LISA WILKINSON OPENS UP
The TV star sits down with WHO to talk about love, loss and life lessons.
Lately, award-winning journalist Lisa Wilkinson has been making news rather than reporting on it. Sensationally quitting Nine’s Today in October after being denied pay parity with co-host Karl Stefanovic, the veteran editor, broadcaster and social commentator, 58, makes no apologies for knowing her worth. “There were lots of reasons why it was time to make a move, and that was part of it,” she said. “I was very happy that it reignited the conversation, because the gender pay gap is real.”
But joining Ten’s The Project for a rumoured $2.3 million put Wilkinson squarely in the spotlight. Reports of a feud with co-host Carrie Bickmore— comprehensively rubbished by both—amped up the pressure in a tough ratings environment.
Now she’s revelling in her new role—and sleep-ins after 10 years of breakfast Tv—buoyed by support from her husband of 25 years, bestselling author and former Wallabies great Peter Fitzsimons, 56, and their children, Jake, 24, Louis, 22, and Billi, 20. But she tearfully admits the loss of mother Beryl, who died in March aged 89, has led her to re-evaluate life. “It’s a reminder that you only get a certain number of days on this earth,” Wilkinson tells WHO’S Jenny Brown, opening up about family, feminism and finding balance. “Make each day count.”
How are women changing Australian television?
I think you’d be shocked if you went back 30 years to observe who was hosting and reporting on Australian television. It would be very rare to see a woman over the age of 35, but now on most of the
major news and current affairs programs— Four Corners, Insight, 7.30, A Current Affair, obviously The Project, but we’re more 50/50—women are really ruling the airwaves and it’s nice that the balance has finally started to be redressed.
What is the challenge of being a woman on TV?
We still get treated differently when it comes to how we look and what’s expected of us in that department. But if you’re female and you work on Australian TV you just have to work with that and not against that and work out—particularly if you’re a journalist—what actually matters.
What needs to change?
The balance at executive level, the gender balance, is still unequal and … That’s enough.
What do you think of the #Metoo movement?
It’s been a complete game changer, and bizarrely enough we have two serial sexual harassers to thank for that, Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein! And the Harvey Weinsteins of this world can run but no longer hide. Finally women are not only finding a venue and an audience for their stories, they are being listened to and believed. And that’s something that even 12 months ago, we could not have imagined.
Have you ever experienced sexual harassment or discrimination during your career?
I have been incredibly blessed, I think, because I started in magazines working mostly with women. Certainly my immediate bosses were men, but I never had a problem. And then in television— which is notoriously a more sexist arena—i still never had any problems. I think because I had a lot of runs on the board and maybe it was a case of “We won’t mess with her!”
“I am no longer sleep-deprived and that’s made an enormous difference to me”
Did you have any great mentors, starting out?
Ita Buttrose was very kind to me when I was brand new as the editor of Dolly ... As it turned out, her daughter Kate read the magazine and clearly Ita had been casting an eye across it which, you know, as a young magazine editor in the early ’80s, there was no higher compliment. And so I have always watched Ita and the grace and elegance that she has always displayed has been a real lesson to me.
Any up-and-comers you particularly admire?
I’ve always thought sports journalist and presenter Yvonne Sampson did a terrific job, but her recent interview with disgraced NRL star Matthew Lodge was exceptional. As were the entire female team at the desk of the new Fox Sports show League Life, when Yvonne, Lara Pitt, Jess Yates and Hannah Hollis grilled CEO Todd Greenberg over the NRL’S stance on the issue. It was no-holds-barred, and I found myself doing air punches throughout. I’m also a huge Celia Pacquola fan. Anywhere she appears, I’m watching! Has changing your TV roles been invigorating? Completely, because I am no longer sleep-deprived and that’s made an enormous difference to me and everyone in my immediate circle of friends and family. It’s wonderful to be able to get out on the road and do longer-form journalism ... And everyone has been so ridiculously welcoming that I’m just so thrilled I made the change.
Does criticism and scrutiny of your ratings at The Project upset you?
In the end I just want to do good work and the rest will follow. There was always going to be a lot of scrutiny because my change from Channel Nine to Channel 10 drew a couple of headlines and so I expected that. But we’re bedding down particularly The Sunday Project at the moment and working out the best mix for the show and one of the wonderful things about going to The Project is the trust that people have in the journalism ... They trust us in my experience more than any other interview program on Australian television.
That trust must feel like a huge privilege.
You feel an incredible duty of care. And journalists for the most part don’t get a great rap. We sit somewhere around real-estate agents and car salespeople on the list of 100 most or least trusted professions. So the fact so many people see us sitting a bit separate in that area is something we don’t take lightly.
You look amazing, so relaxed and happy.
What’s the secret?
Thank you. I am so tired today! Look, I listened to my sweet mum—every time I say her name I well up, it still catches me—but my sweet mum ... gave me some great advice and that was, stay out of the sun. And I would say above everything else, staying out of the sun has probably done me the biggest favour in terms of ageing. I look after my skin. There’s no kind of magic formula, but I eat healthily, I don’t smoke, I rarely drink, I stay out of the sun and I use good Dr Spiller products. And I now finally get some sleep!
Any other beauty tips?
I married the right person! I think if you have a lot of laughter in your life and you’ve been fortunate enough to have good
people around you, you probably wear that on your face. How do you achieve balance and wellness? All of the above, and I try to get away for one week a year and do a complete detox. I always go to Gwinganna up in the hinterland in Queensland—no phones, no internet, no contact with the outside world, just a lot of fresh air and lying on my back, looking at the sky and thinking. These days we rarely have stillness in our lives.
Was that how you decided to quit Today?
[ Laughs] No, no, it wasn’t. That situation kind of completely looked after itself. I didn’t have to be terribly proactive. That said, I did make some … I made some firm decisions I’m so thrilled I made.
What’s your goal for the rest of 2018 and on?
To do stories I’m really proud of. It’s funny but I’ve never really been a goals person. Life has been really kind to me and I feel blessed by the opportunities that have come my way. If I have any talent at all it’s probably the fact that I’ve been smart enough to recognise opportunities and then work hard and see what evolves.
Is there anything we don’t know about you?
I’m a very frustrated performance artist. I played Maria in The Sound of Music in third class and had huge aspirations of becoming a singer and I was a ballerina until the age of 14. And I still at every opportunity will get on a dance floor, and I’m usually the last to bed. This year I don’t have to get up and host breakfast TV, so God knows what time I’m going to go to bed after the Logies!
Be careful—you’ll end up in gossip columns. Yes, I will! I’m a mother of three and I don’t get to burn up the dance floor very often.
With the kids leaving home, your nest must be almost empty.
Look, on paper we’re empty nesters, but by God, they’re home a lot! They boomerang a lot and we love it when they come home. We miss them terribly. They are all great company and they are all complete individuals. We feel incredibly fortunate to have three such fine young adults to call our kids.
Is there anything that particularly frustrates, angers or inspires you?
That is such a great question! There is something I was talking to Billi about, and I’m not going to do it justice, I ought to write something down. But the whole Instagram age—and I love Instagram, but I make it a really positive space for people who follow me—but I think young women are in a very dangerous space right now and it’s partly the media’s fault, because the women that punch forward in so many spaces these days are not great role models. We don’t see enough good, strong role models for young women.
Thank the lord for women like Turia Pitt and Celeste Barber and those fabulous Australian sportswomen in the AFL and in cricket and in soccer—the Matildas, what fine young women they are! As parents, we have to work hard to make sure those young women are the ones we present to our daughters as role models. I mean, our men’s Australian cricket team ... you know. Our politicians, they’re followers, not leaders.
We have to navigate what is presented to our children in a way you once didn’t have to because people in the headlines were people we really did look up to. But now, if you’re clickbait, that’s what kids see, so it’s never been more important that we are navigating that space for our kids and being proactive. You’ve got to work harder as a parent because the funnel through to our kids’ minds is a hard one to filter.
It must have been a tough time, losing your mother on top of all the Today dramas.
She was 89 so in many ways I’m so grateful to have had her for so long, and my mum was an absolute fighter. For the last 25 years there were about four occasions when we thought we were going to lose her. And they were all different health issues, but she fought on and came back. So we’d got to the point where we actually thought Mum was bulletproof.
I grew up with a homemaker mum, and as proud as I know Mum was of me, she would always worry about, you know, “Are you sure you want to do this? Don’t keep taking on these big challenges!” So I kind of had to assure Mum that it was worth having a go, but she worried about me right to the very end. And in fact, Mum was the first person I went to visit after the whole Today show series of events unfolded, because Mum was really worried that I wasn’t going to be OK.
How are you coping?
Look, I miss her terribly, what can I say? But that’s life ... We’re all walking around with an invisible date on our forehead. And you never know when that date is going to be yours. So it’s just a reminder. Live every day with love and kindness and keep challenging yourself, keep growing.
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‘Young women are in a dangerous space right now’