Pooky bears,

I have another juicy podcast episode for you! Today, I’m joined by my dearest mate and creative co-host goddess, Taylor Swi- I mean, Madi Beaufort. (The blonde wig is giving major Taylor Swift vibes, and I am HERE for it!!!)

Today, I’m sharing my origin story.

Who was Leonie before the successful multimillion dollar business? Before the blog? Before I was a Dawson with a gorgeous hubby and two incredible mermaid daughters? Before the ADHD/ASD diagnosis?

I’m telling it all today.

Pop in those airpods again, babes. No vagina talk this time, but swearing around these parts is never censored. This chat isn’t for the kiddos.

In today’s episode we talk about:

🧜 How I’m being hilariously trolled by my 13 year old daughter.
🧑‍🌾 What it was like growing up in a small farming town.
🩸The importance of introducing fresh blood into the family gene pool.
🫥 Navigating the social scene as an undiagnosed neurodivergent girl.
🌈 My adventures in boarding school
🐴 My crazy farm family disputes
❤️‍🔥 How I knew Chris was my future hottie husband (thanks to Dawson’s Creek)
👑 My lofty goals of becoming the Prime Minister of Australia (NOT EVEN JOKING)

Grab your popcorn! This one is a deep dive into the past.

If you watched the last episode and saw the “great smoothie debacle of 2024”, I’m happy to report that NO smoothies were harmed, or fucking splattered, in the making of this episode.

ENJOOOOY!!!!!!

You can either listen to or WATCH today’s episode! CHOICES GALORE!

You can also subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCast.

Here is the breakdown:

Origin Story and Heartwarming Moments 0:03

Mother Gayle and Mrs. Gayle (Being trolled) 3:50

My small town childhood and family 5:44

Family Inbreeding  8:15

Personal Journey and Career Aspirations 9:46

Childhood Ambitions and Relationships 12:36

  • My career goals in art

Adventures with Boarding School 16:18

  • Decision to Pursue Business

My Life Journey 20:09

  • Leonie’s Childhood and Family Dynamics
  • Meeting and Falling in Love with Chris

A Dawson Love Story 28:50

Career Journey and Political Experiences 32:48

  • Working in Parliament House
  • Prime Minister goals

Transcript

Leonie Dawson
Welcome back my friends to the brand new era of the Leonie Dawson Refuses to be Categorised podcast. I’m here at Havana Haus in Coolum with my darling dearest friend Madison Beaufort Art. We are doing this on video as well. So if you want to check out the ridiculous vibes we’ve got going on, you can head on over to YouTube, find the podcast there, and we look 10 out of 10, sexy, what can I say?

Madison Beaufort
Never looked better.

Leonie Dawson
Never. Today, I’m going to be sharing kind of my origin story. Especially since like, there’s so many of you that are like, okay, you can see me at this age, but you may not necessarily know how I got here. And you may have some assumptions about who I was when I was a kid and how the kind of person that you need to be in order to achieve like monetary success, creative success, blah, blah, blah blah. So my story is probably a little bit surprising if you haven’t hear it.

Madison Beaufort
Super surprising. Yeah, you don’t ever think you don’t ever think that this is when you tell it. This is where you came from. So I’m so excited for everyone to know, oh, whoa.

Leonie Dawson
Plus, I feel like this is such a good opportunity. Like me and Madi we just love spending time with each other. And now it’s also just like, hard for us to spend a lot of time together because I have children and a husband and a whole fucking grown up life, it’s very full. And Maddie works super hard. Maddie is at the Eumundi markets every Saturday selling her incredible artwork. She sells online as well. And she also works at a library as well, which is my like, porno dream.

Madison Beaufort
It is really beautiful

Leonie Dawson
Yeah,

Madison Beaufort
It’s a kid’s library. So it’s it’s…

Leonie Dawson
Even better

Madison Beaufort
Even better. Yeah, and I teach theatre. I’m just like,

Leonie Dawson
How do I even forget that part? I mean, you’re just so busy.

Madison Beaufort
it’s so nice for us to just chat only we’re just we’re just chatting, isn’t it? It’s so lovely

Leonie Dawson
I was like can I pay you to talk to me for hours? And

Madison Beaufort
I was like, if you must. Okay.

Leonie Dawson
Me well, I want to like start because I love taking my kids to school just to hear what other kids say because they’re so fucking funny. And this morning, and if you can think of something cute from like, things that happened in your library that you can share without disclosing identity, that would be incredible. Just like you know, just like, it can come organically. Yeah, just to be like, I can tell you a funny story. And I’d be like, I’m all in for that. Fabulous.

So I drop my kid in this morning and a kid walked in and this kid usually doesn’t like hugging. They’ve been through quite a bit trauma in recent years and but usually doesn’t like hugging. And this day this kid hugged everyone. So kid comes in hugs everyone, and we’re all like, whoa, hugging amazing.

And then one of the other kids goes, Oh, that’s not like you, you’re not really usually into the hugs. And the kid was like, Yeah, I think I might just, you know, just try it. I just feel I feel like hugs today. And this kid goes Well, New Year New you.

Madison Beaufort
how sweet is that?

Leonie Dawson
It’s the cutest fucking thing

Madison Beaufort
New year new you

Leonie Dawson
Yes. New year New You

The kid been through significant trauma now up for hugs. New Year new you. And these are like nine year old kids and I just thought

Madison Beaufort
They’re so wise aren’t they

Leonie Dawson
So smart. So beautiful and like that they all instantly recognize that it was kind of a big moment for this kid.

Madison Beaufort
Oh, I love that.

Leonie Dawson
So sweet.

Madison Beaufort
How precious

Leonie Dawson
I just coming up beaming and then I love when my like teenagers, kids that my teenagers friends come up because

Madison Beaufort
There’s nothing better than a teenager loving you.

Leonie Dawson
They’ll run up and be like, Oh MOTHER GAYLE! My middle name used to be Gail. And I’ve never liked it. And so

Madison Beaufort
Mother Gayle

Leonie Dawson
I got legally changed by depot to not be Gayle anymore.

Madison Beaufort
Did you?

Leonie Dawson
I did. Yeah.

Madison Beaufort
What is it now?

What’s your middle name?

Leonie Dawson
Oh, I’ll tell you like off screen

Madison Beaufort
Shit. Okay. Yeah, secret.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, it’s just like, you know, I’d like I’m gonna have some kind of fucking privacy.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah, well, is it a cool? Is it a cool new middle name?

Leonie Dawson
Hmm well, you know the angels told me what to call them.

Madison Beaufort
Yes, they did.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, they did so and it’s also a name that I’m growing into. And so when I told one of my oldest friends what I’d chosen and she’s like, That’s not like you that you are like the least gracious person I’ve ever met. And I was like, correct! That’s exactly what’s happening. So anyway, anyway, so my kid found out that I was like, change my middle name from Gayle. And so she started calling me Mother Gayle because…

Madison Beaufort
she’s monopolized it.

Leonie Dawson
Nothing like a kid just to go oh, that’s your sore spot. Let me go in. And then she’s gotten all of her friends to call me Mother Gail or Mrs. Gayle

Madison Beaufort
oh, Mrs. Gayle

Leonie Dawson
I know, disgusting oh disgusting, but then it’s so cute coming out of them. I can’t be mad. I’m like, Yeah, whatever. Okay, this is great. This is an ongoing joke.

Madison Beaufort
I love when other parents would hear and they’d be like, Oh, she asked them to call her Mrs. Gale. You’re like, oh…

Leonie Dawson
Right? Not knowing it is absolute fucking trolling from my 13 year old. It’s really funny. And like, other moms have gone like, Oh, are you sure that she’s comfortable with being called that? And I was like, It’s a joke. Don’t worry. Like it’s my 13 year old she thinks this is great, so whatever. So anyway, cute stories over what we’re going to talk about.

Madison Beaufort
Okay so what I want to know is take me back to Leonie Dawson birth. Okay, how, then to now I want to know how you had become the phenomenal woman you are. Because you’re just Well, I know there’s a lot in that. But let’s start. Let’s start. Let’s start way back.

Leonie Dawson
Okay.

Sure. So my parents are cattle farmers. And I grew up in a small, small country town, and I was just telling Madi awful stories from my childhood that…

Madison Beaufort
That were a bit scary.

Leonie Dawson
How like drink driving was actually quite a popular sport. But if you don’t call it drink driving, you say you’ve got your wobbly boot on

Madison Beaufort
Which I love. I think it’s quite poetic, that.

Leonie Dawson
It is.

Madison Beaufort
So I’ve just got my wobbly boot on.

Leonie Dawson
Oh can’t be me and all this Bundaberg rum like, yes, it’s because my boot is bit wobbly I can hardly walk straight. But obviously in a far more bogan tone than that. So small regional town, North Queensland, not very cultured. Well, you know, like, they’re just not much accessibility to education and things like that.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
And cultural experiences, blah, blah, blah. It’s just a remote small town. And I’m really like this so many wonderful things that I’m grateful for. For my childhood. I’m really grateful that I grew up on a farm having a really deep connection with the earth. And then I got to be around animals a lot. So horses, and my best friend was my dog, Clancy, and he was a German shepherd. And he was so beautiful. I was the youngest of four. Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m the fourth. My God. That is such a, what a Freudian slip. I’m the fourth out of fifth. Obviously, I think my parents should have stopped at four… well…

Madison Beaufort
Well

Leonie Dawson
Because I kept on going like, you’ve got perfection.

Madison Beaufort
You’ve done it.

Leonie Dawson
Why bother keep going? So anyway, that’s five. Bless you to…

Madison Beaufort
the number five.

Leonie Dawson
If you’re watching. Yuh-yoh,

Madison Beaufort
Number five. We love you.

Leonie Dawson
Yes.

In a spiritual universe. Anyway, it is what it is. And it was just a very big house. My mom’s dad live with us as well. And, you know, like this small town, I have. My dad is one of seven. His father is one of 13. And all of them live in Proserpine, basically. And so just an enormous quantity of cousins and second cousins. And because both sides My family has been there for six generations. There’s 4000 people.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
Most of them are related.

Madison Beaufort
Wow.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. So and it was like just a real thing. Like, if you want to date a boy. Just make sure that just check on him – No first cousins. That’s right. And it has happened.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
yeah. It’s happened. Like when I was 18. Somebody was like, Oh, I’m gonna set you on a date with just the best person. And I was like, Oh, okay. Just who? And he told me the name and I was like, Yeah, our grandmothers are sisters. Like we’re really related, I’ve worked in his mom’s fish shop. Like, hands off.

Madison Beaufort
Too close.

Leonie Dawson
Look, even second cousin; it’s not good enough for me. You know, I’ve got high standards. HIGH!

Madison Beaufort
We need to be removed.

Leonie Dawson
That’s right.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
We need some more. We need something else in this genetic pool.

Madison Beaufort
So second cousins. Too close. To date.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah it’s not for me. And like, you know, like my, I have, like, my sisters have dated people and like grandma and grandpa are like Oh! Yeah, he’s Mildred’s grandma, well, that’s our third cousin once removed, for fuck’s sake.

Madison Beaufort
There’s no one for us.

Leonie Dawson
There’s no one for us! And also, like, we’re so inbred at this point. We really need to have some fresh blood in.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah, absolutely.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. So it’s a real necessity. And I think that’s why I’m married who I did.

Madison Beaufort
Just for fresh blood.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, just a fresh blood. Yeah, new addition to the gene pool. It just makes it stronger.

Madison Beaufort
Yes!

Leonie Dawson
You know, things you’ve got to think about when you grow up in a small town. I was an undiagnosed autistic. Everything makes sense when I look at it through that angle. In terms of why I had such huge struggles on the social front, I spent all of my time at school like in the school library, that was my safe place. I don’t think I made friends till I was like grade five. And even then, like, that was a fucking miracle. And I didn’t know what my parents were thinking at this point, or

Madison Beaufort
They just weren’t even aware?

Leonie Dawson
I’m not sure. But if my kid hadn’t made friends, by year five, I’d be going, Oh, I wonder what’s going on here. But…

Madison Beaufort
It’s a different time back then.

Leonie Dawson
Totally different back in the 80s. Like Jesus Christ, we barely…

Madison Beaufort
They were just happy for you to go to school.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, barely wore shoes to school. So amazing. And I think as well, because academically I was totally fine. Like, I enjoy the academics of school. I just thought social stuff is – I just don’t get it.

Madison Beaufort
It’s really scary. Help!

Leonie Dawson
What are they all talking about? And how do they all know what to talk about? But then, also, I just didn’t, I don’t think it worried me too much. Because I liked my rich inner world. I like creating art. I liked writing. And I’m really grateful to have had a mom that really encouraged all that stuff.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
And then also being able to be on at home on the farm was such a relief. And then also, I never felt alone, because there’s just so many fucking people at my house. And, you know, there’s always someone to hang out with and play with. Yeah.

I really didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. Well, actually, sorry, I shouldn’t say that. I did know, I wanted to be an artist, or a writer or a poet, or somebody who changed the world. And I knew that from the age of four. But my parents said, No fucking way. Like, that’s not for you. Like there’s no money in the arts, you’re gonna be a starving artist. And they also gave like, the other bits of career advice where like, you can’t have a small business because all small businesses fail in the first five years. And also don’t enter the highest tax bracket because you’ll be paying too much.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah, millionaires love that piece of advice.

Leonie Dawson
Right? They love it. And so I was kind of like, okay, I’ll take their advice seriously, and okay, what is it that I do want to do then? Because I can’t have the thing I really want. So I thought, right. Yeah. The only other thing to do is become Prime Minister of Australia. Like it’s just a sloppy second decision. You know what I mean? Like, that’s what everybody else with wasted dreams wants to do is just be like, well, it..

Madison Beaufort
Yeah it was my second option. Yeah. Was like that. I think it’s everyone’s second option.

Leonie Dawson
Is it?

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
Okay. Great. Good. Go, go.

Madison Beaufort
No, I don’t think so, Leonie.

Leonie Dawson
I’m so naive. You can tell me anything and I’ll go, oh okay.

Madison Beaufort
We all want to be Prime Minister. Okay. It’s fantastic. Yeah, I just love that your your goals and when you think they’re normal is so high, like they’re so brilliant. Like change the world always in every way.

Leonie Dawson
Mmhmm, mhm. And even like my grade four report card, I went and looked through it. And my teacher said, Leonie has such huge goals and ambitions for herself, and is also deeply disappointed when she doesn’t reach them.

Madison Beaufort
Insightful.

Leonie Dawson
I know. And yeah, I remember at one point, like for an art assignment, I got like, it was just so perfect. My art teacher gave me an A plus, plus plus. But then from then on, when he gave me an A plus, I was fucking furious. And my mom would know if I was in a bad mood because I got an A minus, it should be like, A minus. Leonie’s not an A minus girly.

Madison Beaufort
She’s an A plus, plus, plus.

Leonie Dawson
that’s right.

Madison Beaufort
Wow.

Leonie Dawson
For yeah from a really early age. And my siblings aren’t like that. It’s just, yeah, who I am. I’m like, Well, I can hyperfixate on this enough to do this.

Madison Beaufort
You said your siblings like this as well?

Leonie Dawson
No.

Madison Beaufort
No, it’s a unique case.

Leonie Dawson
It’s inbuilt.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
My mom has five kids. My eldest brother has Cerebral had cerebral palsy. And she said that I was the most challenging one to parent.

Madison Beaufort
Oh, hmm

Leonie Dawson
I get it. I get it. Just because I was very high energy. And she was like, you were just so interested in things and very quickly bored with things. Yeah, I just needed stuff thrown in front of you all the time. Just, you know, the vast piles of books from the library. Just be like, Oh, have you looked at this Leonie here? Have you looked at this like just

Madison Beaufort
You are like my perfect child. I’d be like, just we could read books together. And…

Leonie Dawson
Yeah but it’s also a little bit exhausting. Like, I’ve got one kid who’s like that, like, Oh, holy shit. Like, I’ve got one kid that’s quite only sanguine and she’s like, Oh, I don’t really mind and the other one is just like, Oh I’m really interested. And I’ll talk about it every single second I’ve got.

Madison Beaufort
You’ve got a world changer on your hands.

Leonie Dawson
I do. I do. I’m like, wow, I know what’s going to happen. And then I also like totally trust that my other kid is going to do incredible things. It’s just in her own way. And I’m so excited to see what that is. Anyway, so high school, I had a genius moment. I was like, You know what girls are actually too challenging for me. What I’m going to do, I’ll just be friends with boys because they are simple creatures. And that’s what I did. I had a fucking great time.

Madison Beaufort
Oh and you loved it.

Leonie Dawson
Loved it. Loved it. My best friend was Daniel, we’re still friends to this day, we were just like, completely bonded to each other. And my parents really loved and accepted it in our own way. And so like, I remember at the age of 13, or 14, Daniel will be spend most of his holidays at my place, because he’s basically an only child. And he was like, well, it’s fun at the farm, even though my dad made him work. And just God awful for him. But he was like, well whatever. And they just let us sleep in the same bed and we’d go to sleep holding hands, just like breathing in each other’s faces.

Madison Beaufort
Like innocent little love.

Leonie Dawson
Total, like soulmate love, and it was beautiful. And I think about having my 14 year old have a boy sleep in her bed. I’m like, are you fucking kidding me?

Madison Beaufort
Staring face to face breathing.

Leonie Dawson
I would just be like, you, I’m watching you! My parents were super protective. But for whatever reason, I just thought that Daniel was safe.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah, right.
Oh how nice. How beautiful is that? You got to like, have that experience? Because they were it just worked out?

Leonie Dawson
Yeah.

Madison Beaufort
They were just chill about it.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, that was super chill. It was just like, super great. And then when I was like, 16, year 10. I was like, Oh, fucking had enough of being in a small town. And at that point, like, there was no other schools, there was just one big state high school and it was really rough. You know, that was like, brawls, like and knives. And just like bullying was –  I’ve always being bullied at school. And I was like, You know what, fuck this nonsense. I’m out. And so I told my parents, look, I’m either going overseas for years in exchange student, or I’m going to boarding school. And they were like, Okay, well, we prefer if you went overseas when you’re 18. That’s fine if you went to boarding school, but we can’t afford it. So you’ll need to look around at what schools are available. You need to choose one for yourself, you need to apply for scholarships to be able to go there. And they really put the responsibility on me. And so that’s what I did.

Madison Beaufort
That’s phenomenal.

Leonie Dawson
I know.

Madison Beaufort
To be that young, and to be like that. Nah, this is what I’m doing. And yeah, have that like direction. And yeah, how awesome.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah and I went to so I ended up getting scholarships that a couple of, you know, a couple of boarding schools, and one was a grammar school, like quite a prestigious one. And I went there and it was just like the wrong vibe for me. Like I went just to for a day just to have a look.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
I thought no, not for me. And so I chose this very small little boarding school with 40 kids in my grade. The population was like, a lot of Papua New Guinea kids and Indigenous kids from indigenous communities. And then the rest were just like white cowboys from very remote cattle properties.  And so none of them had really gone to school for primary school. They all did School of the Air.

Madison Beaufort
Yes. Oh, wow.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. And this was like, in the days where they do it over wireless radio is because there’s no internet. And so internet hadn’t been invented then. And so they just be like calling in for their lessons and stuff.

Madison Beaufort
Wow.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. My mate Lena. She was like, if you can imagine a music class where there’s 30 kids, and they’re all like, in on the wireless radio. And then we all have to play our recorder into that. Can you imaging what that must’ve sounded like for the music teacher? was awful enough

Madison Beaufort
Recorder is awful enough as it is let alone at the crackle and the..oh

Leonie Dawson
simultaneously, like surely the music teacher were just going like oh, fuck no, just turn it off.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah. Not today.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. Which it’s probably time for an ad break. So…

Ad break time!

Friends, if you’ve ever said, um, you know what? I wouldn’t really like I would like to make more money while working less and doing some really cool shit in the world and making a massive impact and not doing it in a way that like anybody else is doing it. Just do it. And it’s like creative, introverted way we don’t really have to leave the house. Then you need to hop to it and head on over to Brilliant Biz & Life Academy. It is the place for unicorns together to grow their incredible businesses where I give you absolutely everything you need to make more money in a soulful, heart centered incredibly delicious way that serves you and serves so many others. Head on over to LeonieDawson.com/academy go check it out now! Bye!

oh and now we’re back, wooo!

Madison Beaufort
Yay! Ladadadadadada

Leonie Dawson
So proud, so proud

Madison Beaufort
Look at us go.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, I think I’m boarding school was just a fucking genius idea really just to be around a lot of kids from really diverse backgrounds. And they were just like really sweet kids. And I think like there was this just an innocence here that I hadn’t experienced.

Madison Beaufort
Did you miss your family?

Leonie Dawson
Not really.

Madison Beaufort
You’re just happy this is this is your choice.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, yeah. And also like my family life went through something really crazy at that point. So my brother had died in a farm accident a few years before that, which was… we can do a whole other episode about that it was pretty intense. But it also an enormous blessing because it changed the way I viewed life and all sorts of shit.

But so my parents did a farm, but it was in partnership with his, with his parents. And then if anyone’s been in family partnerships with farms and stuff like that, they’ll they probably know where their story is going. It ended up just becoming an enormous fight.. it was like World War Three. Basically, they decided to split the partnership. And then they just fought for years on the land. And then all of his siblings got involved because they wanted to cut up the inheritance. And it was just a whole full on piece of shit. And my grandmother developed brain cancer and died within six weeks. And I remember going to her funeral and half the family had hired security guards. And because we were on the…

Madison Beaufort
Stop!

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, and so and so the security guards only let certain members of the family sit up in the front and like we were part of the family that wasn’t allowed. And then like even on a gravestone it like only includes half of her children. Not the half that she was brawling with at the time. It’s some fucked up shit.

Madison Beaufort
Oh, goodness.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. And then when you add in like the wild, wild west days, you know, there was like, a lot of stalking, there was guns. There was fistfights there was bushfires, it was just, I can’t even explain it. Because you don’t understand until you’ve been in a farming situation in remote areas how bad that shit can get.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah. Wow.

Leonie Dawson
So I was just really fucking relieved to be out of that. And I feel like it was the best thing I do. Because I would have been so traumatized by the level of stalking that was happening at home and violence that was happening at home. And I’m really grateful to our to my principal, because he just believed in me from day dot. And at one point somewhere, my aunts tried to get me kicked out of school.

Madison Beaufort
What?

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, and the police got involved, it was just a whole fucking thing. And he was so kind, he just believed in me completely. And he was like, Leonie, we can’t choose our family. And I don’t know what they’re going through. And I don’t care. I know who you are. And I trust you. And I know who your parents are. And I trust them. And so I’ll protect you, I’ll always protect you. They’re not going to touch you here.

Madison Beaufort
Are those moments when when a hero outside of your like core sort of life and family and someone steps up, and and does that, means so much.

Leonie Dawson
And so I’m still fucking friends on Facebook to this daay with my old principal, because I’m just so relieved. So grateful for how much he loved me. And, like he even said to me last year on Facebook, he’s like, You have no idea what an inspiration you were to me like, how inspiring you are. And I’m like, What the fuck he talking about? I think just because I was just so dedicated to meeting my goals. And also just being all of myself like being full weirdo in public was great. It was amazing. I became school captain within a year and I became the School Dux both years running. And it was just such a miracle time for me.

Madison Beaufort
No, no beautiful. So and then you graduated.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah.

Madison Beaufort
And moved away.

Leonie Dawson
I graduated and then I was gonna go to university. But I thought if we go back to Proserpine and just reconnect with my family take a gap year.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
And like that totally just changed the course of my life as well. Because I decided to take a gap year I got a traineeship at the local government, like local council.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah.

Leonie Dawson
And on my second day of work, that’s where I met my husband.

Madison Beaufort
And this is what everyone wants to know, this is the magic story. Because Leonie and Chris is such a beautiful story, too. Like the love you guys have for each other. I just say, Oh, it’s so, so genuine. And it’s so beautiful that you guys are there for each other thick, thin everything and it’s so accepting.  I don’t really meet many women or men who just talk about each other with such love after 23 years. Tell us tell us how that all happened and how you met Chris and how that how soon you knew.

Leonie Dawson
Like our friend Bron, who’s so funny. She’s like, Oh, I just love how your crazy eyes light up when you talk about Chris. So it was it was instant it was love at first sight. I was 18 obviously just graduated from school. He was older than me. I didn’t know how much older and I just looked at him, and I was like, fuck…. that’s a good looking man!

And he had really long hair at that point and please… men with long hair are my undoing. He has this jaw line for fucking days. And like if people ask me what my sexuality is, it’s like it’s people who look like Chris. Like, I don’t actually find that many people attractive. But that is it for me.

So it was kind of love at first sight. And then also like, I was like, he’s so far out of my league. You know, he was older. I just thought he was way hotter than my hot quotient. Do you know what I mean?

It was kinda like, I’m really not sure if that’s gonna work. And also he was he’s very quiet natured guy. And so I I’m much more enthusiastic in the way that I approach life. And so I was like, I don’t know if I will. And so it was just like a process of a few months of just like chipping, chipping away, chipping away. And eventually, like, within a couple of months, I asked him out on our, well, I kept on having these like, every time I’d see him, I’d have these full out of body experiences.

And like we would walk past each other in a hallway, I wouldn’t be able to speak I just be staring at his eyes just like what! What the fuck is this? And he said he just had exactly the same experience. Oh, and every time like I just be like, Yeah, I’m obsessed. But then I just keep getting these messages like no, this is this is it. This is it. This is it. And I didn’t even know his last name. At this point. I just knew him as Chris at work. And it’s hilarious because like two years before I was obsessed with Dawson’s Creek,

Madison Beaufort
It wasn’t love, a little bit of… Pacey, is it?

Leonie Dawson
No fuck off. Dawson all the way. Excuse me. All right.

Madison Beaufort
All right. Well, okay. We’re into different things. Different strokes. Different blokes

Leonie Dawson
A lot of people love Pacey. For me, I love a crying sensitive New Age guy.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I get you, hey.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, yeah, I was like, I was so obsessed with the idea of Dawson that I wouldn’t be able to watch the TV show. I just sort of roll around the floor. Just be like, Oh, my God, it’s too much. Oh, he’s so beautiful!

Madison Beaufort
It makes me feel things.

Leonie Dawson
One of my besties at the time was like, you’re really into this Dawson character, aren’t you? And I said, Yes. One day I’m going to marry a Dawson.

Madison Beaufort
Stop.

Leonie Dawson
I did. I absolutely did. And then I fell head over heels with Chris.

Madison Beaufort
And you didn’t know his last name?

Leonie Dawson
I didn’t know his last name. And then I was like, just give it up. Give it up. Give it up. And you’re like, I can’t I can’t I can’t keep getting messages. I got to find out. He was a Scorpio.. I’m a Scorpio and always wanted to be with Scorpio. Why not?

Madison Beaufort
Of course.

Leonie Dawson
And then one day, I was like, just give it up Leonie. And then I walked around the corner and he was there. And he was sitting at a big lunch table with other people. And he looked at me and I looked at him and I couldn’t even walk. I just stood there. And he stood there as he sat there and we just stared at each other. And I’m sure people around us would have notice. And then I was like, What’s happening?And Chris said later, it was like our past and our present and future were all just like merging into one moment.

Madison Beaufort
Stop, stop, stop. He said that?

Leonie Dawson
He did. He did. He was like, yeah, it was really intense. It was like everything, like all of our future and all of our past lives together that we’re all just like there in that moment. So there was nothing we could do except just stare at each other recognition. You know

Madison Beaufort
oh, that’s beautiful.

Leonie Dawson
I know. And then like, I remember going out to lunch with another friend who’s name was Leonie as well. It’s really funny. She worked right next to me. Well, the two Leonies. She was Leonie Adams, I was Leonie Allan. Everyone would get us confused because we’re the same age you know, whatever. I was like I’ve really got to give up on this Chris guy. And we walked back into work and the in the olden days Madi…

Madison Beaufort
The olden days?

Leonie Dawson
They used to give you payslips as a piece of paper in an envelope.

Madison Beaufort
What’s an envelope?

Leonie Dawson
And they used to have instead of emails, payslips came in the paper and the letter folder had just broken. A letter folder is an automatic machine that…

Madison Beaufort
I actually know is that is

Leonie Dawson
It’s an old thing

Madison Beaufort
In the olden days

Leonie Dawson
In the olden days. And so he, and so he came, the HR guy came to me and said, I need somebody to fold letters for me. And I was folding letters. And then I came across Chris’s full name. And the whole name is very beautiful. I won’t say it publicly because privacy, but realizing his last name was Dawson. And in that moment, I was like, Oh, holy shit, I’m fucked. It’s my husband. It’s my actual husband. And I was 18 years old in my hometown in the place that I never thought I’d find someone.

Madison Beaufort
Wow.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. And I looked at him and I was like, you’re not related to me.

Madison Beaufort
Yeah, thank God, that’s all that matters.

Leonie Dawson
I can tell from your nose and your jaw line that you have had diverse breeding. That is not like kind of the the receding jaw line

Madison Beaufort
Comes from the Mayflower

Leonie Dawson
that’s receding, like inbred jawline that my family has.

Madison Beaufort
And then you asked him out?

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. And I asked me, he said, No. And then…

Madison Beaufort
What wait, he said no?

Leonie Dawson
I asked him to go to the movies. And he was like, Oh, I don’t really like only the movies with people because you don’t sit and talk to each other. And I was like, Oh, well, my heart is on the floor. So. Ouch! And then 24 hours later, he was like, Oh, by the way, did you want to like just go to the beach or something? And I was like, Ah, yes. This also could have been a handy thing to share. Yesterday.

Madison Beaufort
Before I had this last 24 hours, that ruined me

Leonie Dawson
Before I cried myself to sleep.

Madison Beaufort
Wow. And then that was it?

Leonie Dawson
That was it. That was it. We went to the beach, all over each other and moved in like a month later. And

Madison Beaufort
Wow!

Leonie Dawson
Haven’t been separated since basically.

Madison Beaufort
Oh, my goodness. And you guys moved around a heap. You just done everything together?

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, we’re just all in really. That’s not to say like, Oh, I’ve got a perfect relationship. Like fuck no, like, especially when you get 23 years in, there’s parts where you just think, what the fuck are you actually thinking? And then also, you discover that they are thinking the same thing of you. When I think back of all the poor choices I’ve made over the years, and the grace that my husband gave me during that and just kept loving me anyway, even when he thought I was wrong. That’s incredible. So 18, you know, all in on a relationship. And so then we started moving, I went to university for a year after for six months after that, it was like, Fuck, no, not for me. I was in Townsville of all places. Jesus Christ.

Madison Beaufort
Not a place to thrive is it?

Leonie Dawson
Not a place for people. I don’t think but that’s my personal opinion.

And then I was like, Okay, well, what are we gonna do with their lives? And that was when like, the whole Parliament House thing came up. And like I want to be, we have to have a career so we decided to move to Canberra. I was 20 when we moved to Canberra.

Madison Beaufort
And you just made it work?

Leonie Dawson
Yes

Madison Beaufort
You just got the job?

Leonie Dawson
I just yeah, we just moved there and got jobs. And then I got absolute sheer luck to work in like the Secretary’s Office of Department of Industry and the Secretary is like the CEO. And it was an incredible experience and then going to work in Parliament House. I started taking a public policy degree at Australian National University part time and got to meet like the Vice Prime Minister’s name? What do they call those people? I’ve been out of the politics for a while!

Madison Beaufort
Yeah I don’t know you’re asking the wrong person.

Leonie Dawson
Deputy.

Madison Beaufort
Oh, that sounds right. That sounds good. Yeah,

Leonie Dawson
Yeah I got to pick up Peter Costello anyway. You won’t know who he is because you’re a young girly. But here’s here’s my hot take on this! He is very tall and actually very handsome.  He wasn’t a guy who looked handsome on the camera, but quite handsome and charismatic in person.

Leonie Dawson
Yeah. Met some absolute fucking dicks as well. Joe Hockey, I’m looking at you. You also don’t know who that is. Because you’re younger.

Madison Beaufort
But you know what I’m just going to support whatever you said. Yeah, you dick.

Leonie Dawson
Wanker

Madison Beaufort
Joe Hockey. Oh, I can just imagine your dickish personality!

Leonie Dawson
Yeah, just like real private school boy bullying. Anyway, like, and then like getting to work and then experience like, I was like 22 at this point. And I was like, wow, these people work exceedingly long hours. And they’re also like so they get they get criticised constantly, and from media and their political rivals and when you go into like speaking out and stuff like that. It is basically like hours of people bullying each other. Like it’s like, full on. It’s like real like people will be surprised if you go to Canberra and you sit in on the listening hour. It’s like holy shit. What the fuck is this? This is horrible.

Madison Beaufort
Doesn’t sound particularly joy filled like knowing what you are like who you are what you do now? Yeah, I can’t even imagine.

Leonie Dawson
No, no, no, I just don’t.

Madison Beaufort
Not even just coping but like, enjoying it.

Leonie Dawson
It’s just not for me. And also because like, again, autism, I don’t know how to read people. I can’t. If somebody tells me that that’s what they’re thinking, I believe you. I believe you until you completely fuck me over.
And so I knew that I was like, oh, no, not for me. So, let’s pause there. And you can come back next week for the epic conclusion

Madison Beaufort
Part two

Leonie Dawson
How the fuck did Leonie go from I want to be Prime Minister of Australia to a business person who’s making a lot of money.

Yeah, let’s do that.

Madison Beaufort
Ahahahahahaaa!

Let me know what you think!!! EEEEEE!!!

I’m so so so excited to bring this new era to you!

Love always,