The perfectly peaceful life of
PIA
photographY JULIE ADAMS STYLING RACHEL WAYMAN WORDS CLEO GLYDE
Talent: Pia Whitesell
Editor: Georgie McCourt
Creative Director: Rebecca Rhodes
Stylist: Rachel Wayman
Photographer: Julie Adams
Hair: Richard Kavanagh
Makeup: Filomena Natoli
Manicure: Jocelyn Petroni
Producer: Robyn Fay Perkins
Wearing: Albus Lumen
She made her name as Pia Miller in Australia’s favourite beachside soap, Home and Away. Now, she’s found love and a fabulous new life in LA with her Hollywood-agent husband, Patrick Whitesell
exuding a naturally healthy glow-up. Her secret? A sense of humour about it all. Wrinkles? Just smile lines. Scars? Plot twists. “Rather than chasing an external standard of beauty, it’s about going deeeper, being more accepting of yourself,” she says.
For decades, ageing was framed as a battle to be fought, with the focus squarely on what time takes away (read: gravity at work), and beauty advertising that preyed on our fear of ageing. But in the past decade, a new generation of women has begun rejecting age shaming. The age ceiling is cracking open, as audiences respond to 40-plus women who star in films and television, strut the runway, and maintain peak visibility.
It’s fitting that Whitesell is an ambassador for Olay. The global legacy skincare brand is championing this shift, encouraging women to celebrate the hard-won gifts that only lived experience can bring. Its bold new platform, Hello Better Me, seeks to reframe the way women experience ageing – reimagining it as a process of empowerment, not decline. The Hello Better Me campaign is now rolling out nationally across digital, social and in-store channels.
“As women, as a collective, we’re just so ready for this,” says Pia.
As part of the campaign, Olay’s “A Better Look” video invites three women
to look in the mirror and describe who they see. It’s a moving exercise in vulnerability. One woman admits softly, “I was very beautiful when I was young,” her eyes shimmering with tears. The emotion is palpable. But then, something shifts. As the women reflect on motherhood, reinvention, heartbreaks and triumphs, they begin to see themselves anew. One smiles and says, “Wow, I did all that,” as the tone transforms from loss to celebration. “My story and my life are now on my face – and that’s a beautiful thing,” another woman concludes.
The message is clear: hush your inner critic. “This campaign speaks to how I feel,” says Pia, who knows all too well what it means to be judged by looks. Winning a Dolly magazine competition at age 14 launched her modelling career, but now, decades later, she believes in a more uplifting approach. “I really understand that pull of looking at yourself way back when. There’s this nostalgic ache of, I’ll never see that person again. But then, in the present, I realise – look who I am now.”
Pia’s journey to her “better me” has seen her evolve from teen model to television presenter, brand ambassador, and co-host of Qantas’ in-flight entertainment programs. After acting training at the prestigious NIDA, she became widely known for her portrayal of policewoman Kat Chapman on Home and Away. For four years she held her own as a strong woman in uniform, equally at ease in denim cut-offs and a bikini top under the Norfolk pines of fictional Summer Bay.
s women’s relationship with beauty continues to evolve, beauty campaigns are changing too, reflecting and amplifying a cultural shift. “I think we’ve all arrived at a place where we just want to look inward,” says Pia Whitesell (formerly Miller), speaking from her Los Angeles home, where the Australian actor/entrepreneur relocated four years ago with her two (then teenage) sons, Isaiah and Lennox. Radiant at 42, Pia is rocking a loose white tee, glossy waves and honeyed skin,
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Back in Los Angeles, it’s the family beach house that tugs at Pia’s heart. “We live in town, but have a little place in Malibu – it’s my heart house. When the kids are surfing and playing footy on the sand, it feels like a slice of home. I’m such a water baby. If I’m ever overwhelmed or stressed, I’ll jump in the car, hit the Pacific Coast Highway and head straight to Malibu. It really grounds me.”
The Whitesell family were directly impacted by the tragic January 2025 fires in which dozens of people died and more than 18,000 houses and buildings were destroyed. “We lost a house on the PCH, yeah. We’d taken it down to the studs and I’d redone the whole thing. It was shocking – we were glued to the TV in our main house, watching the fire move down the coast in real time. It broke our hearts. Thank God I was surrounded by Patrick, friends and family.” The devastation still lingers. “Every single thing burned, but we still had our main home; we were blessed compared to those who lost childhood homes. It was so surreal. A whole stretch of those character-filled 1960s coastal shacks, just gone.”
Pia credits her Chilean heritage for her love of community and family. Born in Viña del Mar before emigrating to Australia as a toddler, she recalls: “We were raised with aunts and uncles all around. I’m still like that. If we roll, we all roll! I love big family dinners. When the boys bring friends over, it’s pizza night, no questions asked.”
After a lifetime of “bless this mess” and raising her boys into adulthood, how has she adjusted to an empty nest? “My boys and I are really close; we’re best mates. They’ll always be my babies. Isaiah [22] was already travelling when Lennie [19] left home. I thought I’d be a helicopter parent, checking in 24/7. But he’s still in LA, and we respect each other’s autonomy. If one of them rings and says, ‘Hey Mum, brunch?’, I’ll swerve off the 405 in record time! My eldest and I are only 19 years apart, so we talk about fashion, movies and music.”
Today, her LA life blends work and wellness. “I do Pilates and weights twice a week. It’s not my favourite, but it’s so important for women and bone density. I take Zoom meetings at the beach a lot – best office ever.” Celebrity spotting is part of the city’s rhythm. “Patrick’s an agent, so meeting incredible people just becomes normal. He’s Mr Busy. At first, I went to a lot of industry events, but now it’s more relaxed, ‘Do you want to come?’ We have my stepdaughter every other week, and love movie nights in our PJs.” For date nights, they love Dan Tana’s, the bustling Beverly Hills Italian institution, La Dolce Vita “if we’re feeling fancy”, or Capo in Santa Monica.
Pia’s natural beach-boho vibe perfectly fits her role as eco-entrepreneur and founder of Macabalm, the multi-purpose balm she launched during Covid in 2020. “It’s a universal balm, completely non-toxic. You can use it as a lip primer, highlighter or for grazes, cuts, dry elbows or heels.” The idea came from her years in modelling. “I was always exposed to strong-smelling lip products full of ingredients I didn’t recognise. I wanted something certified organic, made with native Australian ingredients, and I’m so proud I did it.”
Pia wears Zimmermann dress, $2450; Mejuri rings, $998 (right ring finger, top), and $218 (left index finger). She also wears her own jewellery; all jewellery worn throughout.
Left: Albus Lumen dress, $4900. Right: Alma Ines shirt (with bralette), $490; Beare Park shorts, $360.
Harris Tapper bralette, $271; Sonya Hopkins top (underneath), $255; Leo Lin skirt, $1199.
Sonya Hopkins cardigan, $440; Alma Ines bralette, $280; Beare Park shorts, POA.
Above: Sonya Hopkins cardigan, $440; Maticevski top, $700, and skirt, $1250.
Sonya Hopkins top, $255.
Zimmermann dress, $2450.
Fendi shirt, $2680.
Christopher Esber dress, $1650.
“Going into acting was a natural progression from modelling campaigns, magazine shoots, then TV commercials; I really enjoyed being directed and playing a character. That’s how I ended up acting. I tried to bring the person to life as honestly as I could.”
Pia seems more sanguine about ageing than many veterans of modelling and acting. She’s gorgeous, but credits young motherhood more than anything else with keeping her grounded. “When you’re waking up at 4am to a screaming baby, none of that stuff matters,” she says with a laugh. “Your world is no longer about physical appearance.” At 19, she put her modelling career on hold to give birth to her first son, Isaiah Loyola, and learnt to juggle motherhood with photo shoots. In 2006, she and her then partner, AFL footballer Brad Miller, welcomed her second son, Lennox.
“Having kids is about how you make other people feel,” she reflects. “They need you. They love you, and you love them. Your children don’t even see ‘pretty’. Like a lot of mums, my focus shifted and I started shedding all that external youthful conditioning – by the media and a culture of celebrity obsession.”
Does she believe that being a young mum, with her child rearing already behind her, is an ideal scenario? “In life, nothing is lost. Women starting late have other pluses, like travelling and discovering themselves through their twenties and thirties. Comparing yourself to everyone else is the thief of joy.”
Taking the joy back is the cornerstone of Olay’s Hello Better Me campaign, which seeks to pair storytelling that celebrates maturity and life wisdom with the scientific heft of powerhouse ingredients in the brand’s moisturising cream and serum: peptides to target firmness and niacinamide to lift the skin’s moisture. How does Pia apply Olay’s catchphrase “From It Girl to Grit Girl” to her own life? “By reframing the way you see things,” she says. “You get new wrinkles, your body behaves differently. Sure, I’d love to do the splits or those one-handed somersaults again. But now, my body’s probably stronger in a different way.”
In earlier decades, women actors entering their forties were often caricatures – divas in turbans swilling highballs, having breakdowns at the first sign of a wrinkle. Nothing could be further from Pia’s freewheeling, contemporary philosophy of radical acceptance. “Every freckle on my face is where it’s supposed to be, you know?” Her mantra against encroaching insecurities is “You’re right where you’re supposed to be: right here, right now.”
Pia’s “right here” is pretty damn fabulous. When she met and fell in love with her now-husband, Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell, his career representing luminaries like Ben Affleck, Jessica Alba and Matt Damon occupied truly rarefied air. “When we initially met, it was as if it was by divine appointment,” she says, gushing. “We were introduced by a friend at a party. He is without a doubt the most wonderful person I’ve ever met. He’s our north star.”
Knowing that he was the man she was meant to be with, Pia left Bondi Beach to live la vida loca in Los Angeles, where she and Patrick first appeared on the red carpet together in 2019 at the premiere of the movie Ford v Ferrari. But moving from Australia was still a big deal. “My big concern was would the boys integrate? Dude, you’d think my kids grew up in an American sitcom! They’ve thrived at school and absolutely love California. They’ve kept their Aussie accents too, which people here like.” Pia and I laugh about our determination as Aussie expats not to cave in to Americanisms like “trash” or “candy”. Pia grins: “It’s lollies, lollies, lollies! The boys even correct me if I pronounce my R too much – they’re like, ‘Mum, come on!’”
After four-and-a-half years, what does this Aussie girl miss about home? “The Sunday barbie in the local park, where everyone just rocks up. Kids kicking the footy around, that community-neighbourhood vibe. I’m a Melbourne girl, Elwood through and through. I went to Elwood College, my kids went to Elwood Primary.” We both agree that the Aussie art of paying each other out is something uniquely ours. “That self-deprecating humour! My husband had to learn when I’m just taking the piss, you know? My boys and I have constant banter, which can be jarring if you’re not raised Aussie. People are like, ‘Oh my God, are they serious?’”
The mansions of LA, fringed by towering palms, are famously glamorous, but Pia says that her and Patrick’s expanded family is what thrills her most. “Truthfully, my pinch-me moments aren’t LA-driven,” she says. “They are when I look at the family Patrick and I have created together.” When Pia fell in love and moved stateside with her boys, she also became stepmum to Patrick’s son, Evan, 19, and daughter, Ella, 17, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos.
“For me, it’s honestly the best, most heartwarming thing to see the blending of four teenagers who were strangers just a few years ago,” Pia says. “We sit around the table every night, enjoying each other’s company, having a laugh as we share our stories. We just spent Thanksgiving together; how lucky are we to have all found each other?” Pia proudly takes Patrick back home Down Under. “We come to Australia as often as we can. It’s great that Patrick loves spending time with my family and friends; it’s so grounding. Even though we’ve been married for five years, it feels like Patrick and I are just getting started.”
“When you’re waking up at 4am to a screaming baby ... your world is no longer about physical appearance”
What’s your skincare routine? “I’m obsessed with an ‘everything shower’, where I do all my cleansing, exfoliating and moisturising. I use a foaming cleanser and a physical exfoliator rather than cream; I like feeling the grains sloughing off dead skin. At bedtime, I apply Olay’s Ultra Firming Serum so the actives can work their magic overnight.”
What’s the glamorous “night-time” Pia’ look? “That’s when a whole other Pia comes out! I start with primer, then a tinted moisturiser instead of foundation for light coverage, setting it with powder.
I sweep on bronzer for warmth and combine blush and contour to sculpt cheeks.
“For eyes, I love MAC’s Eye Pencil in Coffee, perfect for a soft smoky look. I line my waterline for intensity and sometimes add a top liner for extra drama. My mascara go-to is the Maybelline Great Lash. Then I finish with my own Macabalm lip gloss, either alone or layered with colour, for that dewy finish.
“Finally, I mist on setting spray and use a fan to lock it all in. It’s my signature ‘fan moment’ – Patrick always teases me when I do it, saying, ‘There she goes, the fan is out,’ and we laugh.”
“My story and my life are now on my face – and that’s a beautiful thing”
“I really enjoyed being directed and playing a character. That’s how I ended up acting. I tried to bring the person to life as honestly as I could”
“Rest is the biggest flex in the world. You don’t realise it when you’re young and hustling. ”
Inside Pia’s beauty look
“My story and my life are now on my face – and that’s a beautiful thing”
Mariam Seddiq bralette, $790, and pants, $1100. Christopher Esber shoes, $895.
She’s now working to expand the brand with new formulations and products. Would she ever return to acting, now that she’s in LA, the mother lode of opportunity? “It’s my year of yes, so who knows? If something comes along that feels right, why not?”
With decades of life, motherhood, and career behind her, what’s the biggest lesson? “That rest is the biggest flex in the world. You don’t realise it when you’re young and hustling. A calm nervous system, being at peace with yourself, that’s success. I can’t wait to teach that to my grandkids one day.”