Love, loss and letting go of expectations

Best known for her role as Dawn Robinson on New Zealand’s longest running television drama Shortland Street, actor and content creator Rebekah Randell joins Parents We’ve Met hosts Jenny Hale and Dayna Galloway for a heartfelt conversation about love, loss and the magical and messy depths of motherhood.

Rebekah has shared publicly about the challenges she and her husband, Bevan, faced in becoming parents, including suffering a miscarriage during the production of the Shortland Street 30th-anniversary episodes.

“I remember so vividly lying in bed crying and saying to Bevan, ‘I've got to learn my lines.’ I still can't believe that that was the thing I was thinking of, but I was so broken,” Rebekah shares.

After sharing her devastating news with castmates Sam Bunkall (Boyd), Ben Barrington (Drew), and Mike Galvin (Chris), the crew rallied around to help her learn lines and finish the crucial scenes in the filming schedule. The production team then rescripted and recast the subsequent story lines to allow Rebekah to take time off to make plans for the next steps and grieve.

"It really shows you how much the people around you care for you and care about your life. As hard as it was to show up, it was still beautiful. People really held me, and held me really close,” she tells Jenny and Dayna.

Rebekah also reminisces about her upbringing and being in awe of her own mother and all she managed to juggle to ensure that she and her siblings had a magical childhood. There were also plenty of laughs growing up, as she recalls a haircut fail which her dad famously turned into a ‘teaching moment.’

“Honestly, I got a fringe and layers at the same time, and I looked like a 40-year-old with a mullet. It was horrendous, and I remember crying, and Dad coming into my bedroom and saying, ‘Oh well, it's only a week between a good and a bad haircut,’” she tells Parents We’ve Met.

In October 2023, Rebekah and Bevan’s story took a happy plot twist with the birth of their daughter Isla. The reality of those first few months was adoration and awe for their gorgeous girl – but also colic, which led to sleepless nights and many moments of overwhelm.

“I remember hitting about week seven and the wheels really coming off and thinking, ‘I can't do this any longer.’ This is really hard work. Crying in the shower kind of vibes,” Rebekah shared.

She credits the loving support of Bevan for getting them through those gruelling newborn nights. “At night he wouldn't go to bed without me if she was still crying, and we would just hold this baby and hand her back and forth until she finally fell asleep. It would be midnight some nights, and we'd just be at home with her screaming... nothing prepares you for that reality,” she shares.

Rebekah also opens up to Jenny and Dayna about the familiar tension of wanting to be ‘productive’ while remaining present in parenting, and the magic she’s discovered in reorienting her expectations to lay strong foundations for her daughter.