
Wise Up — Barbara Scully
Memoir reflecting on the years after menopause.
Older Bolder Wiser
Barbara's one-woman comedy show currently touring Irish theatres.
Funny Women Ireland
Set up by Orla Doherty and Val Troy to promote women in comedy.
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 — Hip pain and the MRI run-around
03:00 — Stepping off the treadmill of tests
07:30 — Type 2 diabetes and remission
09:30 — Why brain fog is not what we are told
11:00 — Anger after menopause is real
13:00 — Underestimated rather than invisible
17:00 — Letting the hair go grey
22:00 — The freedom of getting older
28:00 — A first smear test in the 80s
36:00 — Growing up tall and the slow set
44:00 — Giving up red wine and finding gin
48:00 — Her mother as collaborator
56:00 — Losing her mother in 2022
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