Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About the Stella Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah La marquand your host, and every week I
Speaker 1: sit down with some of the biggest names in the
Speaker 1: country because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they
Speaker 1: come to Something to talk about. This is a big
Speaker 1: year for Natalie bar In December, she and her husband
Speaker 1: Andrew will celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: also marks her twenty third year on Sunrise, making her
Speaker 1: Australia's longest serving breakfast television anchor. As a woman who's
Speaker 1: been called quote unquote breakfast TV's greatest survivor, nat has
Speaker 1: woken up with the nation for more than two decades
Speaker 1: or while building a life with her husband and raising
Speaker 1: their two sons. Yet she insists she's much more focused
Speaker 1: on what's coming up on next week's show than on
Speaker 1: celebrating mile stones or pausing to take stock of just
Speaker 1: how far she's come. But in today's episode, I ask
Speaker 1: her to do just that, take a minute or forty
Speaker 1: to reflect on navigating the highs and lows that come
Speaker 1: with both a stable and successful marriage and media career,
Speaker 1: and how she's navigating life as an empty nester. Nat
Speaker 1: also opens up on the unique partnership she's built with
Speaker 1: her work husband Matt Shervington, and shares an update on
Speaker 1: a few of her former on air co hosts, including
Speaker 1: David Kosh and Samantha Armitage. Natalie Barr Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Stellar Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's great to be back, Sarah.
Speaker 1: It's so good to I like you.
Speaker 2: Said, I like the new set. It's cool.
Speaker 1: Oh that's good. I mean that's a high compliment from
Speaker 1: somebody that works in broadcast media. They're quite comfy. It's
Speaker 1: a Friday morning while you and I are sitting here,
Speaker 1: although having said that, you've been up since three am,
Speaker 1: so it probably feels like early evening in your in
Speaker 1: your time zone.
Speaker 3: No one. I'm going through a phase. I often go
Speaker 3: through phases where I can't sleep properly at the moment
Speaker 3: I'm getting up at one thirty, so I just get up.
Speaker 3: I lie there for a while, realize I can't sleep,
Speaker 3: and then I think stuff this, So I just get
Speaker 3: up at one thirty, I have a show and sit
Speaker 3: in the lounge room with my coffee, with my first coffee.
Speaker 1: And on a day like that, when would you start
Speaker 1: to wilt.
Speaker 3: Then if at all I'm right about now Okay, sorry,
Speaker 3: good time and all the good thing.
Speaker 1: We've got the comfy chairs. Then you just go back,
Speaker 1: have a little snooze. It's all good. So one of
Speaker 1: the things that's happened officially, I think since you and
Speaker 1: I last spoke, which was at the beginning of last year,
Speaker 1: is that you have officially now become the longest serving
Speaker 1: anchor on Breakfast TV in Australia twenty three years. You
Speaker 1: have now been on Sunrise. What does that milestone mean
Speaker 1: to you?
Speaker 3: You know, I've never been one to sort of count
Speaker 3: the milestones. I sort of almost feel a bit weird.
Speaker 3: I don't really know why. I'm just one of those
Speaker 3: people who loves still getting up even though it's a
Speaker 3: non godly hour and going in and doing the job.
Speaker 3: I get excited to do this job every single day.
Speaker 3: I get in there and I'm reading papers and talking
Speaker 3: to the producers about what angle we're going to take
Speaker 3: on a story and what questions we should and shouldn't ask,
Speaker 3: And then of course it all changes sometimes when we're
Speaker 3: in the studio and you're in the thick of the
Speaker 3: interview and you're reading trying to read.
Speaker 2: The facial sort of signs of someone. When you're in the.
Speaker 3: Middle of an interview, I don't think of how long
Speaker 3: I've been doing it or how it started. That it
Speaker 3: doesn't really kind of get me going.
Speaker 1: It's a bit like that saying life is what happens
Speaker 1: when you're making other plans.
Speaker 3: Of course, it just happens, I know, And it's nice
Speaker 3: to reflect and then you sort of think, Okay, great,
Speaker 3: and what's in the show on Monday. Let's make it
Speaker 3: the most exciting show we've had for a Monday in
Speaker 3: a while. You just kind of get on with it,
Speaker 3: and I know we're at a great spot in the show.
Speaker 3: Chevo and I a real sweet spot. He's been on
Speaker 3: the show for a couple of years now, and we've
Speaker 3: got lots of exciting things planned for the rest of
Speaker 3: the half of the year, and the producers are working
Speaker 3: on next year. It's just I feel like we're in
Speaker 3: a real flow. So I'm just excited for what's ahead.
Speaker 3: I'm not really looking at what came behind.
Speaker 1: When you and I last sat down, Chervo would have
Speaker 1: been sitting alongside you for about a year. How is
Speaker 1: that dynamic with Chervo has that evolved more. At the
Speaker 1: time you described it as it was going really beautifully,
Speaker 1: but it had been a huge gamble because anyone stepping
Speaker 1: into that chair is a high risk because there's huge
Speaker 1: scrutiny and people will either then observe how they're performing
Speaker 1: in the role, but also how that changes the dynamic
Speaker 1: with everyone else on the show, most importantly of course
Speaker 1: their co host, which is you. So yeah, as we're
Speaker 1: sitting here towards the second half of twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: hours of going with the two of.
Speaker 3: You, fantastic Australia Love Chervo and we just get along
Speaker 3: really well. He knows how to niggle me, I know how.
Speaker 2: To give him hates as well.
Speaker 3: And sometimes during the news I hate to admit it,
Speaker 3: we're actually not listening to some of the news bulletins.
Speaker 3: We're actually trying to whisper to ourselves and either talk
Speaker 3: about what story is coming up or actually have a
Speaker 3: bit of a gossip.
Speaker 2: We just get along really well.
Speaker 3: It's going really really well, so I guess better than
Speaker 3: anyone could have hoped. It's just really really great.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know you and I've talked before about times where
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily be best friends with whoever you're working
Speaker 1: with behind the scenes, all in there, but you just
Speaker 1: get on with it. But what does it add to
Speaker 1: it when there is that genuine friendship that you are
Speaker 1: even chatting during the news no offense to the fabulous
Speaker 1: news presenters, of course, exactly.
Speaker 3: I think. I think it just helps being with someone
Speaker 3: for that long. We sit next to each other for
Speaker 3: a long time. We're on air for nearly four hours,
Speaker 3: five days a week, so it's a long relationship and
Speaker 3: you're sitting we're touching each other, our knees are virtually touching.
Speaker 3: It's a very sort of physically close relationship. And very
Speaker 3: few officers are like that, I guess very few work
Speaker 3: relationships are like that. And then we're presenting to Australia,
Speaker 3: so we get to know each other on a really
Speaker 3: sort of I guess, a deep level, because we get
Speaker 3: to know each other's families and each other's likes and dislikes.
Speaker 3: And when someone's a bit off one day, or when
Speaker 3: someone's you know, on a high one day, or they're
Speaker 3: looking forward to the weekend, or you know they've got
Speaker 3: something coming up, or you kind of know everything that's
Speaker 3: happening in their life.
Speaker 2: You know what not to.
Speaker 3: Mention because they're sort of a bit sensitive about something
Speaker 3: both of us, and it's sort of like a deep
Speaker 3: dive in everyone's life.
Speaker 2: It's a real yin and yang relationship.
Speaker 3: It's sort of like no relationship that you have because
Speaker 3: it's obviously not as close as your family, but it's
Speaker 3: not as far away as any office relationship. So I
Speaker 3: just I love it. I love the fact that we
Speaker 3: can have such a fun work relationship and we can
Speaker 3: share that with the nation as well.
Speaker 1: But it's also I imagine the trust net that's required
Speaker 1: because it's live TV and you've really got to know
Speaker 1: that you've got one another's backs, and if one of
Speaker 1: you is stumbling or not sure that the other one
Speaker 1: will be there, and if the other one's just really
Speaker 1: killing it, that also that person isn't threatened and is
Speaker 1: supporting them. So that trust and that intensity is probably
Speaker 1: what creates that very unique dynamic.
Speaker 3: Do you think you're on a sort of heightened alert
Speaker 3: in that studio and you're on it for nearly four hours,
Speaker 3: so you're really alert to what's happening in front of
Speaker 3: the camera the person that you're interviewing. But you're right,
Speaker 3: you're really alert to whether you think the other person
Speaker 3: wants another question or whether they're being affected personally by
Speaker 3: what's being said, because a lot of the stuff we
Speaker 3: do is quite emotional. You know, there are some really
Speaker 3: sad interviews and you think, oh my goodness, this is
Speaker 3: really striking my co host, or it's really striking me,
Speaker 3: and he can notice when it's affecting me, or vice versa.
Speaker 3: We've had quite a few instances where we've both thought
Speaker 3: the same thing because we've both got teenage kids, and
Speaker 3: I feel like we're on the same plane with a
Speaker 3: lot of those thought processes. When we're interviewing someone where
Speaker 3: they may have lost someone and we both are taking
Speaker 3: it to heart so much, and you can feel the
Speaker 3: energy because we're so close to each other and the heaviness,
Speaker 3: and we're thinking, oh my goodness, this person is you know,
Speaker 3: we're deeply affected by what this person is saying. And
Speaker 3: then we get off air and we both look at
Speaker 3: each other and we've both had tears in our eyes.
Speaker 3: We've definitely had many many moments, and that definitely brings
Speaker 3: you closer together.
Speaker 1: That empathy that you and Chervo both have, I think
Speaker 1: is a really important trait to hold on to all
Speaker 1: the good journals I know have it, despite I think
Speaker 1: assumptions probably that people in the media don't have it.
Speaker 1: The flip side of that, of course, is when we're
Speaker 1: then trying, as you say, you come off air with
Speaker 1: tears in your eyes, and when that spills in. I'm
Speaker 1: reminded of the moment where you did tear up on
Speaker 1: air when you were talking back in the aftermath of
Speaker 1: the Link Cafe siege in twenty fourteen, where Katrina Dawson
Speaker 1: had passed away. Now, that moment is probably the only
Speaker 1: time I remember seeing you visibly emotional on air. How
Speaker 1: did you feel in that moment, because the I know
Speaker 1: it felt I imagine I thought it was a really beautiful,
Speaker 1: heartfelt moment. But would I be wrong to assume that
Speaker 1: you might have felt a bit uncomfortable or hard on
Speaker 1: yourself after it.
Speaker 3: I've actually had many moments since then that I've been
Speaker 3: upset on air, and it's you don't nessar like when
Speaker 3: you've mourned someone who you've lost after the fact, maybe
Speaker 3: a year or two or five years or ten years.
Speaker 3: You don't know when it's going to come at you.
Speaker 3: We've all had that situation and it hits you and
Speaker 3: you think, where did that come from. It wasn't necessarily
Speaker 3: the anniversary. It wasn't necessarily the Mother's Day or the
Speaker 3: Father's Day or Christmas. It was just something and sometimes
Speaker 3: you don't even know why, and it just hits you
Speaker 3: and you can't recover.
Speaker 2: And I've had moments like that.
Speaker 3: On air where you just feel for this person and think,
Speaker 3: I suppose like all of us. I've had many many
Speaker 3: messages where people have written into us and said, oh,
Speaker 3: I was crying in my lune room too when you
Speaker 3: interviewed that mum or that dad or that person who
Speaker 3: lost their brother. Because there are so many awful stories
Speaker 3: in the world, and.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 3: As a journalist, you never want the story to be
Speaker 3: about you. It is not about us. So I feel
Speaker 3: bad when I get upset. But just and Shiv's the same.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we can't help it. It just gets to you.
Speaker 3: We're human too, obviously, and you try and be professional
Speaker 3: because that's the job we have. That sometimes you just
Speaker 3: feel so deeply for these people who've been through this tragic,
Speaker 3: tragic event that you can't help it.
Speaker 1: So in that twenty three years that you've been on
Speaker 1: the show, do you think the expectations of the audience
Speaker 1: have changed in that way.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Look I look back and I think we've always had
Speaker 3: a big laugh Sunrise. There's a lot of old footage
Speaker 3: of us having a laugh. But lately, I think with
Speaker 3: after COVID, with the cost of living crisis, with people
Speaker 3: sort of you know, going through a lot the last
Speaker 3: few years, people tune in and they want the news,
Speaker 3: and we've found that people are coming back to particularly
Speaker 3: Free to Wear at television. You know, the stats are
Speaker 3: showing it, particularly this last year. I think people are
Speaker 3: turning back to us. They want they want respected news,
Speaker 3: and they also want a bit of fun and that's
Speaker 3: what we're giving them. And I suppose like you're sitting
Speaker 3: around a table, you're chatting about you know, world events,
Speaker 3: and once once you get that information, then you can
Speaker 3: sit back and you can relax with a friend. That's
Speaker 3: how it feels. That's I mean, we're laughing amongst ourselves
Speaker 3: and chatting on that desk, and it's almost like the
Speaker 3: audience is part of us. We're not we're in their
Speaker 3: lounge room, but they're sort of in our studio as well.
Speaker 3: That's how we're inviting them in and it's part of
Speaker 3: the chat. And then people DM me all the time
Speaker 3: in my Instagram messages and I chat with them and
Speaker 3: they want to know what top one I'm wearing or
Speaker 3: where the chicken recipe is and I'll find it on
Speaker 3: the website send it to them. It's a conversation. It's
Speaker 3: a community, and I think people You're right, people really
Speaker 3: want to be part of a community. And we've got
Speaker 3: thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are part
Speaker 3: of the Sunrise community and we love that and it's growing.
Speaker 1: When you first started on the show, you knew what
Speaker 1: the audience wanted that. I mean, there's always ratings and
Speaker 1: people would have been still writing in the old school
Speaker 1: mail bag and they wear your post and then the
Speaker 1: email thing with that literal direct line to you. Now,
Speaker 1: I mean people listen to this. I didn't know natcheck
Speaker 1: to DMS. I mean, you might start getting lots of
Speaker 1: now for what you're wearing and recipe recommendations. So hopefully
Speaker 1: you embrace.
Speaker 2: Yourself for that.
Speaker 1: Has your knowledge of the audience increased in that way?
Speaker 1: Do you think because of the era that we're living in,
Speaker 1: the parasocial age?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I have.
Speaker 3: I have really interesting discussion discussions on my DMS. You know,
Speaker 3: even I do sort of like I often do cooking
Speaker 3: segments myself where I find recipes online because I'm not
Speaker 3: a great cook. I'm just like I would say, the
Speaker 3: average Aussie cook. So I get recipes onlines from a
Speaker 3: cook or a chef, and I try and replicate them
Speaker 3: in my kitchen with you know, varying degrees of success,
Speaker 3: often failure. But I just sort of, you know, say
Speaker 3: what the recipe says, and the cook or the chef
Speaker 3: who actually wrote the recipe has not realized, you know,
Speaker 3: what is a dollop supposed to be?
Speaker 2: Or what is it? One to two? Ta spens? Is
Speaker 2: it one or two?
Speaker 3: You know, I try and do exactly what they say,
Speaker 3: and then they probably realize that, you know, the recipe
Speaker 3: is quite and big you us, And then lots of
Speaker 3: people end up writing in and sort of discussing recipes.
Speaker 2: It's what we do every day.
Speaker 3: Girls got to eat, people have got to cook their dinner,
Speaker 3: so we do it all the time, and people want
Speaker 3: to discuss their chicken recipe.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you a little bit in a
Speaker 1: moment about your actual husband, because you know, I know
Speaker 1: you're not counting milestones, but there's one coming up there
Speaker 1: this year. But if I just stay on your on
Speaker 1: screen husband for now, we've spoken about Chervo David Kosh.
Speaker 1: Of course, you work together for so many years, had
Speaker 1: a really close relationship. Now that he's been off the
Speaker 1: show for two years, do you still keep in touch
Speaker 1: with him?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: We do, Yeah, we do.
Speaker 3: We catch up for lunch sometimes and you know, I
Speaker 3: congratulate him on things he's done. We text each other
Speaker 3: and you know, see what the kids, the grandkids are doing. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think when you work with someone for a long time,
Speaker 3: Mel as well talk to Mel, I think, yeah, I
Speaker 3: think you always do that sort of thing when you've
Speaker 3: worked with someone for that long.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just keep in touch. So it's nice.
Speaker 1: Is it interesting to sort of say, well, how is
Speaker 1: it like? How is his sleep routine change?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: What does the day look differently to miss it? Are
Speaker 1: you at home going? Oh? I mean he's still producing
Speaker 1: content range of platform as his male of course, but
Speaker 1: that particular sitting in the living room of Australians for
Speaker 1: more than three hours a day, does that give you
Speaker 1: a bit of an insight into what it would look
Speaker 1: like if you ever leave and also find out him
Speaker 1: from you what it's still like being in the middle
Speaker 1: of it every day.
Speaker 3: I can't think that far down the line because this
Speaker 3: job is so consuming. This job is your life. When
Speaker 3: you're in it, it's your life. There's I mean, I
Speaker 3: sort of, you know. I go to bed at seven
Speaker 3: thirty eight o'clock. I'm up at well, this morning was
Speaker 3: one thirty. Sometimes mostly it's two thirty. My lum is
Speaker 3: set for two forty, but usually I beat it. I'm
Speaker 3: up and turn it off when I'm heading down to
Speaker 3: the bathroom. I'm at my desk at three point thirty.
Speaker 3: I'm down to make up at ten past four. I'm
Speaker 3: in the studio at quarter past five. It's very regimented.
Speaker 3: And then I'm home mid morning. I have a nap
Speaker 3: for an hour in the middle of the day. My
Speaker 3: afternoon is reading news, then making dinner.
Speaker 2: It's pretty all consuming.
Speaker 3: It's so much easier now that I don't have kids,
Speaker 3: you know, little kids that was you know, as you know.
Speaker 2: That is all consuming.
Speaker 3: If you're a working mum particularly, that's really really hard.
Speaker 3: Particularly if you're a single mom or a single parent,
Speaker 3: that's very, very hard. So I couldn't say that it
Speaker 3: was that hard, But now I feel like I can't.
Speaker 3: I can't see past what I'm doing now. I'm sort
Speaker 3: of just trying to live in the moment.
Speaker 1: Obviously, one of your former colleagues, Samantha Armitage, she left
Speaker 1: Channel six. Yeah, and that's of course when you became
Speaker 1: co hosts at four years ago. Now, wow, it doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like that long. Well, I was going to ask
Speaker 1: you about that, but with Sam so she's at nine
Speaker 1: now and there over the summer when you were on break,
Speaker 1: she filled in on the Today Show for a few days,
Speaker 1: which I did ask Carl about earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: But for you, because you were on leave, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw it. But also would
Speaker 1: that have been weird if you had been on air
Speaker 1: and then a former because I know it's a small industry,
Speaker 1: and I know that TV is musical chairs, there's musical chairs,
Speaker 1: and then there's like sitting on your lap musical chairs.
Speaker 1: That would have to be strange if you had been
Speaker 1: on Sunrise and then sam would be on Today at
Speaker 1: the same time, would.
Speaker 2: It or No?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: Because I mean, look, she was really happy to leave,
Speaker 3: and you know she's doing great. She's got a big
Speaker 3: new show coming out. I missed her at the logis
Speaker 3: because I saw shots of her and I didn't run
Speaker 3: into her. She was at one of the tables, I think,
Speaker 3: in just in front of us, so I meant to
Speaker 3: catch up with her, but I'm missed her. So yeah, No,
Speaker 3: I think there's this whole sort of philosophy that everyone
Speaker 3: sort of you know, somehow enemies in the media were
Speaker 3: actually not surprisingly.
Speaker 1: And coming up nat on three decades of marriage and
Speaker 1: the secret that's kept her and Andrew together for thirty years.
Speaker 1: I mentioned I wanted to talk about your actual husband,
Speaker 1: not on air husband, and also milestones. So it's actually
Speaker 1: thirty years this year since you and your husband, Andrew
Speaker 1: were married. Got married in December nineteen ninety five. It
Speaker 1: was what are your memories of that day?
Speaker 3: Wow, I can't believe it's thirty years. We were so young.
Speaker 3: We were twenty seven, yes, many years ago, and it
Speaker 3: was just a great day. We had a beautiful marquis
Speaker 3: that my mum and her friends had decorated, and we
Speaker 3: were living in LA at the time, and we'd come
Speaker 3: back to get married and then we sort of Andrew
Speaker 3: went back to La after then, and I moved back
Speaker 3: to Sydney, so we've had sort of trying to sort
Speaker 3: of coordinate ourselves into one city. It was just a
Speaker 3: beautiful day. We were friends for years before that, so
Speaker 3: we had started as best friends. We'd started our relationship
Speaker 3: as best friends, and we still are. So I feel really,
Speaker 3: really grateful that that's been our relationship. I could not
Speaker 3: have done any of this without him, no one day.
Speaker 1: Have there been times, I imagine he's extremely proud of
Speaker 1: what you have done with your career and the fact
Speaker 1: that you are there twenty three years on in that
Speaker 1: role and it's a tough industry. And you've spoken to
Speaker 1: me and other people in the media in the past
Speaker 1: about the challenges have come along the way, and there
Speaker 1: were times we've been given opportunities that didn't seem like opportunities.
Speaker 1: How has he felt about that, the good times and
Speaker 1: the bad, and for you as well, because I think
Speaker 1: any partnership, any friendship, any marriage thirty years on, even
Speaker 1: just through what the other person is going through professionally,
Speaker 1: is their success, is your success and their hard moments
Speaker 1: you feel those just as much as they are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you live through each other's You know, successes
Speaker 3: and not such good times. You raise a family, you're
Speaker 3: a team, and we've I've always felt like we're a team,
Speaker 3: and I feel really, you know, grateful that we've had
Speaker 3: each other through this time. I feel grateful that we've
Speaker 3: had two beautiful kids through that time, and that, you know,
Speaker 3: we talk to each other several times a day, support
Speaker 3: each other. Every bit of news goes to him first,
Speaker 3: and the same with him me. So yeah, it's a
Speaker 3: wonderful thing to be able to share your life with someone.
Speaker 3: It's a real gift. So I'm very, very thankful.
Speaker 1: It's so nice that you still talk multiple times a day,
Speaker 1: because you don't always hear that in any long term relationship.
Speaker 1: Sometimes even a few years on, people go, oh, well,
Speaker 1: you know, like a bit, I'll talk to them tonight
Speaker 1: or something to have had that I imagine is a
Speaker 1: huge indication of how that relationship has had such longevity.
Speaker 3: Well, he does joke that I do talk a lot,
Speaker 3: and on the weekend sometimes it's like I'm just watching
Speaker 3: the forty. Honey, you're paid to work during you've paid
Speaker 3: to talk during the week.
Speaker 2: You're not paid to talk. Here, maybe a bit of silence.
Speaker 3: So yeah, there's no problem with me talking and cheering.
Speaker 2: He would attest to that.
Speaker 1: As a mum of two boys and they are at
Speaker 1: both at university. Now your sons and they're not living
Speaker 1: at home. But is that also feedback that you got
Speaker 1: from your sons. I mean as a you know, mum
Speaker 1: of two boys myself. Now, I might just be happening
Speaker 1: to ask that for a friend. The observation little less chat.
Speaker 2: A little less chat.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I find that you have to get the message
Speaker 3: in the first sentence, the very first part of the
Speaker 3: first sentence, and I wouldn't be I wouldn't be including
Speaker 3: any key messages in the second sentence.
Speaker 2: Really, I'm not even joking.
Speaker 1: Because by the time you've gotten to the core information
Speaker 1: ten words in eyes have glazed over. Sorry I didn't
Speaker 1: actually hear I'm sorry, I wasn't really listening in the
Speaker 1: later trance.
Speaker 3: Or they've picked up the phone, or they've yeah, they're
Speaker 3: mentally onto something else. And now that I because one's
Speaker 3: in Canberra and one's been in Melbourne. Now I've find
Speaker 3: that they'll be distracted when you're calling them, not all
Speaker 3: the time, and it depends what it is, because they're
Speaker 3: really they are really you know, they're they're actually both
Speaker 3: really good talkers. So strangely enough, they've picked that up
Speaker 3: from somewhere I can't think where. Yeah, but there is
Speaker 3: a moment you can see in the conversation where you
Speaker 3: would probably happily talk for another half hour and this,
Speaker 3: and you can feel it. You're like, Okay, I'd better
Speaker 3: wrap this up. It's basically it's time for a commercial break.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, you're used to that.
Speaker 1: I'm not producer in your Okay, you've got thirty seconds.
Speaker 2: You're like, you can feel right.
Speaker 1: Same when I'm talking. Yeah, the same when I'm talking
Speaker 1: to my sons. So do you? And and you have
Speaker 1: anything planned for the actual thirtieth anniversary in December? And
Speaker 1: I think you recently went to Europe?
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 1: So was that a bit early, just to sort of
Speaker 1: take advantage of the northern Yes summer.
Speaker 3: We hadn't been to Europe for about together for about
Speaker 3: twenty five years since before we have, and we thought
Speaker 3: instead of having a party, we'd like to we'd like
Speaker 3: to go to Europe. So we went for two weeks
Speaker 3: and it was amazing, and we met up with one
Speaker 3: of my sons who was on a UNI break who
Speaker 3: you know. In his couple of semesters, he you know,
Speaker 3: worked at apart and saved his money and he was
Speaker 3: away with his mates. So we met up with him
Speaker 3: for the last few days and flew home with him.
Speaker 3: So he was great. It was so wonderful. I think
Speaker 3: you get so tied up with you know, with your
Speaker 3: life and working and looking after the kids. That yeah,
Speaker 3: we hadn't done anything like that for an awful long time.
Speaker 3: So made us want to definitely try and do more.
Speaker 2: But then you're back at work.
Speaker 1: Your wedding dress do you still have a do you
Speaker 1: like I.
Speaker 3: Do in mum's wardrobe at home in Bumbrey. Yeah, deveil everything.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 3: I loved my wedding dress, even though it's that old. Wow,
Speaker 3: I haven't got it up for a while. Maybe this
Speaker 3: is the year.
Speaker 1: The thirtieth anniversary, I think.
Speaker 3: So you can't believe it's that here, So you really can't.
Speaker 3: That feels like it's someone else saying that.
Speaker 1: When thinking about this cover with you, was looking and
Speaker 1: saw that it was your thirtieth wedding anniversary coming up
Speaker 1: at the end of the year, and suggested from my people,
Speaker 1: spoke to your people.
Speaker 2: I said to my people.
Speaker 1: Can we see if NAT's husband Andrew would be like
Speaker 1: one of the photos with that and good luck with
Speaker 1: that polite, polite decline.
Speaker 2: So it's always a polite decline. He will neverline. It's
Speaker 2: a big night intimate.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about that the relationship because
Speaker 1: obviously some relationships, especially when people have such a familiar
Speaker 1: relationship with you in the format of breakfast TV, is
Speaker 1: so intimate that people feel that they know you. And
Speaker 1: obviously over the years it would have been the chat.
Speaker 1: You know, there's anecdotal chat about family life and your
Speaker 1: husband almost as a supporting character off screen for instance.
Speaker 1: But that aspect of him keeping his life very private
Speaker 1: and the two of you being very private. Has that
Speaker 1: been something that was intentional from you from the start?
Speaker 1: Was that just who you are and that hasn't changed
Speaker 1: And do you think that's affected at all or been
Speaker 1: one of the many, many factors in the longevity of
Speaker 1: the relationship.
Speaker 3: It was something that we decided years ago. Well, he
Speaker 3: was never interested in doing media stuff.
Speaker 2: Photos.
Speaker 3: There's the odd photo when he was I think roped
Speaker 3: in when we may have gone to a premiere. So
Speaker 3: there's the odd photo of him around it's just not
Speaker 3: his bag. We also said no for We also didn't
Speaker 3: want the kids to do photoshots either, and we've been asked,
Speaker 3: like you would have asked, many many times, can we
Speaker 3: do shoots with the kids.
Speaker 2: We also decided very early on we weren't going to
Speaker 2: do stuff with the kids.
Speaker 3: So I think we did one Women's Weekly shoot, and
Speaker 3: you know, one of our kids was over atained and
Speaker 3: the other was nearly iteen, and I think that's the
Speaker 3: only shit we've ever done with the kids. It was
Speaker 3: just a personal preference, and I think everyone just makes
Speaker 3: their own decision, and that was ours that I feel
Speaker 3: like I shared lots of my private life on air.
Speaker 2: I talk a lot about.
Speaker 3: Me and what I'm doing and what I think about things,
Speaker 3: and I have for many, many years. But we kind of,
Speaker 3: I suppose you kind of feel like you need to
Speaker 3: draw the line somewhere, and that's where we personally drew
Speaker 3: the line. So we drew it and we just kept
Speaker 3: it and that was it, and you know, that's our
Speaker 3: little family decision and we're kind of happy with it.
Speaker 1: Last time we spoke, we talked a little bit about
Speaker 1: you and Andrew being empty nesters. Yeah, you kind of
Speaker 1: footloose and fancy free. How does that impact you as
Speaker 1: a couple and as two individuals.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we're getting used to it, because I was.
Speaker 3: You're right, it was a real shock. And since since
Speaker 3: our seconds unmoved out early last year, I've had time.
Speaker 3: I've talked to so many women who've said, Wow, this
Speaker 3: crept up on me. My. You know, even one or
Speaker 3: more children have moved out or they've moved away, and
Speaker 3: I was not prepared for this. And I feel like
Speaker 3: I've not counseled. But I've commiserated with quite a few
Speaker 3: women who were not prepared, and several men actually who
Speaker 3: were just actually a man on the red carpet at
Speaker 3: who I won't name, at the logis and he was like, Wow,
Speaker 3: I'm my wife, and I just so sad one of
Speaker 3: our kids has just moved away, like I did.
Speaker 2: We we just weren't prepared.
Speaker 3: And we just didn't you know, we just didn't expect
Speaker 3: this emotion to happen.
Speaker 2: And we're just wandering around the house. It's just not
Speaker 2: the same.
Speaker 3: I don't know whether so many things have talked about
Speaker 3: now that weren't talked about twenty years ago. Different aspects
Speaker 3: of lives right. And I don't know whether this one
Speaker 3: has talked about the impact it has on you when
Speaker 3: your kids move away, and it's I'm sort of used
Speaker 3: to it now because it's been eighteen months and they
Speaker 3: come back and go away and come back and go
Speaker 3: away a bit, and it's not like they never come
Speaker 3: home to visit. But yeah, I've definitely coming to terms
Speaker 3: with it. And I think as you speak to more people,
Speaker 3: especially older people who've been through it, it's kind of
Speaker 3: an interesting topic to talk to them about and make
Speaker 3: you realize that you know, you're not the only one
Speaker 3: who feels strange.
Speaker 1: I agree. It was a really powerful component of the
Speaker 1: conversation when we last spoken. It's something that people are
Speaker 1: talking about more and more socially and I think in
Speaker 1: the media. But Amanda Kella also was a guest on
Speaker 1: the Stellar podcast last year and that was really emotional
Speaker 1: for her as well. I think it is as that
Speaker 1: person said to you, it can be something that creeps
Speaker 1: up on you and look, this is not this is
Speaker 1: still ahead of me yet. But I do think the
Speaker 1: bittersweet quality of it, because of course, like so many
Speaker 1: other things that we've now normalized, whether it's you know,
Speaker 1: metapause or conversations around mental health. They've always been there.
Speaker 1: We're just now normalizing the conversation. I think that empty
Speaker 1: ness slash free birding is the new frontier because also
Speaker 1: the relationship between children and parents has evolved from what
Speaker 1: it was in previous generations. I mean, I know, of
Speaker 1: course you very close to your mum, were very close
Speaker 1: to your late dad, but a lot of people from
Speaker 1: Gen X and Baby Boomers didn't necessarily have that closeness.
Speaker 1: Once they moved out, it became a bit of sort
Speaker 1: of you know, Christmas and Easter. That close relationship of
Speaker 1: them coming back, I think is meaning that the conversation
Speaker 1: is shifted a little bit for our generation.
Speaker 2: Maybe or they just didn't talk about it.
Speaker 3: I think maybe it was particularly mums. I think they
Speaker 3: just sort of had to go, you know, cry in
Speaker 3: the bathroom, yes, and not vocalize it. So now I
Speaker 3: think because we talk about everything, you know, I think
Speaker 3: it's just something that yeah, I've had I've had quite
Speaker 3: a few conversations, and I think it's just nice to
Speaker 3: chat with other people who are going through it or
Speaker 3: who might be about to go through it, and it's
Speaker 3: you know, it's not the end of the world, but
Speaker 3: it's nice to sort of have support and you want
Speaker 3: your kids. You don't want your kids to be still
Speaker 3: living at home at thirty five, do you.
Speaker 1: Before we wrap up, I just wanted to come a
Speaker 1: bit full circle reflecting on your status as the ultimate
Speaker 1: survivor of this TV. No, you're fifty seven, and as
Speaker 1: I just said, I don't think you look a day
Speaker 1: older than you did when you were in your wedding
Speaker 1: dress in nineteen twenty five. I mean, really, we cover
Speaker 1: Asella today. I mean we look fantastic. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: everyone has to look that fantastic at fifty seven, but
Speaker 1: you do. And I'm not blowing smoke. That's just true.
Speaker 1: I'd love to ask you about how that veteran status.
Speaker 1: And I almost I caught myself there because I was
Speaker 1: going to say, oh, is veteran a loaded word? But
Speaker 1: why is that a loaded word? If I was sitting
Speaker 1: here to Carl, I didn't think that. If I'd said
Speaker 1: to Kyl, you're like the veteran of today, I don't
Speaker 1: think there's any tension around that. He is and he
Speaker 1: inhabits that space with great confidence, and Koshi did as well.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming I'm thinking that because oh, there's a loaded
Speaker 1: dynamic because women are judged differently from an agism perspective,
Speaker 1: just that the Logis. The other day there was that
Speaker 1: joke about the it's still rare to have women over
Speaker 1: sixty on TV, and I'd like to personally think that
Speaker 1: that's come a long long way from where it was ten, fifteen,
Speaker 1: twenty years ago. But I think the fact that it's
Speaker 1: even being used as a punchline at the Logis means
Speaker 1: it's still a thing. What are your thoughts on all
Speaker 1: of that?
Speaker 2: On how long I'm gonna last?
Speaker 1: Even the fact that that would be a conversation if
Speaker 1: I'm saying to you, you're the reigning veteran of Australian
Speaker 1: Breakfast TV. Can you just inhabit and own that or
Speaker 1: do you think, oh, what does that mean? Like is
Speaker 1: she saying that I'm old? Of course I'm not. But
Speaker 1: Carl and Koshi I don't think would have second guessed
Speaker 1: that in any way, And maybe you're not.
Speaker 3: No, I don't think too much about those sort of labels.
Speaker 3: I don't think too much about my age. I just
Speaker 3: I'm just the person who goes into work and does
Speaker 3: my job, and I just I really just try and
Speaker 3: work hard.
Speaker 2: And I.
Speaker 3: Don't think too much about age either. I really don't.
Speaker 3: I mean, I walk in with no makeup on the
Speaker 3: They all see me how I wake up. I scrape
Speaker 3: my hair back with none of these hair pieces and
Speaker 3: no aleshes and no makeup. They see what I look like.
Speaker 3: I'm coming in cold, and then we do we tv
Speaker 3: afy ourselves because that's how it looks better on camera,
Speaker 3: and that's how I present. And then when I do
Speaker 3: my cooking videos, I have no makeup on either. I
Speaker 3: think I'm as advertised. People see me both ways. I'm
Speaker 3: not hiding, so I think, you know, you.
Speaker 2: Just do your best.
Speaker 3: You go in, do your job, work hard, and we'll
Speaker 3: just see what happens, won't we. I've never looked too
Speaker 3: far into the future. The whole time I was reading news,
Speaker 3: people ask me, what's the next step? Where do you
Speaker 3: want to go? What do you want to be? Do
Speaker 3: you want to take over from Mel? Do you want
Speaker 3: to take over from Sam? Every single interview I did,
Speaker 3: I honestly have never looked that far forward, and I
Speaker 3: kind of think that's worked. So I I'm just living
Speaker 3: in the moment. It's a great job and I'm really
Speaker 3: enjoying it, and I honestly can't think too far ahead.
Speaker 2: It's it's for now.
Speaker 1: Do you get annoyed when people like me, like you
Speaker 1: interview people every day? So it's a journal interviewing your journal?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Are you thinking come on and the milestones and this
Speaker 1: and that I'm living my life when you're coming in
Speaker 1: to do an interview like this? Is there a part
Speaker 1: of anything? So that's just not how I think, and
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: Want to go there. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would much rather be asking the question Sarah.
Speaker 3: And you know that I'm not as comfortable on this side,
Speaker 3: so I do get an insight into how everyone else
Speaker 3: feels when I'm doing the interviewing.
Speaker 2: It's not my natural habitat.
Speaker 1: Well, look, thank you for your time and your generously.
Speaker 1: My final question, actually, because it was recently the logis
Speaker 1: was that Lynn McGranger. Of course, yes, one this year
Speaker 1: Lynn was on the Pop cast early this year. Last
Speaker 1: year was Larry MdeR. Larry hasn't been on the Stellar podcasts.
Speaker 1: I don't know how he wanted to logo, but there
Speaker 1: you go, because everyone else that's one the Gold logo
Speaker 1: has been on the Stellar podcast. Heah, exactly, but love
Speaker 1: Larry our Sonia the year before.
Speaker 3: So this.
Speaker 1: My question is, now, when are we going to see
Speaker 1: you up there? Because that's got surely there's got to
Speaker 1: I know you don't like to look into the future,
Speaker 1: but there's surely got to be a gold LOGI.
Speaker 2: Oh god, no, look at you as I say, I
Speaker 2: just rock up and do my job.
Speaker 1: Not thank you for squelching the natural aversion to coming
Speaker 1: and talking about yourself me asking the questions. But it's
Speaker 1: been lovely to talk to you. Congratulations on your upcoming
Speaker 1: thirtieth wedding anniversary to you and Andrew, and congratulations on
Speaker 1: twenty three years.
Speaker 2: Thank you, sun Rise, thanks.
Speaker 1: For having and you of course can see the fab
Speaker 1: Natalie Barr on Sunrise on weekdays on the Seven Network.
Speaker 1: Thanks again, now, thank you, thank you for tuning in today.
Speaker 1: Before you go, we'd love if you take a moment
Speaker 1: to leave a review or send this episode to a friend.
Speaker 1: I'll be back in your ears with another exclusive guest
Speaker 1: next week.