Some history: Three years ago I was a guest on the very first season of Bravo’s reality show Below Deck Mediterranean (what a blast!), and I had the delightful chance to meet Hannah Ferrier, star of what’s become a big hit now in its 3rd season. We’ve kept in touch, and Hannah’s back with me for another great conversation on the Little White Lie Live show.
Hannah is a young woman who knows what she wants, and she goes out and gets it. She’s a great example for all woman, “young and old,” to know that you can do that too! She’s relentless in achieving her goals, but always with charm, sense of self, and a spirit of adventure and fun. Quite frankly, I feel very proud of her as I watch her soar to new heights!
But how does Hannah handle all the travel, crazy long hours, demands of celebrity, being away from home for so long? How does she keep it together? How do any of us do it with our busy schedules at work and home??
For Hannah Ferrier, one word: “FRIENDS.”
“Friendship is one of the most important things in my life. I’m in Barcelona right now at one of my best friend’s places. We travel all over the world to make sure that we see each other. I’ve been single now for four or five years. And I know this sounds awful, but men do kind of come and go a little bit.
So, it is important to keep your girlfriends close. My friends are my core, my structure. I definitely move mountains for my friends, and I’m really lucky because they do the same thing back for me.”
What’s the secret of a great friendship?
Hannah: “We’re really honest with each other.” She shared that the friend she’s staying with had been in a foul mood the night before, and she was able to tell her, ‘Wow, you were such a bitch last night!’ Hannah believes that is part of any good friendship, allowing each other to be honest. “She lets me know when I piss her off, too.
And that’s such an important thing. It’s about being honest with each other, and being able to do that with the friends in our life.”
Does trust play a big part in your friendships, Hannah?
“Yeah, a hundred percent. I’m always quite busy but, at the end of the day, if one of my girlfriends needs me she can call me at 4:00 in the morning. It doesn’t matter where I am, I’ll drop anything and come for her if she needs me. I’ve got my core group in Sydney, and we’ve been friends, and through a lot, for 10-15 years.”
Friends
I asked Hannah about the friendships she made on the show.
“I think the first season was really unique because none of us knew what we were doing. We were all kind of running around with blank looks on our faces, running into walls just going, What is going on here? We were all there for the right reasons as well – no one was there just to be on camera, on television. I just feel like I formed such genuine bonds, with both Julia and Tiffany. They’re still good friends in my life now. It was just one of those really weird experiences and it would never be the same again from Season 1. So, I think I got very lucky.”
From my experience, I was there on the cruise with my girlfriends, in Naxos. And I have to say that Hannah, Julia and Tiffany were really lovely. They made us feel very comfortable, they treated each other with respect, there was no cattiness, at least on camera that we saw.
I asked Hannah, “Is that really what you wanted to make sure we all saw?”
Hannah: “Yeah, of course. I think in Season 1 we all just had each other’s back so much. We looked after each other and protected each other … I think that dynamic worked really well on yachts because sometimes you can have really horrible guests that can bring your mood down, and they can make you feel not amazing. So, the fact that you’ve got the girls there to kind of bounce off and bring your mood back up when you’re feeling a bit shitty is always a great thing.”
How about you and your friends? I bet you could say the same thing – that your girlfriends have your back and can always bring your mood back up when you’re down. I know it’s true for me! Isn’t that a great thing to have in our lives?
Do girlfriends mean something different as you get older?
Hannah believes as you get older, it’s just that you get smarter and you get clearer on your priorities in life.
In your late teens and your early twenties, “it’s so easy to meet a guy, start dating him, and kind of lose touch a little bit with your friends.” Whereas she believes when you get older, you’ve built your life and a friendship base, and you can be with a partner and “not go down the drain.” You understand that “it’s really important to prioritize those people in your life despite what else could be going on.”
Final advice about friendship from Hannah…
“Treat your girlfriends like gold because, at the end of the day, it’s probably going to be you sitting around having whiskey or brandy or whatever in your 60s and 70s. It’s really important to invest a lot of your time, energy, finances, everything like that into your friendships because they’re just so important.”