Monica Padman has never been shy about candor, whether she’s going deep with celebrities on Armchair Expert or getting real about her own life on air. As a longtime fan of the podcast (aka an “Armcherry”), I was glad to see that same honesty showed up in real life when I got the chance to chat with the expert fact-checker at an Arm & Hammer panel she led.
What are the non-negotiable steps in your daily routine?
“I wake up, and I always have English breakfast tea. I toggle. Rishi’s is my go-to, but I just got one from London that’s really good. Brush my teeth with Arm & Hammer toothpaste, like for real. Then, I’ve always gotta clean the face. I grew up with very bad skin, so I’m pretty diligent about the skin-care routine. But I’ve also pared it down, so I just have a face wash, and I do moisturizer in the morning. At night, I’m just doing a little salicylic pad after washing, and sometimes a little benzoyl peroxide, and then a moisturizer. That’s kind of it.”
Has your relationship with beauty and skin care changed as you’ve become more in the public eye?
“It’s changed in that I’ve had to own insecurities a lot more. I’ve always had so many, and I would avoid them or really get in my head. And now we do video for the podcast, and I do not get hair and makeup done every day. I can’t do that, so I’ll just throw on some makeup. Every time I’m editing, I’m like, ‘Oh, like I hate this,’ but after like a couple days, you’re just like, ‘That’s fine. I’m me, and like that’s going to have to be okay.’ So it’s made me a lot more confident actually, having to just be out there a lot.”
Are there any products you’ve used since your teens or 20s that are still in your routine today?
“Arm & Hammer has truly been a staple for so long. Makeup-wise, I always circle back to the Armani Luminous Foundation ($69), always. I’ll take breaks, and then I always circle back. I always return. For lip balm, I use Laneige ($19-$26) or Biologique Recherche BioKiss ($75). It’s ungodly expensive for a lip balm, but I am pretty sensitive, and my lips get chapped all the time, so if I find one that works, it’s worth it, and those two seem to work.”
You’ve been open about your egg-freezing journey. Did that experience shift how you think about self-care or your body more broadly?
“Yeah, it definitely did because I did it when I was 34 and, you know, it wasn’t the best. I wasn’t happy with the result, and I did it again. It was a little bit better. It did make me feel really in touch with my feminine self, what the female body can do and how amazing she is. I mean, when I’m walking around the world, I’m not really thinking about that, but when you’re injecting yourself with these hormones, and you’re really starting to understand what the female body does, it is a marvel. And I’m just like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy I’m a woman.’ Even though it didn’t go very well, the takeaway was like, ‘Wow, it’s really empowering to be a woman.’”
Between producing, hosting and everything else on your plate, what does your self-care time look like?
“Love a bath. I like a glass of wine or a martini. Because work is a lot and we do a lot, and I have side projects and stuff, self-care is really making time for my friends. I really prioritize making time for friendships and going out and seeing people, being social, because I edit our shows, so I technically could work forever, like I always have homework. Still, I often am like, ‘I’m not doing that tonight,’ or ‘I’m going to do it later and make time to go out with a friend’ because it’s so important.”
Any beauty advice you’d give your younger self?
“You know, these questions are always tricky because I think if I had said anything to that person I would not be here now. But I definitely look back at her, and I think like, ‘Oh man, it’s so sad. You’re so insecure.’ I grew up in Georgia around a lot of beautiful white people, and I felt very out of place and just didn’t like myself. I didn’t like the way I looked. Now I look at pictures of her, and I’m like, ‘She’s so cute.’ It’s so sad that I couldn’t feel it then. So I guess I would want to be like, ‘you look good, girl.’ But again, it’s part of the whole journey, so there’s no going back.”
