WEBVTT - Natalie Barr just set a breakfast TV record. But she isn't boasting about it 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:11.280 Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About the Stella Podcast. 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.400 I'm Sarah La marquand your host, and every week I 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.200 sit down with some of the biggest names in the 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:20.040 country because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.919 come to Something to talk about. This is a big 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:27.720 year for Natalie bar In December, she and her husband 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:32.120 Andrew will celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Twenty twenty five 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.960 also marks her twenty third year on Sunrise, making her 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.760 Australia's longest serving breakfast television anchor. As a woman who's 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:45.599 been called quote unquote breakfast TV's greatest survivor, nat has 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.240 woken up with the nation for more than two decades 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.680 or while building a life with her husband and raising 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:56.480 their two sons. Yet she insists she's much more focused 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.040 on what's coming up on next week's show than on 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.400 celebrating mile stones or pausing to take stock of just 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.800 how far she's come. But in today's episode, I ask 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.560 her to do just that, take a minute or forty 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.800 to reflect on navigating the highs and lows that come 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.440 with both a stable and successful marriage and media career, 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.160 and how she's navigating life as an empty nester. Nat 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.120 also opens up on the unique partnership she's built with 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.760 her work husband Matt Shervington, and shares an update on 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.480 a few of her former on air co hosts, including 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.880 David Kosh and Samantha Armitage. Natalie Barr Welcome back to 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:36.960 the Stellar Podcast. 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:38.640 It's great to be back, Sarah. 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:40.160 It's so good to I like you. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.000 Said, I like the new set. It's cool. 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.399 Oh that's good. I mean that's a high compliment from 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.960 somebody that works in broadcast media. They're quite comfy. It's 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.240 a Friday morning while you and I are sitting here, 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.680 although having said that, you've been up since three am, 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.160 so it probably feels like early evening in your in 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:58.160 your time zone. 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.200 No one. I'm going through a phase. I often go 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.800 through phases where I can't sleep properly at the moment 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.120 I'm getting up at one thirty, so I just get up. 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.519 I lie there for a while, realize I can't sleep, 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.040 and then I think stuff this, So I just get 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:12.680 up at one thirty, I have a show and sit 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.079 in the lounge room with my coffee, with my first coffee. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.120 And on a day like that, when would you start 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:17.640 to wilt. 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.640 Then if at all I'm right about now Okay, sorry, 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:23.280 good time and all the good thing. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:25.640 We've got the comfy chairs. Then you just go back, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.840 have a little snooze. It's all good. So one of 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.680 the things that's happened officially, I think since you and 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.240 I last spoke, which was at the beginning of last year, 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.720 is that you have officially now become the longest serving 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:42.400 anchor on Breakfast TV in Australia twenty three years. You 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.320 have now been on Sunrise. What does that milestone mean 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:47.280 to you? 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:49.440 You know, I've never been one to sort of count 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.720 the milestones. I sort of almost feel a bit weird. 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.320 I don't really know why. I'm just one of those 0:02:55.360 --> 0:03:00.720 people who loves still getting up even though it's a 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.839 non godly hour and going in and doing the job. 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.919 I get excited to do this job every single day. 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.920 I get in there and I'm reading papers and talking 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.560 to the producers about what angle we're going to take 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.720 on a story and what questions we should and shouldn't ask, 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.000 And then of course it all changes sometimes when we're 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.200 in the studio and you're in the thick of the 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.160 interview and you're reading trying to read. 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:29.320 The facial sort of signs of someone. When you're in the. 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.480 Middle of an interview, I don't think of how long 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.520 I've been doing it or how it started. That it 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:38.120 doesn't really kind of get me going. 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.160 It's a bit like that saying life is what happens 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:43.640 when you're making other plans. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.400 Of course, it just happens, I know, And it's nice 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.880 to reflect and then you sort of think, Okay, great, 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.840 and what's in the show on Monday. Let's make it 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:56.200 the most exciting show we've had for a Monday in 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:58.360 a while. You just kind of get on with it, 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.120 and I know we're at a great spot in the show. 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:06.840 Chevo and I a real sweet spot. He's been on 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.760 the show for a couple of years now, and we've 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.400 got lots of exciting things planned for the rest of 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.360 the half of the year, and the producers are working 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.520 on next year. It's just I feel like we're in 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:22.200 a real flow. So I'm just excited for what's ahead. 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.640 I'm not really looking at what came behind. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.760 When you and I last sat down, Chervo would have 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:32.039 been sitting alongside you for about a year. How is 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.240 that dynamic with Chervo has that evolved more. At the 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:38.600 time you described it as it was going really beautifully, 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:41.760 but it had been a huge gamble because anyone stepping 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.280 into that chair is a high risk because there's huge 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:50.040 scrutiny and people will either then observe how they're performing 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:52.919 in the role, but also how that changes the dynamic 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.559 with everyone else on the show, most importantly of course 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.760 their co host, which is you. So yeah, as we're 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.159 sitting here towards the second half of twenty twenty five 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:03.520 hours of going with the two of. 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:09.360 You, fantastic Australia Love Chervo and we just get along 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.560 really well. He knows how to niggle me, I know how. 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.040 To give him hates as well. 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.360 And sometimes during the news I hate to admit it, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.440 we're actually not listening to some of the news bulletins. 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.520 We're actually trying to whisper to ourselves and either talk 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.039 about what story is coming up or actually have a 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:27.800 bit of a gossip. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:29.880 We just get along really well. 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.960 It's going really really well, so I guess better than 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.719 anyone could have hoped. It's just really really great. 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:38.240 Yeah. 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.559 I know you and I've talked before about times where 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.600 you don't necessarily be best friends with whoever you're working 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:46.440 with behind the scenes, all in there, but you just 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.120 get on with it. But what does it add to 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.080 it when there is that genuine friendship that you are 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.599 even chatting during the news no offense to the fabulous 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.520 news presenters, of course, exactly. 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:03.240 I think. I think it just helps being with someone 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.560 for that long. We sit next to each other for 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.080 a long time. We're on air for nearly four hours, 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.840 five days a week, so it's a long relationship and 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.360 you're sitting we're touching each other, our knees are virtually touching. 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.239 It's a very sort of physically close relationship. And very 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.160 few officers are like that, I guess very few work 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.719 relationships are like that. And then we're presenting to Australia, 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.400 so we get to know each other on a really 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.280 sort of I guess, a deep level, because we get 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.800 to know each other's families and each other's likes and dislikes. 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.200 And when someone's a bit off one day, or when 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.120 someone's you know, on a high one day, or they're 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:47.800 looking forward to the weekend, or you know they've got 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.360 something coming up, or you kind of know everything that's 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:51.400 happening in their life. 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:52.360 You know what not to. 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.560 Mention because they're sort of a bit sensitive about something 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.480 both of us, and it's sort of like a deep 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.000 dive in everyone's life. 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:04.640 It's a real yin and yang relationship. 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.679 It's sort of like no relationship that you have because 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.920 it's obviously not as close as your family, but it's 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:17.000 not as far away as any office relationship. So I 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.960 just I love it. I love the fact that we 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.880 can have such a fun work relationship and we can 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:25.400 share that with the nation as well. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.520 But it's also I imagine the trust net that's required 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:32.920 because it's live TV and you've really got to know 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.040 that you've got one another's backs, and if one of 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:40.440 you is stumbling or not sure that the other one 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:42.679 will be there, and if the other one's just really 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.800 killing it, that also that person isn't threatened and is 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.760 supporting them. So that trust and that intensity is probably 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.520 what creates that very unique dynamic. 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.360 Do you think you're on a sort of heightened alert 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.080 in that studio and you're on it for nearly four hours, 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.520 so you're really alert to what's happening in front of 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.520 the camera the person that you're interviewing. But you're right, 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.720 you're really alert to whether you think the other person 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.200 wants another question or whether they're being affected personally by 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.400 what's being said, because a lot of the stuff we 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.480 do is quite emotional. You know, there are some really 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:19.440 sad interviews and you think, oh my goodness, this is 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.440 really striking my co host, or it's really striking me, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.520 and he can notice when it's affecting me, or vice versa. 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.840 We've had quite a few instances where we've both thought 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.120 the same thing because we've both got teenage kids, and 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.960 I feel like we're on the same plane with a 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.720 lot of those thought processes. When we're interviewing someone where 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.440 they may have lost someone and we both are taking 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.760 it to heart so much, and you can feel the 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.480 energy because we're so close to each other and the heaviness, 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:55.640 and we're thinking, oh my goodness, this person is you know, 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:59.839 we're deeply affected by what this person is saying. And 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:01.600 then we get off air and we both look at 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.680 each other and we've both had tears in our eyes. 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.200 We've definitely had many many moments, and that definitely brings 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.360 you closer together. 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.480 That empathy that you and Chervo both have, I think 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:19.160 is a really important trait to hold on to all 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.160 the good journals I know have it, despite I think 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:26.679 assumptions probably that people in the media don't have it. 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.480 The flip side of that, of course, is when we're 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:31.560 then trying, as you say, you come off air with 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.480 tears in your eyes, and when that spills in. I'm 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.880 reminded of the moment where you did tear up on 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.120 air when you were talking back in the aftermath of 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:47.240 the Link Cafe siege in twenty fourteen, where Katrina Dawson 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:52.199 had passed away. Now, that moment is probably the only 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:56.679 time I remember seeing you visibly emotional on air. How 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.200 did you feel in that moment, because the I know 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:04.480 it felt I imagine I thought it was a really beautiful, 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.160 heartfelt moment. But would I be wrong to assume that 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.000 you might have felt a bit uncomfortable or hard on 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:12.120 yourself after it. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:19.080 I've actually had many moments since then that I've been 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:24.559 upset on air, and it's you don't nessar like when 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:30.760 you've mourned someone who you've lost after the fact, maybe 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:32.760 a year or two or five years or ten years. 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:34.520 You don't know when it's going to come at you. 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.480 We've all had that situation and it hits you and 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.600 you think, where did that come from. It wasn't necessarily 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:44.760 the anniversary. It wasn't necessarily the Mother's Day or the 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.559 Father's Day or Christmas. It was just something and sometimes 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:50.480 you don't even know why, and it just hits you 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:52.720 and you can't recover. 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:54.800 And I've had moments like that. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.640 On air where you just feel for this person and think, 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:01.720 I suppose like all of us. I've had many many 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.400 messages where people have written into us and said, oh, 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.760 I was crying in my lune room too when you 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.000 interviewed that mum or that dad or that person who 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.720 lost their brother. Because there are so many awful stories 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:15.320 in the world, and. 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:17.400 I think. 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.960 As a journalist, you never want the story to be 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.200 about you. It is not about us. So I feel 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:29.440 bad when I get upset. But just and Shiv's the same. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.920 Sometimes we can't help it. It just gets to you. 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:36.840 We're human too, obviously, and you try and be professional 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:41.080 because that's the job we have. That sometimes you just 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:45.280 feel so deeply for these people who've been through this tragic, 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.920 tragic event that you can't help it. 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.920 So in that twenty three years that you've been on 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.800 the show, do you think the expectations of the audience 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:54.920 have changed in that way. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:55.800 I don't know. 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.199 Look I look back and I think we've always had 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.640 a big laugh Sunrise. There's a lot of old footage 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:07.400 of us having a laugh. But lately, I think with 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.680 after COVID, with the cost of living crisis, with people 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.160 sort of you know, going through a lot the last 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:20.200 few years, people tune in and they want the news, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:26.520 and we've found that people are coming back to particularly 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.480 Free to Wear at television. You know, the stats are 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.000 showing it, particularly this last year. I think people are 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:37.880 turning back to us. They want they want respected news, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.480 and they also want a bit of fun and that's 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.680 what we're giving them. And I suppose like you're sitting 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.760 around a table, you're chatting about you know, world events, 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.640 and once once you get that information, then you can 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.440 sit back and you can relax with a friend. That's 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:58.319 how it feels. That's I mean, we're laughing amongst ourselves 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.440 and chatting on that desk, and it's almost like the 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.840 audience is part of us. We're not we're in their 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.000 lounge room, but they're sort of in our studio as well. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.200 That's how we're inviting them in and it's part of 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.120 the chat. And then people DM me all the time 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.360 in my Instagram messages and I chat with them and 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.240 they want to know what top one I'm wearing or 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:21.680 where the chicken recipe is and I'll find it on 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:26.439 the website send it to them. It's a conversation. It's 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:29.960 a community, and I think people You're right, people really 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.400 want to be part of a community. And we've got 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.960 thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are part 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.360 of the Sunrise community and we love that and it's growing. 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:41.560 When you first started on the show, you knew what 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.880 the audience wanted that. I mean, there's always ratings and 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.480 people would have been still writing in the old school 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.280 mail bag and they wear your post and then the 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:54.480 email thing with that literal direct line to you. Now, 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.360 I mean people listen to this. I didn't know natcheck 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.679 to DMS. I mean, you might start getting lots of 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:04.400 now for what you're wearing and recipe recommendations. So hopefully 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:05.360 you embrace. 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:05.640 Yourself for that. 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.640 Has your knowledge of the audience increased in that way? 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.280 Do you think because of the era that we're living in, 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.040 the parasocial age? 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:16.760 Yeah? 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:17.920 Absolutely, I have. 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:22.440 I have really interesting discussion discussions on my DMS. You know, 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.680 even I do sort of like I often do cooking 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:30.840 segments myself where I find recipes online because I'm not 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.320 a great cook. I'm just like I would say, the 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:37.000 average Aussie cook. So I get recipes onlines from a 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:38.960 cook or a chef, and I try and replicate them 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.920 in my kitchen with you know, varying degrees of success, 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.560 often failure. But I just sort of, you know, say 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.280 what the recipe says, and the cook or the chef 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.200 who actually wrote the recipe has not realized, you know, 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:51.640 what is a dollop supposed to be? 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:53.640 Or what is it? One to two? Ta spens? Is 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:54.240 it one or two? 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.400 You know, I try and do exactly what they say, 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.000 and then they probably realize that, you know, the recipe 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.480 is quite and big you us, And then lots of 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.680 people end up writing in and sort of discussing recipes. 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:06.920 It's what we do every day. 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.000 Girls got to eat, people have got to cook their dinner, 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.040 so we do it all the time, and people want 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:14.840 to discuss their chicken recipe. 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:16.720 I want to ask you a little bit in a 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.320 moment about your actual husband, because you know, I know 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.840 you're not counting milestones, but there's one coming up there 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.480 this year. But if I just stay on your on 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:29.880 screen husband for now, we've spoken about Chervo David Kosh. 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:34.120 Of course, you work together for so many years, had 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.560 a really close relationship. Now that he's been off the 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.000 show for two years, do you still keep in touch 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:40.440 with him? 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:40.800 Yeah? 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.120 We do, Yeah, we do. 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.520 We catch up for lunch sometimes and you know, I 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.680 congratulate him on things he's done. We text each other 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.360 and you know, see what the kids, the grandkids are doing. Yeah. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.320 I think when you work with someone for a long time, 0:15:55.440 --> 0:16:00.160 Mel as well talk to Mel, I think, yeah, I 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:01.880 think you always do that sort of thing when you've 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:03.200 worked with someone for that long. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.000 Yeah, you just keep in touch. So it's nice. 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.800 Is it interesting to sort of say, well, how is 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.280 it like? How is his sleep routine change? 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:12.440 Like? 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.160 What does the day look differently to miss it? Are 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.840 you at home going? Oh? I mean he's still producing 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:23.560 content range of platform as his male of course, but 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:27.480 that particular sitting in the living room of Australians for 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.440 more than three hours a day, does that give you 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.360 a bit of an insight into what it would look 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.800 like if you ever leave and also find out him 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.560 from you what it's still like being in the middle 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:40.400 of it every day. 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.840 I can't think that far down the line because this 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.440 job is so consuming. This job is your life. When 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.920 you're in it, it's your life. There's I mean, I 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:53.640 sort of, you know. I go to bed at seven 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.160 thirty eight o'clock. I'm up at well, this morning was 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.960 one thirty. Sometimes mostly it's two thirty. My lum is 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.920 set for two forty, but usually I beat it. I'm 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.000 up and turn it off when I'm heading down to 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.399 the bathroom. I'm at my desk at three point thirty. 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:09.840 I'm down to make up at ten past four. I'm 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.440 in the studio at quarter past five. It's very regimented. 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.400 And then I'm home mid morning. I have a nap 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.280 for an hour in the middle of the day. My 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.600 afternoon is reading news, then making dinner. 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.440 It's pretty all consuming. 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.520 It's so much easier now that I don't have kids, 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.640 you know, little kids that was you know, as you know. 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:31.920 That is all consuming. 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.480 If you're a working mum particularly, that's really really hard. 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.919 Particularly if you're a single mom or a single parent, 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.000 that's very, very hard. So I couldn't say that it 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:46.400 was that hard, But now I feel like I can't. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.440 I can't see past what I'm doing now. I'm sort 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:50.920 of just trying to live in the moment. 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.240 Obviously, one of your former colleagues, Samantha Armitage, she left 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.439 Channel six. Yeah, and that's of course when you became 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.800 co hosts at four years ago. Now, wow, it doesn't 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.320 feel like that long. Well, I was going to ask 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:08.440 you about that, but with Sam so she's at nine 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.880 now and there over the summer when you were on break, 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.560 she filled in on the Today Show for a few days, 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.640 which I did ask Carl about earlier in the year. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.439 But for you, because you were on leave, I mean, 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.120 I don't know if you saw it. But also would 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.920 that have been weird if you had been on air 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.080 and then a former because I know it's a small industry, 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.640 and I know that TV is musical chairs, there's musical chairs, 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.320 and then there's like sitting on your lap musical chairs. 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.200 That would have to be strange if you had been 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.840 on Sunrise and then sam would be on Today at 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:42.040 the same time, would. 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.240 It or No? 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:44.520 No? 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.640 Because I mean, look, she was really happy to leave, 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:52.639 and you know she's doing great. She's got a big 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:56.000 new show coming out. I missed her at the logis 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.240 because I saw shots of her and I didn't run 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.960 into her. She was at one of the tables, I think, 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:03.399 in just in front of us, so I meant to 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:07.640 catch up with her, but I'm missed her. So yeah, No, 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.119 I think there's this whole sort of philosophy that everyone 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.560 sort of you know, somehow enemies in the media were 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.240 actually not surprisingly. 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:23.080 And coming up nat on three decades of marriage and 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:29.199 the secret that's kept her and Andrew together for thirty years. 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.360 I mentioned I wanted to talk about your actual husband, 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:39.399 not on air husband, and also milestones. So it's actually 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.480 thirty years this year since you and your husband, Andrew 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:47.040 were married. Got married in December nineteen ninety five. It 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.480 was what are your memories of that day? 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.600 Wow, I can't believe it's thirty years. We were so young. 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:03.080 We were twenty seven, yes, many years ago, and it 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.800 was just a great day. We had a beautiful marquis 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.719 that my mum and her friends had decorated, and we 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.359 were living in LA at the time, and we'd come 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.840 back to get married and then we sort of Andrew 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.640 went back to La after then, and I moved back 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.360 to Sydney, so we've had sort of trying to sort 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.919 of coordinate ourselves into one city. It was just a 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:31.720 beautiful day. We were friends for years before that, so 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:35.639 we had started as best friends. We'd started our relationship 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.479 as best friends, and we still are. So I feel really, 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:44.119 really grateful that that's been our relationship. I could not 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.960 have done any of this without him, no one day. 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:52.280 Have there been times, I imagine he's extremely proud of 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:57.240 what you have done with your career and the fact 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:01.239 that you are there twenty three years on in that 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.639 role and it's a tough industry. And you've spoken to 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.119 me and other people in the media in the past 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.280 about the challenges have come along the way, and there 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.439 were times we've been given opportunities that didn't seem like opportunities. 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:17.680