Jodie Kidd | Supermodel, Racing Driver & Finding Happiness | Extraordinary Life Stories

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0:51Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. You know, the press intrusion was really intense. Phone tapping and chasing you down motorways and popping over hedges and just cameras everywhere. So it was very, very intrusive in a very important stage of your life when you're a teenager. Tell me, who is Jodie Kidd? That's confusing because I'm so many different people. I'm just a normal British model that's nodding on and getting on with her work. Competitive polo player and show jumper, Jodie recently made a leap from the horse set to the fashion set.

1:27It's kind of like this wonderful painting we've got at home and it says, I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way. And I think that's very much kind of my philosophy. Going into the modelling industry where you can turn up, you can have everything perfect, you can be on time, you can just look amazing. And you still don't get the job because your eyes are slightly a different colour or you're a little bit too tall or you're a little bit skinny. There's a huge amount of rejection at a young, early age. But that love of racing, where did it come from? I have no idea.

1:59It's so phenomenally quick. I had never been around a track before in my life before I did top here and went to the top of the board. So that surprised you as much as anyone then? Totally. I had no idea. What advice would you give to a younger version of yourself that in any one way didn't have the maturity you've got? Oh my god.

2:27Jodie, welcome. So excited. Me too. I've wanted to film with you from the right, from the beginning, like for nearly three years now. Really? This is a big moment for me. Oh my goodness. I'm honoured. Yes. But we made it. I'm here. I'm ready. Yes. Tell me, who is Jodie Kidd? Wow. That is a, that's confusing because I'm so many different people. I mean, I started as a daughter of my hero that was an Olympic show jumper. and that's what I wanted to do was ride horses and to eventually represent my country in show jumping. That went into modelling, an amazing career in modelling through the 90s, then into car racing.

3:08Now I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a landlady of my local pub. Yeah, a number of different things. So very confusing. I still don't know myself. Keeps life interesting though, right? Multifaceted. I don't know if I'm ordering kind of some broccoli or a new carburettor. I don't know. Don't get them confused, though. I could ruin a car. I don't know, are you? I know, exactly. What's your favourite thing to do? Probably be with my family. You know, I've been so lucky in my career to do so many amazing things that, you know, I've almost got that as work. You know, work is literally I'm going off to Ascot next week to go and work there.

3:51I'm then going to Goodwood Festival of Speed, but I'm actually going to work there. So, you know, all these wonderful things that happen and most people, you know, save up to go and just have the best day. I'm there working. So for me, just being with my family is the most kind of important thing to me. Yeah, I can feel that. And we're similar age. Yes. You've got a 14-year-old son. Yes, very young. I've got a 14-year-old. Early 30s. Yeah. Early. Love that. Yes. Feeling it at least. Yeah. Yeah. There is a good energy that I have to say. Do you think keeping yourself so busy, like, you know, you are spinning some plates and heartfelt.

4:27Thank you for carving this time out to do that. And you've already said what you're doing for the rest of your day. And it's like, yeah. But do you thrive off that? Absolutely. I'm kind of, you know, I really embrace life. And my whole kind of just embedded ethos from I don't know whether it's through generations of my family is, you know, really embrace the day. And if you get given an opportunity, just grab it. And that's why I've done so many different things. And, you know, being a famous person, should we say, when in my when I was modeling in my in my teens, it is opened so many doors to me to be able to do things, you know, from Strictly Come Dancing to MasterChef, to which has enabled me to really, really embrace the day and to experience life to the full.

5:17Yeah. And so that's so ingrained in me. So, yeah, I'm I'm I'm either three billion miles an hour or I'm cuddled up with the family watching a movie with all the sausage dogs with a glass of wine. It's kind of like, you know, one or the other. I like that because I can relate to that. Some people look at what I'm doing, particularly through social media, like I couldn't keep up with you. But actually, I don't see when I'm in the tracky bottom, sat at home. Exactly. Doing nothing. Got to have a bath. Enjoying the new forest. Yeah. And family time. Yes. But I think I thrive on the fact that I know that that's that moment in time and then I'm going again on Monday.

5:51So I think there's a balance there, isn't there? You've got to be able to switch off. Yes. When you have those quiet times, you've got to switch off. And I very much kind of leave the stress and the baggage on the front door and try not to bring that home. So I try not to, you know, sit there and have the laptop open or, you know, on the phone. When I'm home, you've got to be present. and it's so easy to be going oh god I haven't you know I've got to interview this person next week or I've got to do that or I'm racing here have I do I know the track good enough I've got to be able to because otherwise it really crosses in yeah presence at home is really important and just being very much there for for for the family which is which is quite tough totally get that balance is almost a myth isn't it just just listening to you then that kind of almost like a mental health conversation, going back to the intensity and how young you were with the modeling side of things, to then have what I believe was basically a complete kind of panic attack on the runway and just remove yourself from it, which probably then has led to you doing a lot of work on yourself to be a really well-rounded kind of person that understands yourself.

7:02Can you talk me through that? Well, you know, you have to go through, you've gone through something that you ran away from, But sitting here now, you're measured, you're composed. And you've obviously done a lot of work to get to that point. Talk me through that. Starting off, you know, in the modelling industry, becoming quite famous as a youngster. And especially, as I said, in the 90s, you know, the press intrusion was really intense. And, you know, phone tapping and chasing you down motorways and, you know, kind of popping over hedges. And when you went to go and see your family, you know, for lunch or something, you would have just cameras everywhere.

7:36So it was very, very intrusive in a very important stage of your life when you're a teenager. And so that just kind of pushed me and and I suppose my mental health just to a point which was really tough, especially coming up and being very wholesome, living on a farm, wanting to ride horses, being very fit, very kind of, you know, living rurally. And then suddenly living one day in New York, the next day in Japan, the next day in Mexico on some beach somewhere. And, you know, so my body was tired. I was emotionally tired. There was all of these things that led to anxiety. And, you know, in that period, no one really knew what it was.

8:17This was kind of like late 90s. So it was brutal, wasn't it? Sink or swim. Exactly. And I went to doctors going, I can't sleep because I'm totally in fight or flight. And then I couldn't eat because I was just like the last thing you want to do when you're in fight or flight, sit down and have a great big meal. And so I got skinnier. I got my body. I wasn't looking after my body. You know how the importance of eating well, nutrition, sleep. That's very much we're bombarded with it, almost over bombarded nowadays. But in that time, no one really knew about it. I was told by a doctor to get a brown paper bag and breathe into it.

8:54So, you know, going through that pressure and just deciding to give up on an amazing career, hugely successful career and just going, I've got to just stop. so that was a big shock and also I think a massive shock to me was growing up on a farm and working with animals if you put 100 % into an animal you'll get 100 % out and going into the modeling industry where you can turn up you can have everything perfect you can be on time you can just look amazing and you still don't get the job because your eyes are slightly a different color or you're a little bit too tall or you're a little bit skinny or and I suppose that kind of relearning and the rejection which is a huge amount even though I was very successful at modeling there's a huge amount of rejection at a young early age so I was kind of thrust into these situations you know it was either kind of do or die and for some reason my friends my family were very good at supporting but not over swamping and I just kind of naturally knew that path that would be, I never did another catwalk.

10:05I moved back out to the country. I started riding horses again. I started growing my own vegetables. Then the only access I had to horses was my brother, who was a polo player. I'd never played polo. I was a show jumper. And suddenly he was like, oh, grab a stick. So I had a stick in my hand and I started tapping a ball. And within... You're already good at sport, right? You've excelled at sport previously. Yeah, within a year I've got 22 horses and I'm representing England. and I've won the Women's World Championships. And so, I mean, it's just, you know, so I really believe in, and don't want to be too kind of woohoo-y, but kind of like that there is a path and the universe has something.

10:44And even though everything can be dark and the doors are closed, I always believe something will reveal itself. And it has done. And that's the unpredictability of especially being in my industry is that you know you cannot work for three months and then suddenly you'll get six jobs all on the same day you know it's kind of a bit crazy so you have to going back to being present I can't overthink I can't go oh my goodness you know what's happening in July what's happening in September because I just don't know no so that's forced me into this you know I can think about now You can give 110 % to every interview, to every person you meet, be kind, be honest, and just give everything that you have.

11:32And then the next day, do it again. Back yourself. Yeah. Give the best you can, but then not be responsive to the external validation, if you like. It's so important. And that will come back. I'm a big believer in karma as well. You know, and I think it was my grandmother that kind of brought us up saying, look, every person you meet on the way up, you'll meet them again on the way back down. That's great advice. So it's, you've just got to treat everyone with kindness, kill with kindness. There's another lovely undertow to this, which is that you're trusting the process, but your process is hard work.

12:05You're putting yourself in the position for the interview, for the job. And rather than being despondent and reactive to the, and sort of then pulling back, it feels like you've always been relentless when you are driven by the passion. I mean, the polo sticks a great example pick it up you know a few months later you're but when you commit yeah you're probably formidable totally fully you know submersive in whatever i do uh you know i'm just well i think that's a certain amount of competitiveness you know that i think is very much in the dna from the family when you were the youngest of five as well right there's something i mean i've only got two kids but my youngest was was chomping at the bit to catch you you had you more ahead of you to yeah and they're all hugely competitive and successful you know growing up my sister was on the british team for dressers my brother was on the british team for polo my dad was the only person i think still to this day the only person to represent his country for show jumping and for polo you know was an entrepreneur good businessman you know so they we're we're we're very competitive and we really big dream big yeah and just go for it and if it doesn't work we go right okay done that one learn don't do that again on to the next path and there's so much to learn from failure and not achieving success it's talked about a lot but you you have probably got countless stories of that and actually what a what a role model you are for your son right as a as a mum just listening to you then the morals the competitiveness but measured that you have instilled in him i want to bring social media into play because there's a crisis of identity in girls and boys right now, where when they don't have a role model, then the algorithm fills it.

13:44It's horrendous. I just wonder how you're managing that, because that's a big conversation for us in our family now, and it's also a massive conversation in the press, if you like, about banning social media for under-16s. Well, I mean, my son, before this even happened, he's not allowed social media until 16, which, you know is a bit of you know a little bit of contradiction because I live my life on social media as in that's my job I was thinking that so there's a hypocrisy there but actually it's you're protecting him from because you're using it as a force for good yeah he needs to learn that right but he also sees the way I use social media so I will be promoting you know this plant and I will be doing a beautiful story about the plant and I'll say where the plant is from and it's got this wonderful background and you know and then I've got a nice picture of me with this plant so you know he's kind of seeing there's no falsities there's no um you know we're not using photoshop we're not doing anything i'm just there doing a nice job that's positive and hopefully people will buy that plant and i can do the next plant next week um so he's seeing social media from my eyes which is a very true honest account of things that i love that i have collaborations with companies.

14:59So I suppose that way is a good way of seeing it. You know, I'm not sitting there doing TikTok dances and, you know, kind of changing my face and doing things like that. So he's seeing it from a different point of view as someone that really uses it very professionally. But yet I'm still going to protect him until he's 16. You know, he's allowed YouTube because he loves his football. And it got to a point because he was only allowed YouTube for kids and the only football that was on YouTube for kids was the Bundesliga. So he's now almost fluent in German. One way of teaching in German. He knows absolutely everything about the Bundesliga.

15:40So I was like, OK, I think I've got to get him over to the Premier League. So he was allowed to watch, you know, YouTube for grown-ups. But I'm still very wary because I'm on it myself. And if you just touch in the wrong direction, you can get bombarded and you can go down rabbit holes. But hopefully he's seeing it from a positive point of view. But it's a very, very difficult one. It's a really contentious one as well. I'm listening to you and we haven't managed that. So, there's always the conversation to be a consumer rather than just scrolling, which can cause physical inflammation equivalent to smoking, apparently.

16:23Oh, my God, the cortisol. You think, oh, are we going to look back on this period with us as parents where, you know, might as well have the kids sitting on the sofa smoking a cigarette, you know, mind-blowing. Yeah. But as I say, it's contentious. But that side of things, fair play to you. Is he in any way under pressure from peer pressure where he's like, well, my friends are. how do you manage that because there was there was a lot of that but the thing is that you know I just try and do other things with him you know I I kind of like they're all on TikToks and Snapchats and things like that and I'll just go and pick him up from school in a 1967 Porsche and so they can talk about that or I'll go and drag him and take him to somewhere else you know So he's got plenty of things to talk about and show and pictures.

17:10So I'll just try and bombard him with other life experiences that aren't necessarily, you know, like that. I mean, he loves it. I mean, honestly, it's quite difficult to get him off it. But, you know, I just try and just be present. I think I'm going to have to get that tattooed on me somewhere. No, I love that. And it's also the fact that you max life, don't you? I do. So you're bringing that into him early, you know. So actually then, I hate to say this, but a lot of the kids that are consuming social media haven't got anything else to do. And busy parents that haven't got the time, don't make the time to then fill that space.

17:46So you're making a conscious effort. I'm very lucky to be in that situation. I can do that. And that my day job is by going to Festival Speed and I can take him along or going to Silverstone and working there. And, you know, he loves F1 as well. So I'm very lucky to have that. obsessed to changing his mindset, to being what's happening now and seeing things in front of his eyes rather. But I'm very, you know, he'll sit in the car and he'll finally get his phone back from school because then he allowed it in class. And he'll immediately be, you know, and I'm like, you know, put it down. Look at, look at that field.

18:22It's beautiful. It takes you to say that. No, that's great. Yeah. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Be present. Talk to me. You know, end it's it's um it's it is a battle and i'm sure it will be for the next yeah thank you for sharing that because that's a big big part of conversations i'm having now and just just that peer pressure piece is what a lot of people you know they give in because all the friends are doing and then they look like the bad parents and you've but you're making a conscious effort to reframe that and you've worked really hard you said you you're lucky to and that sort of speed and so on but all the work you've done before to get to this point has led you to that and we've got to bring up the racing, we've got to bring up the links to...

19:00Because you know, that's a shared passion of mine. Yes. And I love the fact that there's this element of like, when you are in the modeling days, there's a... Maybe a shallowness to being a model. Very much so. Then you're racing, not just a pretty face, because you can properly pedal. And this is on top of polo championships and so on, right? But that love of racing... Yeah. Where did it come from? I have no idea. Really? No idea. I did... I had never been around a track before in my life before I did top gear and went to the top of the board. And that was... I remember that. That was brilliant.

19:31That was awesome. And that's where the... So that surprised you as much as anyone then? Totally. I had no idea. I just, I literally sat in the back of a car on a gumball rally of a mate that was doing it. They said, I've got a five seater. We're going across the States. Why don't you join us? And I was like, wow, what's that? And it was a Konanzag. What's that? An F40. And I was like, they're beautiful. And they were doing, you know, obviously wonderfully crazy outrageous things because it's a gumball. and then I came back home, met Jeremy, just the universe. This is what I'm saying. It's so weird.

20:01I did the next event I went to back in the UK after the Gumball. I sat next to Jeremy and I went, oh, God, you're the car man. What the hell's a Konanzeg? I saw it at 242 miles an hour. He'd have loved that as well. And he was like, you've got to come on my show. It's very unusual that, you know, a model or a woman or blonde, you know, likes cars. So I went on to the show and went around the track for the first time and went to the top. And that was how I kind of went.

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21:30I love this. But that took you straight into racing Maseratis and then all the stuff you do. You were on TV for a while as well. You had your own... Yeah, I did the classic car show with Quentin Wilson. Yeah, I did a number of little kind of lovely car things. So you threw yourself straight into that one, wasn't you? I immersed myself. Yeah, it's exhausting. interesting but no I want it it's that childhood of of having an animal and wanting the best out of that animal and if you put it in you'll get it out and having that as you know as a seven eight nine ten year old has just instilled this I hope um very good traits of if you're going to do something to it to the best of your ability and if you're not good enough then go okay I've learned that.

22:13I'm not going to do it. I'll put that to bed now. I'm not going to be the best, but what an experience. Let's go and try something else that you are going to be good at." I love that. There's so much you say, the way you layer it as well. I want to bring success into the conversation now because there's so many things you've done, particularly when you lean into something. You know, the pub, I'm sure, is successful because you've committed to it and now you're... Yeah. It's not an easy time to do pubs right now. I'm going to cover that. But I was sort of almost starting in reverse order. Things you've gone, you know, become a model and you become a global name.

22:48And then you pick the polo stick up and you win the championship. What's your definition of success sitting here now?

22:58Success, I mean, obviously to win. That's a very important thing. In me, I think it's a very, I think it's a very independent thing, success. You know, success, people might term it as you get a million quid in the bank. Some people might think it as, you know, you've won a class or you've won a race. You know, success to me is doing something, you might not be the best at it, but you've given your all to it and you're getting into bed at the end of the night and you know you've tried your hardest, you might not have won that race, you might not have sealed that deal. But getting into bed knowing that you've done the best that you possibly could have and you hit the pillow, absolutely exhausted, the big smile on your face is my kind of idea of success.

23:49I love that because it takes the outcome out of the equation. It's about the commitment and the journey and the effort into it. And I've done everything I can. I've left nothing on the table. Yeah. And also kind of striving for something that's unattainable or unreachable. Sometimes you've got to, you know, you've got to be kind to yourself and you've got to go, you can keep going, you can waste a hell of a lot of time going down this path. But if you just are very honest with yourself and you realise that this might not be the path, you know, be brave, stop, have a change. It takes, it takes a lot.

24:23Yes. Because I'll only know the things that are now evident, if you like invisible I mentioned the pub and the other business interests that you've got yeah which I believe all started from kind of COVID you just had a whole kind of I'm gonna really go the entrepreneur route and then pretty much yeah yeah and I think I got when when was COVID now six years ago yeah so probably you know coming into 40s realizing that you know my face that has been such a huge part of my career and kind of selling plants I sell plants with clothes and other things, you know, trying to sell things that, you know, that's going to come to an end.

25:00And now, you know, it's time to start using your your brain. And, you know, there's different opportunities that kind of landed on my doorstep that I thought, right, let's let's start learning about business properly. And the pub was a huge thing because I'd very much been like a sole trader because it was always just me doing my things and then suddenly you know I was learning to do P &Ls and running teams and you know it was the first time that I'd ever really experienced that and so that brought me so much joy and I love being in a family and in a team and business normally it's you know I've got an agency and then I'm you know there doing my job and then I go home And I just really love that side.

25:50And so that's where I kind of started, you know, different types of businesses and some have failed and some are still going. And, you know, it's opened up this whole new door of, you know, of business and doing other things. Have you found that leadership piece quite fulfilling then? Because to have worked solo for so long and backed yourself and now you're putting trust into other people. Yeah. You see, which I did. The leadership. I'm very much I like people to take that. If you do the right choice of person to go shoulder to shoulder with or as part of your team, you've got to get that right person that is very good for that job.

26:29And don't be someone that's going to, you know, I'm not going to be over there telling you what to do in some area that I'm not very good at. you know you've got to get the right people to have the space and to deliver what they're good at and I think that that's what I love doing is watching people excel in their areas and and you know and then getting everyone for a very long lovely lunch and kind of that's the one side of business I love yeah or doing the investment meetings yes fair play well might as well it's a perk of having a lovely pub to be able to do that exactly no I think that's really important is you know don't tread on people's toes and you know and and allow people to do what they're good at and watch and learn I'm a big sponge I'm like I love to I love to watch people doing brilliant things and I just you know it makes me always learning right yeah but that's the joy of and we both you know let's bring your podcast in actually let's absolutely do that now we were talking off camera about you know why does someone buy that car and we both love cars so why did he buy the F40 why did she buy the E-Type and what's the story to that and it might be that the grandma had a car that they loved or you know they watched someone racing the car but that's that you're always learning from that and you get to do that real time with.

27:46With Kid and Sweet Shop. Yeah I love it. Great name by the way. And that's why I didn't because I'm not a journalist I'm not an automotive journalist I mean I know a hell of a lot about cars but I didn't want to start a YouTube channel that is just me telling people about this car you know people are smart enough they if they just go and drive it they can come up with her and they don't need me telling them what it what it's like but I love the people around cars that design cars that have a collection that that you know that that race or something that's got that passion and I love listening to their stories and you know they're they're the ones that the experts you know if I go and meet someone that's got a beautiful collection every single car they've got a story about why they bought it why they love it, what's beneath a bonnet, what's going on here, why is this colour, you know, why have you got this colour and, you know, interiors and let them tell the story.

28:42Yeah, it's a pleasure to watch because the passion coming off you now for it is so evident when you're there with them and they want to talk about it. Yeah. That's what, so much of that's often been garaged in a way and then you've opened that up to people like myself and anyone else that get to see that. You're sort of living a fantasy of me and others that love cars, love the story, to tell the stories behind them and the emotion behind it and you facilitate it beautifully. Oh, thank you. I just hope I ask those silly questions that everyone that's watching it want to ask. That's it. I don't want to know about the cylinders.