Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About the Stella Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Lamarquin, your host and Stella's editor in chief.
Speaker 2: Every week I sit down.
Speaker 1: With some of the biggest names in the country, because
Speaker 1: when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to
Speaker 1: Something to talk About. Since nineteen ninety two, Sonya Krueger
Speaker 1: has been a fixture on our screens, from her role
Speaker 1: as Tina Sparkle in bas Lehman's cult film Strictly Ballroom,
Speaker 1: to working as a television presenter on Morning TV and
Speaker 1: hosting some of Australia's most successful reality shows, including of course,
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars, the unexpected hit that forever changed
Speaker 1: the course of her career when it first went to
Speaker 1: air twenty years ago. But her private life, well, she
Speaker 1: likes to keep that, including her relationship with her partner Craig,
Speaker 1: the father of her nine year old daughter Maggie, just
Speaker 1: that private. But on today's episode, Sonia joins me in
Speaker 1: the studio to get a little more personal. We discussed
Speaker 1: how she was instrumental in bringing Dancing with the Stars
Speaker 1: to the screen. What life is the mother of a
Speaker 1: nine year old girl is really like? How that Gold
Speaker 1: Logi speech led her to therapy.
Speaker 2: And how she felt when her partner Craig.
Speaker 1: Was recently the one in the headlines instead of her.
Speaker 1: Sonya Krueger, welcome to Stella and something to talk about.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me, Sarah La marquand.
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars new season starting next week. So, Sonya,
Speaker 1: it was twenty years ago this year, can you believe it?
Speaker 1: With the Stars launch two thousand and four. It was
Speaker 1: after the Olympics, an Olympic year again this year, and
Speaker 1: it was I believe October.
Speaker 2: Very short season.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, no one really thought it was going
Speaker 1: to be a hit. When they talk about an unexpected hit.
Speaker 1: That first season of Dancing with the Stars was it
Speaker 1: and it was absolute water cooler. Everyone was watching it.
Speaker 1: We're talking figures of a couple of million people. Such
Speaker 1: a hit that then they quickly put together a new
Speaker 1: series and you were back on air again in February.
Speaker 4: Yes, we did two series a year for a couple
Speaker 4: of years there. I'd go backwards and forwards to Melbourne
Speaker 4: and we'd do this one live show. It was always
Speaker 4: at Tuesday night and the numbers were extraordinary and I
Speaker 4: don't think anybody could quite believe that people were tuning
Speaker 4: in to watch this show that was all about ballroom dancing.
Speaker 3: You know, it was kind of not that cool.
Speaker 4: But the casting, I think is really what made those
Speaker 4: series work and make any series work, because if you
Speaker 4: get the right group of people and you get some
Speaker 4: really interesting characters in there, then they become so engaging
Speaker 4: for the audience. I think like last year, Isa Schultz,
Speaker 4: he was one of those characters that the audience just
Speaker 4: loved to see on the dance floor because we know
Speaker 4: him on the chase, we know him as this incredible mind.
Speaker 4: He was so out of his comfort zone. Even if
Speaker 4: you go back to those very early series.
Speaker 1: With Pauline Hanson, who you know, Pauline was not the
Speaker 1: greatest dancer by a long shot, but she made it
Speaker 1: all the way to the end because the audience kept
Speaker 1: her there. So it's one of those things people really
Speaker 1: love to get involved with the competitors on the show
Speaker 1: and the personalities. And you also have seen over the
Speaker 1: years people really come into their own and blossom, which
Speaker 1: all sounds very trite, but there were moments over the
Speaker 1: years when you were talking about Pauline Hanson, I was
Speaker 1: thinking Chris Bath was in one of those first few
Speaker 1: series as well. Oh she was the runner up. But
Speaker 1: you had this television anchor, news presenter, very you know,
Speaker 1: sort of buttoned up.
Speaker 4: We never see we never see their legs, right, we
Speaker 4: never see a news present it's legs because they were
Speaker 4: always pretty much under a desk. And Barthy, yes, just
Speaker 4: bloomed on the dance floor and it was such a
Speaker 4: joy to watch that happen. And we became very close
Speaker 4: because we were both together.
Speaker 3: Fly down to Melbourne for the show, and.
Speaker 4: As she progressed through it, she just loved it more
Speaker 4: and more and more until she got all the way
Speaker 4: to the final. And she was in that final with
Speaker 4: Aida Nicodemu and they were both extraordinary dancers, you know,
Speaker 4: and they look I just remember Barthy's grand finale and
Speaker 4: it was ac DC I think she chose and she
Speaker 4: was on top of the news desk, rocking out with
Speaker 4: a good time.
Speaker 3: Crazy stuff but so much fun.
Speaker 1: It was something that showed a whole other side of
Speaker 1: her and everyone could get behind that person.
Speaker 2: So is there something primal or unique?
Speaker 1: What is it about dancing that you think perhaps seemed
Speaker 1: to any of us?
Speaker 2: But the celebrities that are featured on the show and.
Speaker 1: Makes them reveal this side of themselves, not only to
Speaker 1: everyone watching, but to themselves.
Speaker 3: I think you've hit the nail on the head. It's primal.
Speaker 4: When you look at children and babies and you put
Speaker 4: music on, what happens They start to dance. They've never
Speaker 4: been taught, they've never been shown. They just start to
Speaker 4: move to the music, don't they. And then as they
Speaker 4: get older, generally we become more self conscious, and so
Speaker 4: we tend to unless we're professional dances, unless we're people
Speaker 4: who go and do dance class, we tend to stop
Speaker 4: dancing unless we're at a nightclub with a bunch of
Speaker 4: friends and we've had, you know, a couple of Margarita's
Speaker 4: and we put our handbag down, and then we lose
Speaker 4: our inhibitions.
Speaker 3: So I think Dancing.
Speaker 4: With the Stars gives people the license to lose those
Speaker 4: inhibitions on the dance floor.
Speaker 3: In fact, it's.
Speaker 4: Required, you have to set all of that aside in
Speaker 4: order to get through a performance. And then once people
Speaker 4: do it and they have that breakthrough, I think they
Speaker 4: find they love it more than they expected to, you know.
Speaker 4: So it's it's giving people that license to have fun.
Speaker 4: And that's why I've always loved this show, because it
Speaker 4: really is like even the promo that's running at the moment,
Speaker 4: you know, I don't know if you've seen it, it
Speaker 4: almost looks like an episode of the Muppets.
Speaker 3: And I say that.
Speaker 4: I say that with love because I love the Muppets.
Speaker 4: But it's just there's feathers and sequins and color and
Speaker 4: happiness and joy, and you get to also see the
Speaker 4: other side where you know, people are moved and emotional,
Speaker 4: and so it has all of that. And now we've
Speaker 4: got doctor Chris Brown. So life doesn't get any better.
Speaker 1: Really, when you say that, the sequence and the feathers,
Speaker 1: it's the exact same reason. To go back to why
Speaker 1: even probably the people that green lit the show back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four were not expecting it to
Speaker 1: be that successful. Sonya, you had worked in the industry
Speaker 1: for a while, been in on Strictly Ballroom and then
Speaker 1: had worked as a reporter, entertainment reporter, you had been
Speaker 1: a weather presenter. That felt like the moment that first
Speaker 1: season of Dancing with the Stars where you really broke
Speaker 1: out from television presenter with a good steady job to
Speaker 1: a star to a really, you know, in the most
Speaker 1: technical terms, a viable commodity and started the way for
Speaker 1: the career that we have seen in the twenty years since.
Speaker 1: Would you agree with that assessment and what were your
Speaker 1: memories of processing that at the time. So I had
Speaker 1: been doing some entertainment reporting for Today Tonight. That was
Speaker 1: my full time job, and I had been in London
Speaker 1: and I just turned the television on and this show
Speaker 1: came up and it was called Celebrity Come Dancing. And
Speaker 1: I was mesmerized by this show because it was ballroom dancing.
Speaker 1: But there were people on there who I didn't particularly know,
Speaker 1: but one was a sportsperson, one was a politician, one
Speaker 1: was an actor. And I was just looking at this
Speaker 1: show thinking this is amazing and so in my wheelhouse
Speaker 1: because it's about dancing. I got back to Sydney.
Speaker 4: I spoke to Peter Meakin, who was the head of
Speaker 4: news at the time, and I said, you know what,
Speaker 4: I saw this show in the UK. I really think
Speaker 4: we should do it at seven and he went, oh, no,
Speaker 4: I think we've got the rights to it and I went,
Speaker 4: you're joking. He said, no, you should talk to Brad
Speaker 4: Lyons about it. So I called Brad.
Speaker 3: Lions and he said, yes, all right, come and see me.
Speaker 4: The dearly missed and sadly departed Brad who you know
Speaker 4: who went I think far too young. But Brad really
Speaker 4: didn't fill me with a lot of confidence. He kind
Speaker 4: of you know, there were a few expletives, and he
Speaker 4: basically said, I don't not sure why we're doing this,
Speaker 4: but we ah and it better work.
Speaker 3: Krueger were his final words to me on that.
Speaker 4: And then we went to start shooting the show. Shooting it,
Speaker 4: we were doing it live, we started rehearsing it. We
Speaker 4: didn't even get through a rehearsal. It was a disaster.
Speaker 4: There was no auto Q. Daryl worked with Q cards.
Speaker 4: What was written on those was illegible hieroglyphics, and so
Speaker 4: the whole thing was very free wheeling, as live as.
Speaker 3: You could get.
Speaker 4: And then I think when the numbers came in the
Speaker 4: next day, everybody was just gobsmacked. So, yes, I was
Speaker 4: lucky in that I ended up on a show in
Speaker 4: primetime that had a huge amount of viewers. And yet
Speaker 4: there was some bizarre and I don't want to sound
Speaker 4: completely woo about this, but you know, when the universe
Speaker 4: takes you in a certain direction, and I sort of
Speaker 4: feel like that happened with Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1: You know, I had no idea that you had had
Speaker 1: that role and were responsible really for them green lighting it.
Speaker 2: Had those conversations with Peter and Brad.
Speaker 4: I don't think I was responsible for them green they had,
Speaker 4: they had green layout, but to actually then say, well,
Speaker 4: we have this property, let's actually put it together. Which
Speaker 4: was a similar thing that happened with Strictly Ballroom. Because
Speaker 4: I heard they were making that movie, I knew I
Speaker 4: would be involved because of my dancing background, so I
Speaker 4: asked for a role, and.
Speaker 3: I think it does.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you can sit back and wait for things to come,
Speaker 4: but if there's something that you're really passionate about, ask
Speaker 4: the question because you just never know where you might
Speaker 4: end up.
Speaker 1: Surely you've got a big bunch of flowers or two,
Speaker 1: not just for being the co host of this massive,
Speaker 1: unexpected breakout hit, but also somebody that did say to
Speaker 1: Peter and Brad, hey, I think we should do it.
Speaker 4: Well, I can't take the credit because I think they
Speaker 4: had already planned to do it. I just don't know
Speaker 4: how much confidence they had. I think it was one
Speaker 4: of those this is it was not it's a certainty,
Speaker 4: if you know what I mean. It was very much
Speaker 4: going to be we'll roll the dice and we'll see
Speaker 4: what happens. Every year, networks need to constantly refresh and
Speaker 4: evolve and bring in new product, and you know that's
Speaker 4: the job of our programmers, the people who go overseas
Speaker 4: every year and look at what's out there. And sometimes
Speaker 4: things don't work here, and sometimes they do, and they
Speaker 4: work for a very long time, like Dancing is it
Speaker 4: twenty year proposition, or shows like Idle, you know, have
Speaker 4: this incredible heritage the voice. These big global franchise shows
Speaker 4: I think live for a long time, and that's why
Speaker 4: they're very they're coveted by the networks and they're protected.
Speaker 1: And they grow and they evolve over the years. They
Speaker 1: can go off air for a couple of years and
Speaker 1: then they'll come back on a different network or a
Speaker 1: different host. Which all the things that have happened in
Speaker 1: this twenty year period of Dancing with the Stars. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Darryl Sonya, So that's obviously Darryl Sommers, who was
Speaker 1: your co host there for the first few seasons, and
Speaker 1: as you say it was filmed live in Melbourne. Darryl
Speaker 1: very iconic, especially Melbourne personality. Over the years, you have
Speaker 1: had a few different co hosts, and doctor Chris Brown
Speaker 1: is your co host this year. Now, I did want
Speaker 1: to ask you about Chris because he is part of
Speaker 1: the extended Stellar family, like self is a Stellar columnist,
Speaker 1: being a previous guest here on something to talk about.
Speaker 1: He is going to be upstairs in the skybox when
Speaker 1: the contestants received their scores. And for the first time ever, Sonya,
Speaker 1: you are actually taking on the main hosting role.
Speaker 2: Now a lot of people.
Speaker 3: You're making me nervous.
Speaker 1: Look, you had the whole show riding on your shoulders
Speaker 1: when it launch. If it hadn't worked in two thousand
Speaker 1: and four, Krueger, we told you, yes, right, you can.
Speaker 4: Have doesn't work, you blame someone else there, and if
Speaker 4: it does work, it's all you.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: Some people, myself included, would hear that and think, oh,
Speaker 1: thank goodness about time. I've actually written columns over the
Speaker 1: years saying if co hosts were moving on, how about
Speaker 1: Sonya Krueger just host the show full time. I've asked
Speaker 1: you about that over the years, and you've said no, no,
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that.
Speaker 2: Like I like having my part of it.
Speaker 1: So some people would say, great, this has been a
Speaker 1: gender role reversal twenty long years in the making.
Speaker 3: Like a really progressive move.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's not really the case. Is it something
Speaker 2: for you?
Speaker 1: You've just thought, Okay, I've decided, I'm ready. What's happened,
Speaker 1: what's changed?
Speaker 4: Well, I think for me, like I've hosted shows, big
Speaker 4: shows on my own, I've hosted The Voice and Big Brother.
Speaker 4: I think with Dancing with the Stars, I did have that.
Speaker 3: All care, no responsibility.
Speaker 4: I could be in the green room and kind of
Speaker 4: get away with murder in there.
Speaker 3: But when Chris came on board, it was obvious that even.
Speaker 4: From a practical perspective, being across the mechanics of a show,
Speaker 4: that I had a lot more experience in that regard.
Speaker 3: And also Chris really.
Speaker 4: Wanted to be able to come and have fun, you know,
Speaker 4: and just really have some fun. So the obvious place
Speaker 4: to do that is in the green room. So we thought,
Speaker 4: well why not. It doesn't it's you know, it's something
Speaker 4: people have said in the past that that should happen.
Speaker 4: And then we thought, okay, let's just do it this
Speaker 4: way and see how it goes.
Speaker 3: I still get to have.
Speaker 4: As much, if not more fun, because now I'm very
Speaker 4: close to those judges, and so it's almost more fun,
Speaker 4: I think, teasing them than some of.
Speaker 3: The celebrities, you know.
Speaker 4: So I've really enjoyed being able to be down on
Speaker 4: the floor and in amongst the action and talking to
Speaker 4: the dancers and performers and celebrities once they've finished, too,
Speaker 4: like cut off the press.
Speaker 3: They've literally just on.
Speaker 4: A routine, and I get to find out what the
Speaker 4: experience was like for them, talk to the judges, and
Speaker 4: then watch Chris and he makes me laugh with what
Speaker 4: he's doing upstairs in the green room. So we don't
Speaker 4: actually call it the green room anymore. It's the sky Lounge,
Speaker 4: or you know, it's had a few different names. We'll
Speaker 4: have to come up with a specific name for Chris.
Speaker 1: Up next the gold Logi speech that stopped the Nation
Speaker 1: and the Therapist's advice that stops Sonya in her tracks.
Speaker 2: You mentioned hosting other shows on your own, that's right.
Speaker 1: You also, of course, are the host of The Voice,
Speaker 1: which will also be back with the new season a
Speaker 1: little bit later this winter. I understand that's been filmed.
Speaker 1: There's a few new coaches joining the show this year,
Speaker 1: Adam Lambert, Leanne Rhymes, Cape Miller Haike.
Speaker 2: Can you spill a little bit of tea.
Speaker 1: About working with some of those biggest names in music
Speaker 1: that you have worked with in your years hosting The Voice.
Speaker 4: Oh, look, it's really quite surreal at times, because you'll
Speaker 4: be sitting there and I remember what I started, and
Speaker 4: I walked past Ricky Martin's chair, and Ricky smells amazing,
Speaker 4: to the point where I was like.
Speaker 3: What's that colone you're wearing? Ricky? It's comte de.
Speaker 4: And he is just one of the nicest, sweetest people,
Speaker 4: but just incredible to look at and to smell. I
Speaker 4: know that sounds very baby Reindeer of me, but he's divine.
Speaker 4: And then you've got people like CeAl, the Madden Brothers,
Speaker 4: Jesse j Kelly, Rowland, Boy George. You know, to have
Speaker 4: worked with all of those people is incredible. And then
Speaker 4: along comes Adam Lambert, who is just the epitome of
Speaker 4: glam rock. You know, he brings it.
Speaker 3: He makes me feel like such a wallflower.
Speaker 4: I've just spent four hours in hair and makeup and
Speaker 4: I look plain next to you Leanne Rhymes, who is
Speaker 4: just a door And I'll tell you why because we
Speaker 4: share a birthday, so where Soul Virgo sisters. I think
Speaker 4: that's what that's you know, as soon as I said
Speaker 4: we have the same birthday, she went, ah, I see
Speaker 4: you so yeah.
Speaker 3: And Kate Miller hide Key to me.
Speaker 4: Was just a complete surprise package because she's classically trained,
Speaker 4: she's had so much experience represented Australia at Eurovision. Is
Speaker 4: incredibly articulate, but also comes out of left field at
Speaker 4: times and you know you're you sort of raise your
Speaker 4: eyebrows and go, wow, did I just hear that?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: So I think I think the audience will be really
Speaker 4: really surprised by the new lineup and getting to know
Speaker 4: those coaches.
Speaker 1: All of this television that you've done over the last
Speaker 1: two decades, a lot of live TV. Not that many
Speaker 1: people in Australia have that many hours of live TV
Speaker 1: under their belt. That's something we talk about a lot
Speaker 1: with the hosts of the breakfast TV shows. Yes, because
Speaker 1: you really have to navigate anything could happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're the best.
Speaker 1: And when you're in the country anchoring a show like
Speaker 1: a Dancing with the Stars, finale when it was being
Speaker 1: filmed live. If something is going to go wrong, you've
Speaker 1: really got to be thinking quickly on your feet. I'm curious,
Speaker 1: first of all, how your confidence has grown. Anyone that
Speaker 1: is working in any field, whatever it is, you feel
Speaker 1: like you start to really find yourself and realize that
Speaker 1: there's skills you've developed and honed that you're probably taking
Speaker 1: for granted, except when you look back and think, oh,
Speaker 1: I probably didn't know that five, ten, fifteen years ago. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And the second part of my question, I suppose I
Speaker 1: mentioned that sort of fearlessness that I think that energy
Speaker 1: that you have always brought to your television work and
Speaker 1: your presenting work. Does knowing that you are prepared for
Speaker 1: anything to potend go wrong when you're anchoring live TV
Speaker 1: give you a certain agility And I don't know if
Speaker 1: fearlessness is the word, but just know I've probably really
Speaker 1: got this and in your real life, in your offscreen life.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, which part of the question do I answer?
Speaker 3: First?
Speaker 4: I think the experience of doing it day in day out,
Speaker 4: and I came through a morning news program when I
Speaker 4: first started to and then onto primetime television. Making mistakes
Speaker 4: is really what is where you learn how you learn.
Speaker 4: And I try to instill this in Maggie, for example,
Speaker 4: my daughter, because I want her to understand it's okay
Speaker 4: to make mistakes. None of us are perfect. None of
Speaker 4: us can get it right one hundred percent of the time,
Speaker 4: and if you don't make mistakes, you don't learn from it.
Speaker 4: So and I think that's the thing. Oftentimes it seemed
Speaker 4: to me that the audience.
Speaker 3: Enjoyed the mistakes too.
Speaker 4: They didn't love you know, if the show was so
Speaker 4: slick it looked like it could have been pre recorded
Speaker 4: and edited and everything was just perfect, it kind of
Speaker 4: became a little boring, you know. They like that danger
Speaker 4: mouse aspect of live or as live television. So there
Speaker 4: is something to be said for experience. Definitely doing it,
Speaker 4: you know, year in, year out, does bring you a
Speaker 4: certain amount of confidence. And I think I learned too
Speaker 4: that when you look at a show and you come
Speaker 4: to a grand finale and you think, what's the worst
Speaker 4: thing that could happen here? And it happened to me
Speaker 4: on the voice one night. We had this full proof
Speaker 4: method of when it came to announcing the winner, the
Speaker 4: voice would be given to me in my ear from
Speaker 4: the producer and I would have it on a card
Speaker 4: to make sure that we had crosschecked.
Speaker 3: It was all in hand.
Speaker 4: And I never really liked to look at who the
Speaker 4: winner was on the card until just before, because I'm
Speaker 4: not a great actor and I didn't want to, you know,
Speaker 4: accidentally sort of look at somebody or they're quite paranoid
Speaker 4: if you were looking at them, and you don't want
Speaker 4: to give it away. So got to that moment, I
Speaker 4: said the winner the voice is. I looked at my card.
Speaker 4: The name was given to me in my ear and
Speaker 4: they were different. And in that moment, I really didn't
Speaker 4: know what to do, and there was nothing I could
Speaker 4: say because I couldn't say it well, I couldn't say.
Speaker 1: Exactly, Hey, guys, you're being watched, you're being listened to,
Speaker 1: that's right, And so I signed, I paused. I think
Speaker 1: I may have touched my ear piece and sometimes that's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a sign. And so they repeated
Speaker 1: the name in my ear, still different from the name
Speaker 1: on my card, and I it was almost like the
Speaker 1: the whole room just stopped, and I think people were thinking, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is the longest dramatic.
Speaker 4: Case the probably just say it, yes, just say it,
Speaker 4: and you know what I did. I probably shouldn't admit this,
Speaker 4: but at that moment, I took a punt on who
Speaker 4: I thought was going to win, and at that exact
Speaker 4: moment they realized in the control room something was wrong,
Speaker 4: and so they said the name again, and that's what
Speaker 4: we went with. So the name on the card was
Speaker 4: wrong and right.
Speaker 1: And is that what you would have done? Is that
Speaker 1: what you were when you say there was a punt?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well yes, it was kind of like I have
Speaker 4: to pick one here and I don't know which way
Speaker 4: I'm going, but I'm going to go. I'm just and
Speaker 4: luckily for me, it just happened at the same time
Speaker 4: that they confirmed it again in my ear. So but
Speaker 4: that left me with some very sweaty palms. I can
Speaker 4: tell you it must have felt.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the real time was.
Speaker 1: It might have only been eight ten seconds, but it
Speaker 1: must have felt eight years.
Speaker 3: Because I think it came after it was after the
Speaker 3: Sarah Murdock situation had occurred, and everybody was really afraid
Speaker 3: of making that mess.
Speaker 1: Which is why they're like, foolproof, You've got the car
Speaker 1: and the go wrong.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So did that then when you got on the
Speaker 1: other side of that, did you As you say, you
Speaker 1: sometimes say to yourself, well, what's the worst that could
Speaker 1: go wrong?
Speaker 2: Yeah, arguably the worst went wrong.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 4: I survive and everybody's survives, and I think that's the
Speaker 4: thing is also to keep it in perspective.
Speaker 3: You know that nobody dies.
Speaker 4: It's a television show, and it's a singing competition, or
Speaker 4: it's a dance in competition. You know, so these things
Speaker 4: it's entertainment, and really, you know, we just have to
Speaker 4: give ourselves a reality check from time to time that
Speaker 4: you know what if as long as we're having a
Speaker 4: good time, the audience will be having a good time
Speaker 4: with us, and mistakes will happen, and we probably just
Speaker 4: need to be a little kinder all round to ourselves
Speaker 4: and each other.
Speaker 2: And that's that's good advice for life.
Speaker 3: For life.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about the Logis. You won
Speaker 1: Gold LOGI last year and you are nominated again this year.
Speaker 1: Congratulations in two categories, including Gold. You were not someone
Speaker 1: who instantly won Logis early in your career. You often
Speaker 1: have people that can be on really successful shows and
Speaker 1: for some reason aren't included in Logis, and then there'll
Speaker 1: be something ten twenty years later, and then you have
Speaker 1: people like Kylie Minogue where in that Scott and Charlene
Speaker 1: Era was just winning all of the logis all at once.
Speaker 1: So for you when you first got your first nomination,
Speaker 1: because it had been a few years in the making,
Speaker 1: what did it.
Speaker 2: Mean to you?
Speaker 4: You know, it was just incredible really because I had
Speaker 4: never personally been nominated for a LOGI.
Speaker 3: The shows that I worked.
Speaker 4: On had been so Dancing had been, The Voice had been,
Speaker 4: Big Brother had been, but I had never been nominated.
Speaker 4: I don't even think even when I first started out
Speaker 4: there was like a Best New Talent nomination.
Speaker 3: So I just kind.
Speaker 4: Of grew used to the fact that the shows would
Speaker 4: be nominated, and that was great because I think the
Speaker 4: other thing is to operate under the illusion that any
Speaker 4: of us as hosts really are white people tune in.
Speaker 4: They don't they come for the show, they don't come
Speaker 4: for us.
Speaker 3: We hopefully facilitate a good time, you know, that's why
Speaker 3: we're there. So to get that.
Speaker 4: First nomination and to have it be a Gold LOGI
Speaker 4: nomination was.
Speaker 3: Just wow, this is all I need. This is the
Speaker 3: best prize ever.
Speaker 2: And then of course you won, and you seem genuinely surprised.
Speaker 1: Not you talked earlier, you don't think you're the best actor.
Speaker 1: We see it the Oscars where you do have the
Speaker 1: world's best actors, and there'll be someone and everyone knows
Speaker 1: that that person is going to win that.
Speaker 2: Year, and then they will go, oh, what me. But
Speaker 2: for you, you.
Speaker 1: Genuinely seemed surprised when your name was called last year
Speaker 1: as the winner of Gold, like.
Speaker 4: I was, because to me, I just felt that Hamish
Speaker 4: is just that he's so lovable. Everybody loves Hamish, you know,
Speaker 4: and he'd won it so many years in a row.
Speaker 4: And I think that's the other thing too. You know,
Speaker 4: sometimes you get winners, multiple winners, they win over a
Speaker 4: couple of years, and like I said, just to be
Speaker 4: nominated in that group of people, I can't even explain
Speaker 4: what that is like too, because you know, somebody like
Speaker 4: Sean Mcaloff, who I think is a genius, I don't
Speaker 4: even feel worthy of being in the same group as
Speaker 4: someone like Sean Mcaliff, you know, so, And whether that
Speaker 4: is imposter syndrome or or I don't think it is.
Speaker 3: I just think.
Speaker 4: There are some very, very talented people out there, and
Speaker 4: sometimes it's weird to be included in that group.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I was shocked. I was.
Speaker 4: I was also slightly delirious because I've been going since
Speaker 4: about eight in the morning, because we've done the red
Speaker 4: carpet coverage and we've been shooting rooftop openers, and it
Speaker 4: was by this stage it was like midnight or something.
Speaker 2: They go on a bit, yes, the old logies.
Speaker 3: Yeah, can we tighten that up this year?
Speaker 1: Well, your speech then, your acceptance speech actually made more
Speaker 1: headlines I think than anything else that happened all night.
Speaker 2: You wrote about.
Speaker 3: Italy, how brilliant it was.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a matter of debate. Let's say you did
Speaker 2: write about.
Speaker 1: It later in Stella you said, I've rewridden that acceptance
Speaker 1: speech in my head over and over again ever since.
Speaker 2: To recap for people. You made a joke about Hamish.
Speaker 1: You've mentioned fellow Gold LOGI nominee Hamish Blake, and.
Speaker 4: I've joked with Hamish. Hamish and I have the same agent,
Speaker 4: Mark Clemens. He's here tonight and I said to him,
Speaker 4: I said, Mark, who did you vote for? Put him
Speaker 4: on the spot, and he was like, well, sonya, I
Speaker 4: think people are a little over Hamish and I went, no, Ma,
Speaker 4: surely not no, he's he's the odds on favorite.
Speaker 3: To win, and he went no.
Speaker 4: And frankly, I'm secretly hoping he'll leave the age and
Speaker 4: see so I can concentrate all of my efforts on you, Sonya.
Speaker 3: I'm just kidding. Obviously Mark did not say that. I'm paraphrasing.
Speaker 2: It was perceived to fall flat.
Speaker 4: Hamish and I have the same manager, and he was
Speaker 4: sitting next to Hamish and I put Mark on the
Speaker 4: spot earlier in the day.
Speaker 3: I said, who did you vote for? And we'd like to.
Speaker 1: Tease Mark quite a bit, Oh, I'm sure, having Sonya.
Speaker 4: And and we we've pranked him, we've teased him, we've
Speaker 4: done all sorts of things to him, and so I
Speaker 4: thought it would be funny to say, you know, frankly, Hamish,
Speaker 4: Mark didn't vote for you. He voted for me, and
Speaker 4: just between you and me, he's lost interest in you,
Speaker 4: like it might be best to find another agent.
Speaker 3: That was where I was going.
Speaker 4: But I think the audience was very tired and my
Speaker 4: delivery wasn't brilliant, So at that point I thought I
Speaker 4: just need to get off this stage now.
Speaker 2: Well, Hamish was a guest on something to talk about
Speaker 2: just a couple of months ago, and we spoke about
Speaker 2: that moment and he said.
Speaker 5: I know she's joking. I don't care for it. I
Speaker 5: didn't care for two seconds at like foolishly or not.
Speaker 5: I'd sometimes take like weeks off Instagram, so I just
Speaker 5: wasn't on social media. Like we finished the night and again,
Speaker 5: love that sonya one. She deserves it. It was great.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I was like, great, we can go home.
Speaker 5: Like I went home. I when cuddled my daughter in
Speaker 5: bed and I was actually sitting there thinking this is
Speaker 5: so nice. This is great. I get to like lie here,
Speaker 5: I don't have to I'm not doing media. I don't
Speaker 5: have to wake up in the morning and do the
Speaker 5: today Like there's again I'm very grateful for the honor
Speaker 5: when it happens, if it ever happens, but there is
Speaker 5: a silver lining to not having to do media in
Speaker 5: the next day. So I was just having a final
Speaker 5: time and then I didn't realize until probably a little
Speaker 5: bit later, like maybe late in the next day, and
Speaker 5: by that stage, like the new cyclic gone and I
Speaker 5: probably should have done the right thing. I was prepaty
Speaker 5: should have posted something and said I don't care about
Speaker 5: this at all, but I just wasn't paying attention to it,
Speaker 5: so unfortunately for something like the blowback happened. And then
Speaker 5: I can't remember she mailed me or I emailed her,
Speaker 5: but I kind of realized late that next day that
Speaker 5: she was copping heat for this, so I think I
Speaker 5: maybe emailed her.
Speaker 4: And these things they play on your mind, and I did,
Speaker 4: and I know Hamish mentioned this too. I send him
Speaker 4: an email the next day or the day after, and
Speaker 4: I just said, look, I hope I didn't offend you,
Speaker 4: that I really was just trying to make a bit
Speaker 4: of a joke about this and tease Mark. And he
Speaker 4: wrote the sweetest email back to me, and that's you
Speaker 4: know why we love Hamish.
Speaker 3: Plus you can give a good speech.
Speaker 2: Did it take the shine off that goal for you?
Speaker 4: I think I was expecting to feel this amazing happiness
Speaker 4: and joy and wanting to drink champagne and just have
Speaker 4: a really good time. But I was beating myself up.
Speaker 4: And this gets back to that concept of we can
Speaker 4: be very hard on ourselves. I think, and no matter
Speaker 4: what anybody else writes, I think I am my own
Speaker 4: worst critic and nothing anyone else wrote could make me
Speaker 4: feel worse than what I'm saying to myself in my
Speaker 4: own head. But luckily for me, you know, I have
Speaker 4: some really fantastic friends and family who started to point
Speaker 4: out a few things to me. They were like, you
Speaker 4: know what, Sonya, in how many years of the logo
Speaker 4: sixty nine to seventy years of the logis there's only
Speaker 4: you know, been sixteen female winners.
Speaker 3: That's an achievement.
Speaker 4: You know, you're one of sixteen women to take home
Speaker 4: the gold LOGI and it's yours and you deserve it.
Speaker 4: And you know, they were kind of pointing out all
Speaker 4: the things that you just mentioned to me, which was
Speaker 4: really lovely, and so yeah, I think it's an interesting thing.
Speaker 4: And I put this in the Stellar article. You know
Speaker 4: it did. It did bother me to the point where
Speaker 4: I spoke to someone about it because I couldn't stop
Speaker 4: berating myself internally. And I spoke to a psychologist who said,
Speaker 4: I don't watch much television, Sonya, but what I want
Speaker 4: you to do is I want you to practice being kind.
Speaker 3: To yourself and practices sort.
Speaker 4: Of kindness you employ with those young men you work
Speaker 4: with on beauty in the geek and I went, oh, you,
Speaker 4: that's Sophie Monk, and.
Speaker 3: You know that put it all in perspective for me.
Speaker 4: For a start, I felt very flattered because she's fifteen
Speaker 4: years younger than me, so thank you, I'll take that. Also,
Speaker 4: he was really embarrassed. This kind of lessened my embarrassment
Speaker 4: for some reason.
Speaker 3: So yeah, there.
Speaker 2: Was still good advice.
Speaker 3: Though I need advice.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the you know you're seeing someone that's getting
Speaker 1: their television shows that they're you know, glamorous, beautiful, blonde
Speaker 1: female host mixed up. But apart from that, it's actually
Speaker 1: still really good advice, isn't it to show yourself a
Speaker 1: bit more compassion?
Speaker 4: And I wish I could promise that if there was
Speaker 4: to be a do over, and I don't expect that
Speaker 4: there will be at all, but if there was, I
Speaker 4: wish I could promise people an amazing speech, but I can't.
Speaker 4: I think I'd have to rely on chat, GPT or
Speaker 4: something to write it.
Speaker 2: And coming up Sonya on what being a mother of
Speaker 2: a nine.
Speaker 1: Year old is really like, I wanted to ask you
Speaker 1: about something else that you referred to in your columns,
Speaker 1: which is motherhood. You mentioned Maggie, your daughter, who is
Speaker 1: now nine. You write about her in a really self deprecating,
Speaker 1: refreshing but genuinely lovely way. It's very Sonya Krueger approach
Speaker 1: at nine? How is that age? And how is your
Speaker 1: relationship with Maggie evolving as she's nearing double digits?
Speaker 3: I know, I know, nine and a half. It's crazy.
Speaker 3: She's obsessed with skincare, like most nine and a half.
Speaker 2: Year olds are now at the moment, aren't they.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really she makes me feel like, you know,
Speaker 4: I don't know what I'm doing at all, and she
Speaker 4: questions me about you know, what cleans are amusing? And
Speaker 4: so shift the shift between when they are you know,
Speaker 4: your babies to starting school and then the development from
Speaker 4: there is pretty rapid fire, isn't it for parents?
Speaker 1: Happens so quickly? I mean, I know it's a cliche,
Speaker 1: but it does. You really see it?
Speaker 3: You do?
Speaker 2: It's a whole other era. Most with every birthday.
Speaker 4: And what part of me, you know, I look back
Speaker 4: at photos like every mum and go.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, look at her. There she was four
Speaker 3: and she was just a baby.
Speaker 4: I also love the fact that now she and I
Speaker 4: can spend time just hanging out. You know, we'll have
Speaker 4: these amazing conversations and.
Speaker 3: Just her curiosity about life in general.
Speaker 4: And I remember nine specifically because it was when I
Speaker 4: discovered ballroom dancing. And I think at the age of
Speaker 4: nine and ten, you really start to find the things
Speaker 4: that you'd love and the things you're passionate about. And
Speaker 4: so I really want her to be passionate about tennis
Speaker 4: because I want to do circuit right.
Speaker 2: Is she no cooperating? No?
Speaker 4: No, I mean I'd like to go to Roland Garrison
Speaker 4: do the Grand Slam circuit.
Speaker 3: But she's not. She's not.
Speaker 2: Maggie's not falling, She's not picking up what I'm putting down. No,
Speaker 2: is there a plan? B?
Speaker 3: Well, good question.
Speaker 4: Strangely enough, Maggie is a very expressive person, and I
Speaker 4: feel she she's.
Speaker 3: Got this natural of dramatic ability. I didn't have that.
Speaker 4: I was a terrible actor, hence c strictly ballroom. But
Speaker 4: she actually has this really strong dramatic vibe. And I
Speaker 4: probably wouldn't advise her to become an actor because I
Speaker 4: think there's not a lot of job security there. It's
Speaker 4: often fraught within security. You know, she'd be better off
Speaker 4: probably going and doing a communications degree and becoming a journalist.
Speaker 4: She might she might have a bit more.
Speaker 2: Solid Wow, maybe stick with skin care. Maybe she could
Speaker 2: become a science.
Speaker 4: Or another profession lord, a dentist, you know, a doctor something. Yeah,
Speaker 4: maybe actually say lives that would be great. But yes,
Speaker 4: kids they find their own passion at that age, so
Speaker 4: I'm really kind of interested to see what that might be.
Speaker 4: I was joking, semi joking about the tennis thing.
Speaker 1: You felt pregnant with Maggie when you were forty eight. Now,
Speaker 1: unlike some celebrity pregnancies, you were very open from the
Speaker 1: outset about the challenges that can come with conceiving at
Speaker 1: that age. Was that a conscious decision for you in
Speaker 1: being so transparent, not wanting to pedal false hope to
Speaker 1: other women.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to mislead any other women out there
Speaker 4: and have them think, oh, it's a miracle. You know
Speaker 4: this happened, you know, absolutely naturally and there was no
Speaker 4: scientific intervention here, because I feel like that kind of
Speaker 4: happened to me. And maybe if I'd known that a
Speaker 4: little bit earlier, wouldn't have waited so long. I would
Speaker 4: have taken other steps. Now, the brilliant thing is women
Speaker 4: can freeze their eggs. That option wasn't available for me
Speaker 4: at that time. So my advice to a lot of
Speaker 4: women out there is, if you do want to kind
Speaker 4: of you know, have some security later in life to
Speaker 4: know that you can fell pregnant, just just freeze your
Speaker 4: eggs now. Do it now if you can. And also
Speaker 4: for those of us who couldn't do that or didn't
Speaker 4: have that option, to normalize the fact that families come
Speaker 4: in all different shapes and sizes, and whether your baby
Speaker 4: is adopted, you know, whether it's a blended family. No
Speaker 4: matter what it is, it's still your family, and it
Speaker 4: doesn't change the amount of love that you have in
Speaker 4: your heart.
Speaker 1: I think it was really generous and important of you
Speaker 1: to be upfront about it.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: I've actually had a lot of women over the years
Speaker 4: thank me because they've gone on to have their own
Speaker 4: families as a result of reading about my story, and
Speaker 4: I think if I've managed to help somebody else, that
Speaker 4: makes me feel good. The flip side of it is,
Speaker 4: it is very much up to the individual, and I
Speaker 4: think if somebody wanted and chose to keep that private,
Speaker 4: I think they should be totally.
Speaker 3: Entitled to do that.
Speaker 1: Maggie was born in twenty fifteen. You've also referenced a
Speaker 1: couple of times in your columns in a really beautiful
Speaker 1: way your beloved father, Adrian, who passed away that same year.
Speaker 1: It's a big question, Sonya, and I understand if you'd
Speaker 1: rather also not get into it, but can I ask
Speaker 1: you about navigating those twin experiences of new life your
Speaker 1: much long for daughter and then grief losing your much
Speaker 1: love father within such a close period of one another.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not easy. I mean, I think the loss
Speaker 4: of a parent is always it's a really devastating thing
Speaker 4: to have to go through, and we all have to
Speaker 4: go through it.
Speaker 3: This is the crazy part about it.
Speaker 4: And somebody said to me once, it's like you become
Speaker 4: part of this club of people who've lost their dads,
Speaker 4: and only other people who've lost their dads understand what
Speaker 4: that feels like. Yeah, and luckily Mom is still alive.
Speaker 4: So you know, my mother's genes stretch well into the
Speaker 4: nineties and the hundred, so I'm hoping Mom's going to
Speaker 4: be around for quite a bit longer. Dad was a
Speaker 4: little bit on borrowed time. He'd been sick for about
Speaker 4: eight years, so we kind of knew that it was coming.
Speaker 4: And in a way, I feel like he held on
Speaker 4: to meet Maggie. I think he really wanted me to
Speaker 4: have a child. And that makes me so emotional actually
Speaker 4: even even talking about it, because I don't feel like
Speaker 4: he's gone. I feel like he's still watching over of course.
Speaker 2: And he would be.
Speaker 1: It is so lovely that he knew that what he
Speaker 1: longed for you had happened. Yeah, we talked a little
Speaker 1: bit about Maggie and you know, jokes aside what she
Speaker 1: might come to do when she's older. For a mother
Speaker 1: of a daughter, I'm a mother of two sons, by
Speaker 1: the way, so I don't have this experience. What would
Speaker 1: you hope for her in the world that you didn't
Speaker 1: have she grows through her twenties and thirties.
Speaker 4: It's very important for me to make sure that Maggie
Speaker 4: understands the power of independence, and I think for women
Speaker 4: in general, it's integral to our security. And you know,
Speaker 4: we can be married, we can be in relationships. Sometimes
Speaker 4: those things don't last, and I see all too often
Speaker 4: women who end up in a situation where they're financially compromised,
Speaker 4: and this can.
Speaker 3: Lead to all sorts of stress.
Speaker 4: And that internal leads to health issues, and that really
Speaker 4: concerns me. So for me, I really would like to
Speaker 4: instill in her the importance of being financially and emotionally independent.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to find the right words.
Speaker 4: For this, because I would like for her to be
Speaker 4: confident enough to call out a situation if she didn't
Speaker 4: feel comfortable. And I think that's the thing. Maybe when
Speaker 4: I was growing up, you kind of just sort of,
Speaker 4: you know, it was less talked about, I guess, And
Speaker 4: the fact that we're even having these conversations now is
Speaker 4: a good thing, because if you don't feel comfortable, you
Speaker 4: need to be able to verbalize it, and you need
Speaker 4: to be able to verbalize it at the highest level.
Speaker 4: And so I want her to always feel that she
Speaker 4: can come to me or speak up if there is
Speaker 4: something that she doesn't.
Speaker 3: Feel right about.
Speaker 4: So those kinds of things I think bring to young
Speaker 4: women a certain agency, and that's what I would like
Speaker 4: to see going forward.
Speaker 1: Something else I think that we talk about a lot
Speaker 1: at Stella and here on something to talk about that
Speaker 1: a lot of my guest feel is getting better for
Speaker 1: women is the visibility of women in all walks of life,
Speaker 1: but particularly in pop culture in Shock Horror over forty,
Speaker 1: because there was a time really not that long ago,
Speaker 1: when you know, you were like, oh, well she's had
Speaker 1: a baby.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, good luck that you had a good career.
Speaker 2: Off you go.
Speaker 1: Just turned thirty now, so should be moving behind the
Speaker 1: scenes now. So I have published multiple covers of you
Speaker 1: in my time as a magazine editor in chief, most
Speaker 1: of them at Stella, but one for instance, at Body
Speaker 1: and Soul a few years ago, where we answered the
Speaker 1: question where honestly, people were asking, how is Sonya Krueger
Speaker 1: so ageless?
Speaker 2: We've talked a little.
Speaker 1: Bit about the responsibility fair and unfair, that sits on
Speaker 1: women in the spotlight to help change these conversations the
Speaker 1: way that you did around being candid about issues of infertility,
Speaker 1: IVF struggles.
Speaker 2: Egg donation.
Speaker 1: Are you aware of what a beacon you've been for
Speaker 1: so many Australian women.
Speaker 2: About honestly defying age.
Speaker 4: No, but that's lovely, thank you. I mean, it's just
Speaker 4: you know what I'm stuck on. It's the word beacon
Speaker 4: because when I was a teenager and I'd hang out
Speaker 4: at the beach with my friends on the Gold Coast.
Speaker 3: My hair was white blonde from being in the surf
Speaker 3: all the time, and I was very tanned because we
Speaker 3: did not have the whole kind of we weren't across
Speaker 3: the whole sun protection issue. And they used to call
Speaker 3: me the.
Speaker 1: Beacon because I think because like I literally was glowing.
Speaker 2: No, so whilightlight triggered.
Speaker 3: Let's just try to don't dig those photos.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no, no, that's all right, but no,
Speaker 4: that's it's a massive compliment. They also see me after
Speaker 4: I've been through a fairly lengthy process with hair and makeup,
Speaker 4: and I certainly don't look like the way I look
Speaker 4: on television first thing in the morning at all.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's all spoken miras to a degree, because
Speaker 1: we live in the Instagram filterage where everyone.
Speaker 2: Has got capacity to that.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I'm sure we talked about Maggie and
Speaker 1: that generation being into skincare. We also know by the
Speaker 1: time they're doing the year ten and Year twelve formals,
Speaker 1: they may all be getting ready for the Oscars. So
Speaker 1: it's not though as though everyone isn't playing around with that.
Speaker 4: But I can I just say, I feel it's more attitude.
Speaker 4: I feel it's more internal than external, because you and
Speaker 4: I both know people who are probably younger than us,
Speaker 4: who come across as being more I want to say serious, responsible,
Speaker 4: not those words, but do you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Probably honestly, at times I look at myself and I'm
Speaker 4: kind of like, Sonya, you need to grow up, you
Speaker 4: really do. I still feel the same way I felt
Speaker 4: when I was, you know, twenty five. So the question
Speaker 4: of optimism and pessimism comes into it. I've always been
Speaker 4: in a glass half full person. I've always been very
Speaker 4: optimistic about life, and I think.
Speaker 3: Those sorts of attitudes will keep.
Speaker 4: You young really, and a curiosity having fun, laughing with
Speaker 4: your friends, having a good time, you know that old saying.
Speaker 4: You know, life's not always a party, so you might
Speaker 4: as well dance while you're there.
Speaker 3: It's all of that.
Speaker 4: I think that really keeps us young, our attitude and
Speaker 4: less so, you know, we can work on the other
Speaker 4: aspects of it, but really, if you're like my dad
Speaker 4: was eighty, but he was when he died, but he
Speaker 4: was still had that twinkle in his eye and was
Speaker 4: very young at heart.
Speaker 1: Also, of course, we're living longer, so where in our careers,
Speaker 1: in our personal life, you have people starting new jobs
Speaker 1: at a time where it was like, oh that that
Speaker 1: ship has sailed.
Speaker 2: We don't accept that. Now people will.
Speaker 1: Start new relationships, they'll start over, they'll move houses, they'll
Speaker 1: take big risks in their life. Were not accepting male
Speaker 1: or female that we have to pack up. And I
Speaker 1: think that's part of what this whole wider cultural thing.
Speaker 1: So I actually really agree with you. I think, yes,
Speaker 1: of course, you know we're not being disingenuous. We know
Speaker 1: there's a physical component to these conversations. But I do
Speaker 1: think so much of it is just actually thinking, well,
Speaker 1: why do I have to quote unquote grow up?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well true, true, or grow old? And I think,
Speaker 4: you know, inevitably we do, but it's we have to
Speaker 4: choose how we want to age, I suppose, And I
Speaker 4: guess you know the fact that in our fifties we
Speaker 4: do tend to have this rebirth where were all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, you know, we're not going out clubbing, we're
Speaker 4: certainly not doing that. We're probably doing a bit of exercise,
Speaker 4: and we're thinking about what we're.
Speaker 3: Eating, and we're not drinking as much as we used to.
Speaker 4: So I think we do go through a bit of
Speaker 4: a health renaissance, and that that is the other thing.
Speaker 4: When we go through that renaissance, then often we'll go, oh,
Speaker 4: I might work on my look. I might change my hair,
Speaker 4: color up hair, or do something different or try a
Speaker 4: new fashion.
Speaker 3: So yeah, now.
Speaker 4: It's perfectly acceptable to do that, and to not for
Speaker 4: women in particular, I think become invisible with age.
Speaker 2: I think invisible is the keyword, isn't it. It's just
Speaker 2: it's about visibility.
Speaker 1: And as we always say, you can't be what you
Speaker 1: can't see, and we're seeing it, which makes us think
Speaker 1: that work could be it.
Speaker 3: You can't be what you can't see.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about your partner, Craig, because
Speaker 1: you and Craig are not a high profile couple. You're
Speaker 1: obviously one of the most high profile women in the country,
Speaker 1: but you have never been on red carpets together. You
Speaker 1: don't post about each other on social media. We don't
Speaker 1: see those big, real posts on one another's birthdays, so
Speaker 1: there's no celebrity nickname for you. But of course, in April,
Speaker 1: Craig stepped down as Seven Networks Director of News and
Speaker 1: Public Affairs, which saw his name in the headlines as
Speaker 1: opposed to yours. And I wanted to ask you what
Speaker 1: that experience was like of suddenly as is very private couple,
Speaker 1: having his name out there as well, and what challenges
Speaker 1: if any, that presented for you as a.
Speaker 3: Couple, well as a couple.
Speaker 4: Really no challenge, because I think the one thing that
Speaker 4: Craig has always been for me and I for him
Speaker 4: is rock solid, you know, and in an industry that
Speaker 4: can be a little bit fickle at times, you'd need
Speaker 4: to have someone who you know is in your corner
Speaker 4: and has your back, and we certainly we are that
Speaker 4: person for each other, I guess, you know. The thing
Speaker 4: for Craig, He's had such an incredible career. He started
Speaker 4: as a copy boy on the mirror, you know, he
Speaker 4: worked his way up through the television ranks and really
Speaker 4: climbed the mountain to become like the head of news
Speaker 4: at Channel seven.
Speaker 3: And that is a tough job.
Speaker 4: It's a really really difficult job for anybody twenty four
Speaker 4: to seven.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of pressure. There's a lot of stress
Speaker 3: that I think as an individual you absorb a lot
Speaker 3: of And the thing I.
Speaker 4: Love about Craig as a boss that when he decided
Speaker 4: to resign and step down the messages of support that
Speaker 4: he got from his staff were so beautiful, and there
Speaker 4: were handwritten notes and cards, and I had phone calls
Speaker 4: from people, you know, And I think the thing is
Speaker 4: that Craig, you know, for a few years now, he's
Speaker 4: been saying to me, you know, he kind of he's
Speaker 4: not ready to retire, but he, I think needed to
Speaker 4: step back from such a demanding job, especially when we
Speaker 4: have a child who's nine and she requires his attention
Speaker 4: to at times, as do I. So it was just
Speaker 4: the timing was right for him to step out, take
Speaker 4: a break. And then I'm excited to see what comes
Speaker 4: next for Craig because he really is and I know
Speaker 4: I'm biased, but he really is one of the best
Speaker 4: in the business. He's had such a huge wealth of experience.
Speaker 4: He's been one of the you know, fairest fairest bosses,
Speaker 4: and he was my boss for a time there. He
Speaker 4: was tough, but very fair, and I think, you know,
Speaker 4: has you know, an amazing amount of integrity and a
Speaker 4: very very high ethical bar. So you know, I know
Speaker 4: that there'll be something, something fun that comes for Craig
Speaker 4: where he can actually maybe indulge a passion even which
Speaker 4: is sport so who knows.
Speaker 3: With Craig, it could be.
Speaker 2: Maybe tennis dad. Do you know maybe maybe.
Speaker 1: I think he's a bit more NRL and cricket right, Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe he should get into ten My final question,
Speaker 1: I actually wanted to go back to nineteen ninety two
Speaker 1: when you tore up the dance floor in a costume
Speaker 1: made of fruit as Tina Sparkles in Strictly Boreroom. Jia
Speaker 1: Corettes was recently in Stella and she told us she
Speaker 1: still gets approached by people. Do you still get approached
Speaker 1: about it?
Speaker 3: You know, it's really funny.
Speaker 4: People have so much affection for the movie, and I
Speaker 4: think it came at a time when Australian film.
Speaker 3: Was really kind of taking off.
Speaker 4: I think we had Muriel sweating Priscilla, Queen of the
Speaker 4: Desert Strictly Ballroom, and we were getting a lot of
Speaker 4: international attention. And it was this little homegrown movie that
Speaker 4: cost you know, a couple of million dollars to make,
Speaker 4: but it had huge international success therefore, and I think
Speaker 4: the story was so heartwarming.
Speaker 3: People really loved all of those characters.
Speaker 4: I read Jea's interview that you did because I love
Speaker 4: hearing from the other cast members to see what their
Speaker 4: experiences are like. In the fact that she was saying,
Speaker 4: would be awesome if Baz did a sequel, and yes,
Speaker 4: I'm all for it too. I think it would be
Speaker 4: a great, a great thing to see, just to just
Speaker 4: to basically catch up with the whole cast.
Speaker 3: You know Stephen Grace, you know the guy who played
Speaker 3: the Little Boy.
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, how he would be obviously a grown man.
Speaker 4: He's a grown man. He's doing Chicago at the moment
Speaker 4: in Sydney. I bumped into him literally on Monday, just gone.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's quite a quite an it's a phenomenon
Speaker 4: that film, I think in terms of Australian culture.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's nice to be. It's still nice to be.
Speaker 4: People sometimes get nervous, like, oh do you not like
Speaker 4: people bringing it up?
Speaker 3: I love it when people bring it up.
Speaker 1: It's nice to have something that is still so loved
Speaker 1: and is a completely uncomplicated, unproblematic part of the cultural landscape. Again,
Speaker 1: let's go back to nineteen ninety two. What advice would
Speaker 1: you give yourself starting off on this fascinating career that's
Speaker 1: gone down all these paths, some that you could never
Speaker 1: predicted as you were saying earlier not to get woo
Speaker 1: woo about it, but moments that you have probably manifested,
Speaker 1: moments that you've stumbled into, and that advice you would
Speaker 1: give yourself, how will that take you into whatever the
Speaker 1: next big adventure is for you?
Speaker 3: You know, I think for me.
Speaker 4: What advice would I give myself? Well, surround yourself with
Speaker 4: the best people you can possibly find, and don't ever
Speaker 4: be afraid I think of doing that.
Speaker 3: I think sometimes people maybe.
Speaker 4: Maybe maybe like because I'm a bit of a collaborator
Speaker 4: though when I work, I like to work with other people.
Speaker 4: I like to brainstorm ideas. I like to know that
Speaker 4: you know that this person is a great writer, or
Speaker 4: this person is fantastic with hair and makeup, and this
Speaker 4: person knows how to lighter shoine, this cameraman is the
Speaker 4: best in the business.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: Surround yourself with great people and you will automatically be
Speaker 4: elevated with them. And that's obviously something that you can't
Speaker 4: necessarily choose to do. That comes after a period of time.
Speaker 4: I guess where you've been in the business for a
Speaker 4: little bit longer. When you're starting out, find as many
Speaker 4: learn as much as you possibly can, and often work.
Speaker 4: Experienced kids will come to me and they'll say, you know,
Speaker 4: how do I get your job? And I'll say you
Speaker 4: go and start start shooting stories, writing stories, Learn how
Speaker 4: to edit, learn how to write a short form story,
Speaker 4: a longer form story.
Speaker 3: Look at the.
Speaker 4: Pictures, find your own music for the track. Just be
Speaker 4: as creative as you possibly can be. Learn about promos,
Speaker 4: learn about marketing, try and learn as much as you
Speaker 4: can about the business. And I think that will I'll
Speaker 4: take you forward and stand you in good stead, because
Speaker 4: it's not enough these days to just kind of be
Speaker 4: a presenter.
Speaker 3: You can't.
Speaker 4: That's just a very one dimensional way to look at it.
Speaker 4: So be multi dimensional.
Speaker 2: Multi dimensional.
Speaker 1: I love it sounds like you've always been multi dimensional though,
Speaker 1: like I said, I didn't know that you were someone
Speaker 1: that really helped galvanize a few people at the network
Speaker 1: to have that entity they had in Dancing with the
Speaker 1: Stars and actually get it on air on two thousand
Speaker 1: and four.
Speaker 2: I mean multi dimensional work there.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Sarah.
Speaker 1: Sonya Krugad, Thank you so much for coming into the
Speaker 1: studio to talk to me today. It's been really lovely
Speaker 1: to speak to you.
Speaker 3: Lovely to talk to you too, And.
Speaker 4: I hope you'll be able to make something of this
Speaker 4: that's slightly better than my Logi's speech.
Speaker 1: Well, I was going to say good luck at the logis,
Speaker 1: because whatever happens, I cannot wait to watch. Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars. Premiere is Sunday, July seven on Channel seven
Speaker 1: and seven plus. And if you've enjoyed this episode, then
Speaker 1: make sure you're following us because I'll be back with
Speaker 1: another exclusive guest, maybe even two. Now there's a big
Speaker 1: hint on something to talk about next week.