THE STORY OF US
THE FEED CO-HOST AND HER HUSBAND REFLECT ON LIFE SINCE THEIR ANYTHING-BUTHUMDRUM FIRST ENCOUNTER
When it comes to memorable ways to meet your future spouse, you have to hand it to Jan Fran and Al Morrow. For there aren’t many of us who can say we were introduced to the love of our lives “while being chased by a hermit with a chainsaw at a bush doof !” But that, says popular SBS journalist and TV presenter Jan Fran – whose real name is Jeannette Francis – is exactly how she and her comedy film director husband came into each other’s worlds back in September 2013. “We had mutual friends, but I had no idea who Al was,” she says. “We were at this dance party on the Colo River and ended up getting chased by a disgruntled neighbour who was very angered and indignant about the bush doof disturbing the sanctity of the bush. So he actually showed up with a live chainsaw and a three-page manifesto about why it was important to protect and respect the bush. So the hermit had a printer! “When it was happening, it was very full-on, but we now have that manifesto in our house. So love bloomed out of trauma and here we are.” Indeed, Jan Fran, 33, quickly realised she wanted to be with Al “for an uncomfortably long time”. “I would say I knew that within a month,” she smiles. “He’s so funny and so driven and he just gets things done. He’s also really smart and together, as well as being so rational – that’s one of the best qualities about him. And we never fight. We have a system where we put any grievance on what we call ‘The Table’ and then we work it out together.”
Agrees Al: “We have a very open, honest relationship that means we’ve never really had a fight – kinda literally ever. We are both painfully rational people, so any issue is resolved with a frank conversation.”
Engaged 12 months after their first meeting, the couple were married at a winery outside Hobart on Jan. 17, 2015.
“It was a small affair with around 30 guests only,” says Al, 36. “It was a stunning Sunday and we got married in the afternoon sun on the grass, ate a 10-course degustation in the big timber hall and danced to fantastic cheesy classics till late.”
For the past five years, Jan Fran – a regular guest-host of Ten’s The Project – has co-hosted SBS’S popular The Feed, where she delights in making the news funny. “It’s one of the best jobs I’ve had and it’s just a good way of looking at things,” she says. “And every single show, five minutes before we go on air, Al sends me a message that says ‘Break a leg, darling’.”
Life, it seems, is full of love – and, of course, laughter – for the couple who share their Sydney home with their beloved cat Swami.
“He was named after the gentleman with the chainsaw, so he lives on through our cat/son Swami,” laughs Jan Fran. “But I do thank God that I went to that bush doof. It was my real sliding doors moment.”