SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE

Learning what really matters As March dawned, Samantha Armytage was hanging by a thread. Having extensively covered the horrific bushfire season, she’d been laid low with a respiratory infection for months. So it was, for the first time in her 20-plus-year career, when the Sunrise presenter finally stopped.

“My body was breaking down and I needed a rest,” she says now of her six-week leave period. “We talk about it all the time; it was time to put it into practice: health is more important than anything else. I wanted to prioritise my life, my health, my private life and happiness over work.”

And so Sam and partner Richard Lavender retreated to their home in the NSW Southern Highlands. As the country went into lockdown in the weeks that followed, it reinforced that message to remember the important things in life.

“I’m a bit of an introvert so it didn’t faze me to isolate,” she tells The Weekly. “But I did reconnect during my downtime with old friends. I might be the only person in Australia who hasn’t been online shopping – I don’t want any more stuff. I want to simplify my life, make my world smaller. I have a wonderful life, a great family, a great group of friends, we all have our health and I don’t need much more.”