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"In shock ever since": Aussie TV legend opens up on divorce

<p>Noni Hazelhurst has opened up about her high-profile divorce from actor John Jarratt in 1999, admitting she has "been in shock ever since" the relationship split. </p> <p>The former <em>Play School </em>host, 71, wrote candidly about her former husband in her new memoir <em>Dropping The Mask</em>, sharing the real reason they called off their marriage. </p> <p>Hazelhurst and Jarratt were married for 12 years, from 1987 until 1999, and share two sons together, Charlie, 36, and William, 30. </p> <p>The couple even co-hosted <em>Better Homes and Gardens</em> together, but sadly, the show wound up playing a role in their divorce.</p> <p>“John and I had some wonderful times together – and then we didn’t," Hazlehurst told <em><a href="https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/noni-hazlehurst-ex-husband/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Woman’s Day</a></em> in a new interview.</p> <p>“That’s true of many relationships. They start off full of hope and optimism and, along the way, buried issues come to the surface.”</p> <p>Noni went on to say their relationship started to end when John grew closer to a member of the <em>Better Homes</em> crew, saying “At that moment, I knew the marriage was over.” </p> <p>“We simply wanted different things. I wanted a family. John wanted another woman… The ending of my previous relationships had been hard enough, but this was far worse. In some ways, I think I’ve been in shock ever since.”</p> <p>Despite the divorce, Hazlehurst insisted she had no hard feelings toward her ex, saying, “The end result of our marriage was two beautiful children. Whatever happened can’t negate the joy they’ve brought me.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram / news.com.au</em></p>

Relationships

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Better Homes & Gardens host selling her prized family hideaway

<p dir="ltr">After downsizing 20 years ago, Noni Hazlehurst looks like she’ll be doing it again after listing her home in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland for sale.</p> <p dir="ltr">The <em>Better Homes &amp; Gardens </em>host was nearing the end of her decade-long stint on the show when she swapped her Blue Mountains property for The Gables in 2002 for $749,000.</p> <p dir="ltr">With her two sons now all grown up, Halelhurst’s Tamborine Mountain property will be going under the hammer next month, as the TV presenter looks for another, smaller place to call home.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m in the downsizing phase of my life again,” the 69-year-old said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“My family is dispersed, as families tend to do, and so it’s got too much, so it’s time.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Since she purchased it 22 years ago, Hazlehurst has put plenty of work into the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home, including updating the kitchen and bathrooms.</p> <p dir="ltr">But, the former <em>Play School</em> presenter said it was the gardens that were a “labour of love”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“There was a tropical garden here already here, but I’ve put in about nine different kinds of magnolias, some huge gardenia bushes, hydrangea and jasmine,” she said.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1f07179d-7fff-4285-6a7e-252eee73fc8d"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“The jacaranda is about to pop, the agapanthus are going nuts, and there are avocado trees and two mulberry trees.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBSRkxNnqJC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBSRkxNnqJC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Noni Hazlehurst (@realnonihazlehurst)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“It has this rich, red volcanic soil here that is just so fertile, you can almost watch things growing. And we get proper seasons and real winters with log fires, and summer rarely gets above 30 [degrees].”</p> <p dir="ltr">Hazlehurst moved from the Blue Mountains with little knowledge of the Gold Coast area and had fallen “in love with the environment” after visiting a nearby friend’s house.</p> <p dir="ltr">Now that she’s looking for a new home, her love for the area means she won’t be looking too far.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’ve always wanted this sort of semi-rural environment, so I’ll try to replicate this but on a smaller scale,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The property itself is described as having an “enchanted forest feel” in <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-tamborine+mountain-140849184" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the listing</a>, hidden partially by the greenery Hazlehurst put her love into.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Downsizing after raising the family here, the owner finds it time to move on, making way for a new generation to enjoy and cherish this beautiful home and garden,” the listing reads.</p> <p dir="ltr">Inside, the house boasts a “library room”, as well as high ceilings, timber floors and lattice windows, and several ornate fireplaces.</p> <p dir="ltr">The house will be auctioned through Ray White Rural at 10.30am on Friday, December 16.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f1d2b7c9-7fff-5a67-588c-6103540f0268"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Ray White / @realnonihazlehurst (Instagram)</em></p>

Real Estate

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Eye-opening new doco tackles Aussie discrimination

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A new three-part series from SBS is taking a look at what Aussies think about disability, obesity and old age - with some shocking revelations about what the population </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">really</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> thinks.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">What Does Australia Think About… </span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">uses a combination of nationwide surveys - conducted with the help of several universities - personal stories and social experiments to show how common discrimination is.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kurt Fearnley, Noni Hazlehurst and Casey Donovan each host one part of the series, where they share their own experiences and the truths and experiences of other Australians.</span></p> <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tG-JFtm3VaU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As well as acting as an eye-opener, the series looks to dispel the myths that lead to the current attitudes we hold.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Premiering on August 18, </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">What Does Australia Think About… </span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">will screen for free on SBS On Demand.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: SBS</span></em></p>

TV

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Marta Dusseldorp prepares to say goodbye to A Place To Call Home: “It will be difficult”

<p>An emotional Marta Dusseldorp, who plays feisty character Sarah Adams on <em>A Place To Call Home</em>, has revealed she has begun preparing to say goodbye to her character and show which has been her life for the past six years.</p> <p>Speaking to <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/a-place-to-call-home-star-looks-forward-to-future-femaledriven-projects/news-story/c6cb90a7492535ff302f6c882e5264bf"><em>Confidential</em></a>, Marta said, “Six seasons is a lot, and like any good book, you have to eventually close it.”</p> <p>Marta and the cast are currently in production filming scenes for the final season of the period drama, which will wrap in the coming weeks.</p> <p>“I don’t think it will hit me until it goes to air because we are still shooting,” the AACTA award winning actress shared.</p> <p>“The ending for me is very definitive and that will be difficult to play,” Marta added.</p> <p><img width="497" height="305" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7819177/screen-shot-2018-06-15-at-25530-pm_497x305.jpg" alt="Screen Shot 2018-06-15 At 2.55.30 Pm"/></p> <p><em>A Place To Call Home</em> debuted on Channel Seven in 2012 but was cancelled after two seasons. Also starring Noni Hazelhurst, Frankie J. Holden and Brett Climo, Foxtel made a deal in 2014 for the show to be produced and aired on its channels SoHo and Showcase.</p> <p>Marta, 45, says her next role will involve spending time creating some “fabulous female-driven projects”.</p> <p>“That’s my plan and my next adventure,” she confirmed.</p> <p>“I’m already onto that. They’re Australian stories for Australian people.”</p> <p>Are you a fan of <em>A Place To Call Home</em>? Will you be sad to see the Aussie period drama come to an end? Tell us in the comments below.</p> <p> </p>

TV

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Good news for shoppers: Millers, Katies and Rivers given last minute lifeline

<p>Fans of Australian clothing outlets Millers, Katies and Rivers have woken up to some good news this morning, with confirmation fashion retailer Noni B will be purchasing the long-suffering chains from Speciality Fashion Group.</p> <p><a href="https://finance.nine.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>9news.com.au reports</strong></em></span></a> the $31 million cash deal will add 823 stores to Noni B’s already busy portfolio of brands including Rockmans, W.Lane and BeMe.</p> <p>Speciality Fashion Group will also lose control of Crossroads and Autograph as part of the deal, but will retail ownership over its last remaining brand, City Chic.</p> <p>Noni B CEO Scott Evans was bullish about the acquisition, saying the five brands had the potential to treble the group’s total annual sales to around $1 billion.</p> <p>"This is another exciting step forward for Noni B Group and represents the acquisition of five well-known and established, iconic Australian brands that are both complementary and highly synergistic to our existing portfolio," said Mr Evans.</p> <p>"With the acquisition of the Specialty Assets, Noni B Group will become one of the pre-eminent woman's apparel retailers in Australia, whilst retaining our solid, focussed market position."</p> <p>The brands purchased by Noni B posted a loss of $6.2 million for the 2017 calendar year, but Mr Evans believes the Noni B Group has the means to turn the brands around.</p> <p>"The businesses we're acquiring are underperforming for a number of reasons. However, we believe our disciplined approach to costs of doing business, combined with our customer focus, will ensure a successful turnaround," said Evans.</p> <p>"One of the key benefits of this merger is that we will be able to quickly achieve a number of savings and efficiencies that we anticipate will result in the acquired portfolio of assets breaking even on an EBITDA basis in FY2019, whilst we work to improve their overall operating performance."</p> <p>Specialty Fashion Group chair Anne McDonald said this deal will give the Group more time to concentrate on developing the City Chic brand.</p> <p>"In a challenging and rapidly changing retail environment, SFH has been successful in building City Chic into a market leader in the attractive plus-size segment of the women's apparel market," said McDonald.</p> <p>"The business has strong cash flow generation and significant future earnings growth potential.</p> <p>"The transaction will provide the funding flexibility, corporate structure and management focus required to realise City Chic's longer term full potential."</p> <p>What are your thoughts?</p>

Beauty & Style

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Noni Hazlehurst opens up: “I felt like a disappointment to my mum”

<p>Noni Hazlehurst never had the close relationship with her mother Leonie that she craved – and now, thanks to new SBS series <em>Who Do You Think You Are?</em>, she knows why.</p> <p>The series uncovered the trauma Noni’s mother endured during World War II.  At the time, she was living in Liverpool in the UK, looking after her baby son Cameron while her husband George was in the army.</p> <p>"She was very good at masking how she really felt and she didn't tell us about what she endured during the war," Noni recalls.</p> <p>"I just felt a lot of regret that she didn't feel like she could open those boxes of trauma and let us have an intimacy that I craved."</p> <p>The actress says she wishes she knew about her mother’s wartime experiences before she passed away.</p> <p>"I just would have loved to have been able to be more empathetic and sympathetic to what she'd endured," she says.</p> <p>"She was very frightened of loud noises, and not knowing what that came from, I didn't understand that about her. I thought she overreacted."</p> <p><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FSBSAustralia%2Fvideos%2F10156273492048686%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p> <p>Noni also believes her mother, who had a career on stage as a young woman, wanted her to go into musical comedy.</p> <p>"I always felt like I was a bit of a disappointment to her," Noni adds.</p> <p>"I think generally she had a real disappointment about what life had dealt her."</p> <p><em>Who Do You Think You Are? begins this Tuesday, 17 April at 7.30pm on SBS. </em></p>

Relationships

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Noni Hazlehurst’s new fight

<p>For years, actress Noni Hazlehurst has advocated for inclusion and equality in the Australian entertainment industry, and with the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements currently sweeping through Hollywood, the <em>A Place to Call Home </em>star hopes things will finally begin to change Down Under, too.</p> <p>Speaking to <a href="https://au.be.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/a/39495443/noni-hazlehurst-on-inclusion-in-australian-tv-me-too-movement/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Yahoo Be</span></strong></a>, the 64-year-old bemoaned that it’s taken so long to finally see some positive developments.</p> <p>“I’ve been saying this stuff for 30/40 years,” she said. “What’s important to me now is that we move forward.”</p> <p>The comments come two years after her <a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/09/noni-hazelhurst-talks-a-place-to-call-home-and-logies-speech/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">iconic Logies Hall of Fame speech</span></strong></a>, in which she sadly pointed out she was only the second woman to be inducted – something she described as a “reflection of the prevailing zeitgeist”.</p> <p>Hazlehurst praised the renewed push for equality, adding that the internet has been a huge driving force towards change.</p> <p>“The fact that we are getting a platform now through technology and social media to directly connect with people rather than just giving a speech to a small audience, it’s gathering pace,” she said.</p> <p>“The fact that we’ve got these platforms now and that they’re resonating is because we know that this is a truth.”</p> <p><em>Image credit: A Place to Call Home</em>.</p>

News

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Noni Hazlehurst opens up about life over 60

<p>She’s been a fixture on our screens for decades, and many of us have grown up with her. Now, Aussie icon Noni Hazlehurst has opened up about all things life and ageing in <a href="https://balancebydeborahhutton.com.au/noni-hazlehurst-getting-older-and-maybe-wiser/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">a candid interview</span></strong></a> with Deborah Hutton.</p> <p>Noni, 63, reveals one of her favourite parts about getting older has been the freedom of no longer caring what others think. “It’s taken too long! As a female brought up in the '50s and '60s, my mother always said, ‘Wear a nice dress and be nice and you’ll get on in life,’” she tells Hutton. “That’s not true. It’s taking away your power.”</p> <p>Looking back on her impressive life and career, Noni says there’s a renewed sense of appreciation that comes with age. “You can reflect on so many things as an older person,” she explains. “Your stories are richer.”</p> <p>But the <a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/09/noni-hazelhurst-talks-a-place-to-call-home-and-logies-speech/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">A Place to Call Home </span></em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">star</span></strong></a> has no plans of retiring any time soon. Whether it’s in front of or behind the camera, she’s ready to take it on. “I love talking to people and I love sharing, and my bottom line is we share more similarities than differences.”</p> <p><a href="https://balancebydeborahhutton.com.au/noni-hazlehurst-getting-older-and-maybe-wiser/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Click here</strong></span></a> to see the full interview and tell us in the comments, do you agree with Noni? What have you found to be the best part about getting older?</p>

Retirement Life

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Noni talks candidly about new season of A Place to Call Home and that Logies speech

<p>Australian television legend Noni Hazlehurst has been a fixture on our screens for over 40 years, and she’s set to return with season four of Foxtel’s popular period drama <em>A Place to Call Home</em>. Over60 spoke to Noni about what’s next for her character, Elizabeth Bligh, her future career plans, and that <a href="/news/news/2016/05/noni-hazlehurst-joins-logies-hall-of-fame/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">incredible speech</span></strong></a> at this year’s Logie Awards.</p> <p><strong>Can you tell us a bit about what’s in store for Elizabeth Bligh in the new season of <em>A Place to Call Home</em>? She’s certainly changed a lot from the woman we met back in season one.</strong></p> <p>I think it’s been a really interesting evolution for Elizabeth Bligh. When [the show] first started people said “Oh, she’s such a bitch,” but I never thought that about her, I always felt she had a lot of secrets that she would do anything to maintain the family’s respectability, the status quo and all the things she was brought up to believe were important.</p> <p>I think as she’s gotten older and she’s realised that she’s on borrowed time, to an extent, and that the family are all up and running, that they’re all going to make their own way and that the world is changing – American influence is starting to come in after the Second World War, the advent of television in 1956 and we started to get a much wider cultural reference – and so she realises that she has to evolve, she wants the family to be happy as themselves.</p> <p><strong>The show has been such a hit not only here but all over the world, what do you think it is about it that resonates with so many people?</strong></p> <p>I think there’s a multiplicity of reasons. I think one of them is that it’s incredibly beautifully done. It’s a world-class standard behind the cameras and in front of the cameras and I think if you pull together a group of people who are that experienced and that talented, then the product is going to be good. And you have people behind it who are willing to put up a decent budget.</p> <p>I think people also like what they perceive to be the respite of it from the crazy world that we live in now, that it does represent a simpler, more respectful, possibly kinder time.</p> <p>But then you also realise that if you scratch the surface, underneath there’s all these racist, homophobic attitudes that were always there but not spoken about so overtly as they are now.</p> <p>Also I think we tend not to know very much about our own history because people are just accessing the information that they want rather than the information that might be useful. And so I think people are genuinely interested to see how far we have or haven’t come on some of these issues.</p> <p>We know from the fans there’s a lot of grandparents and grandchildren who watch the show together and, you know, those conversations are really valuable now, probably because often it can be very difficult to get children to look up and say anything more than “hello”.</p> <p><strong>We’d love to hear about your approach to ageing and how it affects your roles, particularly in <em>A Place to Call Home</em> where you play a matriarch who finds herself face-to-face with all these unprecedented social changes that she’s never had to deal with before.</strong></p> <p>Well it’s better than the alternative! You know, being able to get older [laughs]. Look, I think I’ve never been anyone who’s entertained any thoughts of trying to hold back the years, I can’t see the point – I think you get to the point where you can only play people who’ve had work done.</p> <p>I’m very interested to be one of the few women who’s never lied about their age or never tried to pretend that they’re unbelievably glamourous or better than everybody else. I think that’s one of the joys of ageing, that you do tend to feel a lot more free, not so constrained by what other people might think. Particularly for women, I think that’s an important thing and I would love to help more young women get that knowledge earlier. It’s still very real for a lot of young women, I think, that they feel they have to act and be a certain way to be acceptable.</p> <p>I do think as a society we don’t look after older people very well, certainly they’re not represented on our screens in any great number, but then neither are a lot of other ethnic groups other than white Anglo-Saxons. I think it’s interesting that in most people’s lives there is an older person and it’s up to us to learn their stories.</p> <p>I remember a really sad thing I saw once when one of the original ANZAC soldiers was still alive. He was 104 and a journalist asked him, “what’s the best thing about ANZAC Day, Jack?” and he said, “well, for a couple of weeks every year people don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot.” And I just thought, wow, isn’t that telling that we only think people are worth listening to when they’ve got what we specifically want to know about, otherwise we treat them like idiots. I do think that’s a shame. I think things are changing very slowly. There are some older women now in positions of power which weren’t there before in all kinds of walks of life.</p> <p><strong>You gave a very powerful speech at this year’s Logie Awards, and it’s quite sad that you’re only the second woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In your speech you called it a “reflection of the prevailing zeitgeist.” How do you think that zeitgeist is changing in terms of gender equality, cultural diversity?</strong></p> <p>Oh, I just don’t think it should even be a thing. Marriage equality, any kind of equality, it’s just like, why is it not there? And I think the backlash now of people digging their heels in and saying “no, we don’t want change, it’s going to ruin everything,” I just think, what are you so afraid of? What are we afraid of that we think somehow our lives are going to be compromised if other people have equality? I just don’t get that.</p> <p>I’m very much in favour of putting out the message that, as human beings, we share more similarities than differences. We’re just people, struggling with our day-to-day existence on some level or other. It doesn’t matter if you’re female, black, white, brindle, old, young, you know. We need to look after each other a bit better.</p> <p><strong>What inspired you to use your platform at the Logie Awards to address issues like that?</strong></p> <p>I knew I wouldn’t get a platform like that very often, particularly being an older female in the industry. I didn’t write [the speech] until the morning of the awards, I’d just been trying to think about what to say for weeks and it just came spilling out.</p> <p>I’ve been talking about this sort of stuff for a long time, it was just a plea, really, for looking after kids and giving them some balance. I just thought, I’m so sick and tired of hearing about kids being made to feel anxious and worried about the horrible things going on in the world. You know, the world’s always been a horrible place, if that was your focus, but we didn’t always have the horribleness thrown in our faces 24/7. I think [the speech] had a bit of an impact because people aren’t used to hearing that sort of stuff on TV – real stuff.</p> <p><strong>You’ve had such a long, incredible career. Looking back, what would you say you’re proudest of?</strong></p> <p>Playschool, definitely. It taught me so much, it really did. It taught me not only how to communicate but also how important it is to look after our little kids, and if you get it wrong, beyond that it’s Band-Aids, you know. It gets harder and harder to give good input into children’s lives. Once they hit school, they’re sort of out of your control, really, listening to everyone else but you. So it’s really important that we give them some peace and some gentleness and stuff they can actually cope with.</p> <p><strong>You’ve not only had success in the world of television but also film, theatre and radio. What would you like to do more of in the future, and do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to share with us?</strong></p> <p>I love doing theatre, obviously, because there’s nothing like that live relationship. And I’m actually about to embark on a regional tour of New South Wales and Queensland with a play I did in Victoria and Tassie last year called <em>Mother</em>, which is a one-woman play written for me by Daniel Keene.</p> <p>I’d love to direct more, I directed before my kids were born and realised it’s something you can’t do when you have young kids, so I’d love to do that again. I just want to keep doing work that interests me with people who challenge me and finding stories to tell that are worth telling.</p> <p><em>Season four of </em>A Place to Call Home<em> premieres Sunday, 11th September at 8.30pm on <a href="https://www.foxtel.com.au/watch/a-place-to-call-home.html" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>showcase</strong></span></a>.</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/04/mrs-hughes-talks-about-final-series-of-downton-abbey/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Downton Abbey’s Mrs Hughes tells Over60 what it was like wrapping up season 6</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/01/stars-who-launched-their-careers-on-australian-tv/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stars who launched their careers on Australian TV</span></em></strong></a></p> <p> </p> <p><a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/07/prisoner-where-are-they-now/"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Where are the cast of Prisoner now?</em></span></strong></a></p> <p> </p>

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