Exotic Juices, God, Glowing Skin, Supermodels & Controversial Bison Breakfast | Miranda Kerr

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Before we even started rolling, Miranda and I spent a good five minutes singing Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" back and forth. Turns out we're the same age, both "water pigs" in the Chinese zodiac, and equally unable to resist a sing-along. It set the tone for the whole conversation - easy, warm, completely unguarded, which is exactly how Miranda shows up.

We started where she always seems to start these days: her four boys, and the discipline it actually takes to be present with them. She's protective of Sundays specifically - church, brunch, board games, a phone left in another room - because, as she put it, this form is temporary, so every action has a reaction. I have real regrets about not being as present as I should have been when my own kids were small, so hearing her talk about carving out that sacred space hit home.

But the story I really wanted to get into was how Kora Organics came to exist at all, because it isn't a vanity brand - it came out of fear. When Miranda was around 16, her mom was diagnosed with tumors on her spleen. Her family thought they were healthy - her grandmother had already taught them about noni juice and organic gardening - but they had no idea that fragrance in their everyday products could act as an endocrine disruptor, or that what they were putting on their skin was being absorbed straight into the bloodstream. A little book called The Chemical Maze became their handbook, translating ingredient lists like sodium lauryl sulfate into plain language. That's the moment Miranda started thinking about her skin, and her family's skin, differently.

Kora Organics launched in Australia in 2009, and the first product - the now-iconic Noni Glow Face Oil - came directly out of that fear. Miranda sent it to her mom, who was struggling with psoriasis around her nose and living on a steroid cream. Within a week, her mom called to say she was off the cream entirely. That's the story that turned this into a family business, literally - at one point her mom, dad, brother, aunt, and uncles were all working with her.

What I didn't expect was how deep the "why certified organic" argument goes. Miranda cited studies showing certified organic ingredients carry up to 60% more antioxidants than non-certified ones, because the soil isn't depleted and the crops aren't sprayed with unnecessary chemicals - and Kora is audited by a third party, Ecocert Cosmos, on everything from sourcing to packaging claims. And then there's the part of the brand she says she doesn't talk about publicly very often: every product is filtered through rose quartz, and different ranges use different crystals - aquamarine, clear quartz, amethyst - a fascination she traces back to her grandfather, who was a house-mover and used to bring home geodes he found under relocated houses. She wove in the ideas of Dr. Masaru Emoto (the theory that words and thoughts affect water on a cellular level) and David Hawkins' Power vs. Force, which is why every product carries a positive word - bliss, love, hope - printed on the back. It's been there since day one, she said, whether or not it was ever "on trend."

We also went back to where this all started for her personally - a small, humble town in rural New South Wales, discovered at not-quite-14 in a modeling competition she almost didn't enter, all the way through years of catalog work before her real creative breakthrough: singing "Fever" by Peggy Lee for photographer Steven Meisel at a casting in New York, which led to Italian Vogue and a body of work with Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga. She wrote Treasure Yourself and Empower Yourself for young girls specifically because modeling can be one of the most insecurity-inducing industries there is, and she wanted girls to know they didn't need to look like anyone else to be worth something.

Here's the part I want people to hear most carefully, though. Miranda got dragged online - including on Father's Day - for saying, honestly, that bison is what works for her breakfast right now. What people missed is the actual story: since being pregnant with her eight-year-old, she's dealt with a real, diagnosed condition, and after testing, found that eggs, dairy, and wheat were flaring things up for her, and that even standard beef wasn't agreeing with her. Bison was a suggestion that happened to work. That's it. She was never telling anyone else what to eat. This is the exact kind of thing I see constantly - someone shares what's actually working for their one, specific body, and the internet decides that's a moral position to be angry about. Miranda's answer to all of it was simple: everyone's body is different, do the best you can, and give the rest to God. I think that's exactly right.

A few of my favorite things we cover in this episode: 

• Protecting Sunday as sacred, unplugged family time
• Raising four boys and staying present as a parent
• Grandma's noni juice at 13: the seed of Kora Organics
• Mom's shock tumor diagnosis and the hidden toxins at home
• Discovering The Chemical Maze and becoming label detectives
• The birth of Kora Organics: the Noni Glow Face Oil
• How her mom's psoriasis healed off a steroid cream
• Certified organic vs. "clean beauty": 60% more antioxidants
• Plant stem cell retinol alternative beat traditional retinol for 85% of testers
• Fan-favorite products: the Foaming Cleanser, Turmeric Scrub, and Eye Oil
• The crystal-infused formulas behind every Kora Organics product
• Finding her North Star and writing books for young girls
• From rural Australia to singing for Steven Meisel's runway
• The viral "bison breakfast" backlash and her elimination diet
• Working with Dr. Sabine Hazan on gut microbiome testing
• Her simple stack: sunrise light, meditation, early family dinner
• Art of Being Well: noni shots, one-and-done leeches, and Power vs. Force

Products Mentioned:

• The Chemical Maze by Bill Statham
• Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins
• Treasure Yourself by Miranda Kerr
• Empower Yourself by Miranda Kerr
• Heal Your Cells by Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Will Cole
• Kora Organics
• Noni Glow Face Oil
• Milky Mushroom Gentle Cleansing Oil
• Turmeric Glow Foaming Cleanser
• Turmeric Invigorating Body Scrub
• Noni Radiant Eye Oil
• Noni Glow Body Oil and Hydration Duo (body oil + body lotion)
• Plant Stem Cell Retinol Alternative Serum and Moisturizer

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Happy listening, and we hope you learned a little bit more on the art of being well!

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In Health,

Dr. Will Cole