By the time she was 40, Paula Sutton had built an incredible career from looking after elite supermodels like Naomi Campbell to heading up fashion pages of glossy magazines and appearing on prime time TV. But the pressure of it all came crashing down when she took on her role as mother to three children and suffered a health crisis.
Burnt out, she and her husband stepped away from their high octane, cosmopolitan London life and moved to the Norfolk countryside in 2010 - where she pivoted into a second act career as a vintage fashion and lifestyle influencer and author.
“You can have it all, but not with your mental health intact,” Paula, 57, tells Ateh Jewel in this week’s HELLO! Second Act podcast.
“When I was pregnant with my son I had pre-eclampsia and was in a situation where I could have died and my baby could have died, but I was worried about getting back to work and finishing everything. The doctors were looking at me going, are you mad? I'm a people pleaser. I want to be a good employee.
“It wasn't very conducive to being the mother, the wife, or the person I wanted to be. It took me a few years but I had to remove myself and move to Norfolk. I really wanted to start having fun and enjoy life.”
Paula’s latest book The Body In The Kitchen Garden is inspired by her move to the country, but it took a while for her to figure out what was next. “For a few years I was thinking, I love living in Norfolk, but what the hell have I done in terms of my career and my independence?”
Rock bottom
It was the grief of losing her mother prior to lockdown in February 2020, that encouraged her to write and start showing up on her own instagram page @HillHouseVintage to ‘cheer myself up’ - which led to the huge following she has today.
“I was making these abundant table scapes and just creating as much beauty as I could in order to try and cheer myself up. I was grieving. I was probably the most miserable I've ever been in my life. But if you looked at my Instagram, you'd see me smiling and laughing and holding flowers and playing with my dog.”
What would she tell other women who were at a crisis point in their early 40s?
“I literally hit rock bottom, but my 50s have been spectacular. That reinvention, confidence and ability to not give a hoot what others think is a superpower we all need. There are so many things that hold us back because people might judge.
“When you start releasing yourself from that, beautiful things start to happen.”
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