TV COMEDY QUEEN DENISE DRYSDALE ‘IT’S GREAT TO BE LOVING LIFE AGAIN’
Diding Ddong iis outt off ththe ddoldrums,ld andd it’it’s thanks to a special new man in her life!
After enduring a “year from hell” that left her uncharacteristically despondent and depressed, Denise Drysdale is back in top form. She’s regained her zany sense of humour and has a new lust for life – all thanks to a certain little man she calls Mr DD.
“The old Ding Dong is back with gusto, and it’s great to be genuinely smiling again,” says the two-time Gold Logie-winning legend, cuddling up to the pup she’s fallen head-over-heels in love with.
RUN OF BAD LUCK
Denise’s epic run of misfortune began in September 2018.
“I’d been on a Caribbean cruise and was staying in Miami,” says the 71-year-old. “What I didn’t realise is the hotel bed was especially high, and so getting out of bed one morning I came down very heavy on the floor, and did my knee in.
“The pain was excruciating, and for the rest of the trip I was being pushed around in a wheelchair. That was the start of my annus horribilis.”
Once back home on the Gold Coast, Denise underwent a right knee replacement, which preceded a series of hellish health horrors.
“I wound up with blood clots, then came a nasty staph infection. Somehow, I also managed to detach my retina and couldn’t see. I seriously feared I was going blind.”
Denise was laid up for five months, unable to drive and marooned at her hilltop retreat. “Thank God for an array of talking books I received for Christmas, as that’s what got me through,” she says.
Denise was certain she was losing her sanity, which left her desperately depressed and highly emotional.
“What compounded my depression was the fact I had my heart set on getting a puppy. My beloved Maltese-shih tzu cross Ollie died six years ago. His passing left me bereft. We’d been soulmates for a decade. He’d talk to me and I could honestly understand – that’s how close we were,” she says.
“In 2018, I was about to get a beautiful Havanese. I’d been sent videos, and was so excited. But following my knee surgery, the specialist advised against getting a dog, concerned should I trip over him, I’d land back in hospital. So Mr DD, as I’d planned to name him, was reluctantly relinquished.”
Not that she was without a furry friend. Shortly after Ollie’s death, Denise’s Studio 10 co-host and great mate Jessica Rowe urged her to get a ragdoll cat, which she named Sweetheart.
“I love Sweetheart, but she’s like something from a Stephen King novel. She’s not the sweet, purring affectionate puss I was expecting. She’s feisty, and does her own thing. So, I still had a yearning to expand my fur baby family with a dog.”
Denise says the sunshine returned to her life in mid-2019 when finally she was given the all-clear. Her knee and eye were healing nicely, and she was back at work on Studio 10.
“So, the time was finally right to welcome a new man into my life. I found a newborn Maltese Shih tzu fluffball, and so Mr DD became my Christmas present to myself,” she says.
“He is absolutely adorable! He’s cheeky, he’s a scamp and so beautiful. He loves going for a buff and fluff at Polished Pets on the Gold Coast.
BOUNCING BACK
“Mr DD makes me laugh. He’s so full of good energy, and he has truly helped blow those dark doldrums away. And in what is an absolute surprise, following a few early hissy fits, Mr DD and Sweetheart get along famously. He loves eating her cat food to the point where I’m sure he’s about to start meowing.
“Both my sons Peter and Rob, and my two gorgeous grandkids Bodhi and Xavier, have noticed the difference in my demeanour. Mr DD has definitely brought a big, sunny smile back to this old chook’s face... and as they say, it was about bloody time!”
‘Mr DD has brought a big smile to this old chook’s face’