How To Fail With Elizabeth Day · Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment

Amy Jackson Westwick - I Was A Magnet For Narcissists

April 1, 2026·55 min·2 clips

Amy Jackson Westwick says she was "a magnet for narcissists" because she had "no boundaries" and no sense of self-worth.

1. How To Fail With Elizabeth Day features Amy Jackson Westwick reflecting on fame, family, and relationships after a career that moved from Liverpool to Bollywood. 2. Elizabeth Day hosts, Amy Jackson Westwick is the guest, and Amy matters because she has worked as a model, actress, and podcast host while speaking openly about failure. 3. The episode asks how Amy went from chasing fame to valuing "security" and "peace of mind" instead. 4. Amy says she was born in the Isle of Man, raised in Liverpool, and moved to Norris Green at age two with her mother and father. 5. She describes her parents' relationship as "very dysfunctional," while also saying each parent was "bloody fantastic" with her as an individual. 6. Amy recalls loving horses, dogs, and weekend time at the Riding for Disabled Association through her mother's work. 7. She says her grandmother's death and teenage clashes at home pushed her to rush toward adulthood and independence. 8. Amy describes her first job at Herbert's, a Liverpool hair salon, where she lasted a day and was paid £20. 9. She says she bought a cup of tea and something from Accessorize with that first wage and felt it was "the life." 10. Amy explains that pageants like Miss Teen World were a way to travel, perform, and use competition as a stepping stone. 11. She says she entered Miss Teen World partly out of pettiness after a first boyfriend dated someone else from Liverpool. 12. Amy recounts being scouted from a Daily Mail photo, auditioning in a hotel banquet hall on the Thames, and being told to mime a scene before using her voice. 13. She says landing the Bollywood role at 16 and moving to India at 19 exposed her to a set with about 300 to 400 people and a new language. 14. Amy says she wore a mask on set because she feared people would think the wrong girl had been cast if they saw how nervous she felt. 15. She recalls being told by Rajnikanth to breathe, enjoy the work, and avoid losing herself in the glitz and glamour. 16. Amy's second failure is "romanticizing the perfect family dynamic," which she links to a childhood shaped by divorce and a longed-for family unit. 17. She says she became a people-pleaser and that her therapist framed people-pleasing as a form of manipulation. 18. Amy says she was "a magnet for narcissists" because she lacked boundaries and mistook controlling behaviour for love. 19. The conversation stays conversational and reflective, with Elizabeth Day sharing similar experiences of people-pleasing and Amy speaking plainly about trust, communication, and blended family life. 20. Listeners who like honest relationship self-analysis and career reinvention should enjoy this episode, while people wanting light celebrity chat may skip it.

As heard by us

A candid conversation about boundaries, red flags, and rebuilding a sense of self after losing track of it.

Amy Jackson Westwick's conversation with Elizabeth Day circles the uncomfortable distance between knowing the word "boundaries" and knowing how to live by it.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For when you want a candid story about putting too much into a relationship and relearning your boundaries.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from How To Fail With Elizabeth Day