Rosita and Chupi Sweetman : Love, Loss, Liberation

Topics covered : Activism, social justice, betrayal, family estrangement, patriarchy, responsibility, grief, regrets, forgiveness, love, business.

In this episode, I sit down with mother and daughter — Rosita and Chupi Sweetman.

Rosita is a trailblazing activist and one of the founding members of the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1970's, a time when speaking out for women’s rights — including the right to contraception — was radical and urgently needed.

Her daughter Chupi is a hugely successful entrepreneur who runs her own luxury jewellery brand and is someone who passionately believes that business can be a powerful force for good.

She's married to Brian and they have a daughter together. Aya is almost 5 and the light of their lives.

Chupi was homeschooled as a child, raised in a loving and creative environment — one shaped by her mother’s values, courage, and conviction.

But behind the strength and warmth of their story lies a great deal of pain — and it’s captured in Rosita’s powerful new memoir, Girl with a Fork in a World of Soup.

While much of the book focuses on the turbulent years of her marriage, the emotional heart of the story begins in childhood — when Rosita, at just nine years old, was sent off to boarding school, and shortly after, her younger sister died from a heart condition, just shy of her seventh birthday.

That devastating loss shattered her family, and without support or counselling, grief pulled them apart in ways that would echo through the decades.

The memoir also delves into Rosita’s deeply dysfunctional relationship with her ex-husband — Chupi’s father — who ultimately had an affair with one of Rosita’s sisters and was involved with other members of her family too. The betrayal was devastating and led to family estrangement, but in writing the book she is telling the truth of her experience with integrity and heart.

It takes real courage to speak so honestly, and I’m so grateful for the depth and heart they brought to this conversation.

Buy Rosita's book here

Women's Aid - Listening. Believing. Supporting. Empowering.

Chupi Jewellery | Engagement Rings, Wedding Rings & Fine Jewellery

If you’re a fan of what I do, please follow, rate and review in all the usual places.

And thanks, as always, for your support of Ready to be Real.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.