Lipstick on the Rim – "How To Navigate Friendships As You Get Older: FOMO, Jealousy, And Changing Standards" (Jan 27, 2026)

Hosts: Molly Sims & Emese Gormley
Podcast: Lipstick on the Rim, Sony Music Entertainment
Episode Focus: Navigating friendships as adults, dealing with FOMO and jealousy, evolving standards, parenting, and embracing beauty and confidence with age.

Episode Overview

In this candid, guest-free episode, Molly Sims and Emese Gormley open up about the realities of adult friendships. They dig deep into how friendships change as we grow older—touching on tighter time constraints, shifting priorities, boundary setting, and the challenges of comparison in both friendships and motherhood. Interwoven throughout are personal stories, honest laughs, and empowering advice for women navigating these changes. The conversation closes with reflections on body image, beauty routines, and the confidence that comes with aging.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

How Friendships Change as We Age

• Selectiveness & Priorities

  • Emese stresses the importance of being "more selective because you have less time" (04:16).
  • Molly admits her younger self was more rigid, but she's learned to "give a little more" (04:35).
  • Both emphasize that time away from family must be meaningful, making them choosier about who they invest in.

• Balance & Boundaries

  • Emese: It's crucial to avoid one-sided, draining friendships—"Are you constantly there for them, but they're not asking about you?" (04:52).
  • Molly reflects on having learned to set boundaries after years of Southern people-pleasing: "The friends I have around me now, I don't have to do any of that...It's comfortable" (05:31).

• Letting New Friendships In

  • Emese shares how moving at 42 forced her to build a new community, pushing past the myth that you have to be friends with your kids’ parents (06:20-07:13).
  • Molly: "You might meet your best friend at 50, you might meet another friend at 60" (08:52).
  • The hosts agree: Don't close yourself off, even as your standards rise.

Maintaining Friendships When Life Is Busy

• Being Intentional
  • Molly loves that her closest friends are "there for me thick and thin...We’ve got to make time, you’ve gotta schedule it, you’ve gotta calendar it" (09:05).
  • Emese: It shouldn’t feel like dating—"If you're clocking who texted who last, we're not friends" (10:38). She values friendships that can pick up right where they left off.

Jealousy, FOMO, and Social Media Pressures

• Navigating Exclusion

  • Molly: "Not everyone can be invited to everything, and that's okay" (14:51).
  • Emese warns against secrecy, advocating for honesty instead: "When people try to hide things, it always comes from a good intention, but honesty is the best policy" (15:31).

• Friendship Dynamics Among Moms

  • Molly: "I really know the moms who are happy for me...And I know the moms who don't" (16:36).
  • Emese: "Everybody always finds out" (16:47), underscoring the importance of authenticity and transparency.

• Modeling Friendship for Kids

  • Emese: "How we treat our friends...is modeling behavior for them in how to treat their friends" (16:58).

Setting Boundaries

• Personal Peace

  • Molly asserts, "I have to do what's right for myself and my family" (18:29).
  • Emese: "At 46, I can confidently say, I know myself...I was an eternal people-pleaser, now I don't need everybody to like me. That's the boundary" (19:28).

• Social Media Support

  • Emese: It's revealing "who supports you" online—"Sometimes it's those same people who will ask for a favor, but won't show up to support you" (19:28-21:00).

Parenting Tweens & Teens

• From Littles to Bigs

  • Molly: "Small kids, small problems. Big kids, big problems" (23:23).
  • Emese: Early parenting shapes who kids become—"How we parented them as little kids is reflected in how they're growing" (23:38).

• The Sandwich Generation

  • Molly notes the challenge of being pulled by parents’ health and raising children (24:51).

• Mom Guilt & Comparison

  • Both hostesses address never-ending mom guilt: "There's always some sort of guilt...It's just, there's always some sort of guilt" (25:27).
  • Emese: "My kids make me feel guilty, and I'm around 99% of the time" (25:42).
  • They stress the value of having a supportive partner and village; Molly: "It takes a village" (27:02).

• Mom-Shaming & Social Media

  • Emese calls out mom-shaming over support/nannies: "Stop shaming moms when they say they have a nanny. It takes a village" (27:06).

• Comparisons & Social Media Fakery

  • Emese praises Molly for making light of perfect-mom imagery on social media (28:06), referencing Molly’s spoof on bento box lunches: "You did a social media post where you were like, putting a whole box of Nutella in…I'm like, yes, this is it" (28:27).

• Knowing Kids' Friends

  • Molly: "Your kids' friends will have more of an impact than you can ever believe...Try to know the families" (31:45).

Evolving Beauty, Body Image, and Self-Confidence

• Confidence with Age

  • Molly: "I feel way more confident now than I did in my 20s and 30s" (32:31).
  • Emese echoes feeling better in her forties and fifties: "The most beautiful thing about getting older is really learning who you are, what works for you..." (32:53).

• Body Image Evolution

  • Molly: She's no longer subject to the relentless pressure of her early modeling career—"I don't have that same pressure...there'll never be the pressure that I had for so many years" (34:08).
  • Emese: "I'm actually healthier than I was when I was 30...I did the proper work with a doctor, I exercise" (35:14).
  • Both acknowledge generational shifts in body ideals and the positive influence of body-positivity movements.

• Talking Positively About Body

  • Emese emphasizes the importance of positive self-talk around her three daughters (37:04).

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Friendships at Any Age:

  "You might meet your best friend at 50, you might meet another friend at 60."
  — Molly, (08:52)

• On Selective Time:

  "Every time I choose to be away from my kids, it has to be for someone or something that I actually love and respect or enjoy."
  — Emese, (04:16)

• On Setting Boundaries:

  "At 46, I can confidently say, I know myself...I don't need everybody to like me. I don't care if you don't like me."
  — Emese, (19:28)

• On Mom Guilt:

  "My kids make me feel guilty. And I'm around 99% of the time."
  — Emese, (25:42)

• On Supporting Other Women:

  "This podcast is all about not gatekeeping...It’s about helping one another."
  — Molly, (33:41 & 33:45)

• On Evolving Confidence:

  "I feel way more confident now than I did in my 20s and 30s."
  — Molly, (32:31)

• On Body Acceptance:

  "I think it's okay to want to lose weight. I think it's okay to want to look your best and feel your best."
  — Emese, (35:14-35:46)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Topic Overview | 03:02 – 04:00
• Becoming More Selective with Friends | 04:16
• Setting Boundaries and Comfort in Friendships | 05:31
• Making New Friends After 40 | 06:20 – 07:34
• Maintaining Close Friendships When Busy | 09:05 – 10:38
• On FOMO, Jealousy, and Social Media | 14:30 – 16:47
• Modeling Friendship for Kids | 16:58
• Boundaries for Peace of Mind | 18:29 – 19:28
• Shifting to Parenting Teens | 23:21 – 24:51
• On Mom Guilt and Comparison | 25:42 – 28:06
• On Multiplying Confidence with Age | 32:23 – 33:04
• Body Image, Acceptance, and Positivity | 34:02 – 37:04

Takeaway Advice

• For Friendships:
  Stay open to new connections at any age, be intentional with your time, set boundaries to protect your peace, and don’t get stuck on who “texted last.”
• For Moms:
  Reject mom-shaming, embrace support systems (of any kind), and don’t let curated social media images set unrealistic standards. Be a team player and avoid gatekeeping information.
• For Women at Any Age:
  Embrace growing older—confidence, self-knowledge, and feeling beautiful are all attainable and worth celebrating.

Final Note
This episode is brimming with warmth, laughter, and the kind of honest wisdom that only comes from real-life experience. Molly and Emese invite listeners to drop the perfection, support each other, and find joy and confidence in every season of womanhood.