‘I ’m very OPEN-MINDED’ (Watch it on 7Flix or stream on 7Plus)
THE FORMER MISS UNIVERSE AUSTRALIA IS HELPING AUSSIES TO LIVE HEALTHIER AND HAPPIER LIVES
Whether you believe in manifesting or not, the story behind Tegan Martin landing her own TV show is kind of uncanny. “Five years ago I was doing a workshop and they were asking us to get really clear on our goals and intentions around what we wanted in our career and in our personal life,” the 29-yearold tells WHO. “I, sort of, answered the question but the person that was teaching the workshop said, ‘I want you to be more specific than that. What is your dream job?’ And so I wrote down, ‘I want to host my own health and wellness show because that’s what I’m most passionate about.’”
So you can imagine Martin’s excitement when she received a phone call last year proposing that very same thing. “I feel really blessed,” she says of her new show, Natural Living with Tegan Martin, which recently premiered on 7Flix and 7Plus. “I’ve been working on it quietly behind the scenes for over a year now, so to see it come to life is quite unreal.”
Here, the former I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! star gives WHO the lowdown on her own health journey and why she’s determined to help other Aussies start theirs.
Congratulations on the new show! Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
I would describe it as a bit of a joyful exploration of what options are available to us in the beauty, health and wellbeing market. It’s basically me setting off on a bit of an adventure. I speak to wellbeing experts and try to draw out the most insightful, informative information for viewers, which hopefully makes them more open-minded as to what else is out there and what could enhance their life. Have you always been so health conscious? Absolutely not [laughs]. I was quite sporty growing up, really into my netball and basketball, and had quite a sporty family. But in terms of what I was eating, it makes me cringe a little bit now. If only I knew what I know now! What kicked off your health journey? I fell ill in my early 20s with an autoimmune condition [Martin has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome], so I had to change my entire diet, which was probably one of the things that was really different moving forward from that point.
What’s your approach to more alternative forms of beauty and wellness practices? I’m very open-minded. In saying that, you know, I use conventional methods as well. I’m not someone who won’t take antibiotics when I need it, I’m very much practical and make decisions as to where I’m at and what I need at the time.
Are there any wellness trends you have personally really loved?
I found my health and even my happiness really improved – so much so that I got one for my family home – with an infrared sauna. It’s just changed everything for me! I feel like I was doing a lot of detoxing over the years, a lot of really strict diets and things that my health experts were encouraging. But when I use the infrared sauna regularly, I honestly feel like my skin is more clear, my mind is more clear and I have more energy. It’s just been a really great health tool for me personally. Do you have any health and wellness tips for those who are just starting out? Start slow! Try not to adopt too many new ways of eating or exercising all at once. I can only speak from a place of someone who had an autoimmune diagnosis and it felt like I was given all of this information and all of these things that I had to do straight away. And it’s really hard to get your head around trying to introduce new things.
Can we expect a second season?
I think there’s so much more that we can explore in the industry of health and wellbeing, and I’m really loving how open-minded people are being about the various options that are out there. There are so many things I tried that I wish I knew about earlier. So giving people the ability to see various products and services that may improve their quality of life is a bit of a gift. I feel really, really blessed to be able to host a show like this!
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More than four decades have passed since Juanita Nielsen disappeared and is presumed to have been murdered. But for her family and friends who are still searching for answers, the time has only intensified their grief.
“The circumstances around Juanita’s death has been a very traumatic event that deeply affected her family,” Peter Rees, author of Killing Juanita, tells WHO. “Not knowing what happened to her really eats away at their soul,” he explains.
Nielsen was just 38 years old when she disappeared on the morning of July 4, 1975, after being lured to meet with a Kings Cross underworld figure at the infamous Carousel Cabaret nightclub. As the publisher of alternative newspaper NOW, Nielsen had been using her platform to campaign against a high-rise development. The construction project involved destroying a row of historic terrace houses on Victoria Street in the inner city, where she lived. Her protests were costing developer Frank Theeman over $3000 a day in interest payments – a staggering sum in the 1970s!
Nielsen was seen entering the club, which was owned by an associate of Theeman’s, for a meeting with manager Eddie Trigg. She was called there under the pretence the Carousel wanted to advertise in her paper.
“Once they had her in that room, they weren’t going to give her a slap on the wrist and ask her to stop,” Rees says. “Juanita was brave and determined and would’ve printed any threats against her in her paper. She was never going to leave that bar alive.”
Though her handbag was found eight days later by the side of a highway leading up to the Blue Mountains, Nielsen was never seen again and her body has never been found. A coronial inquiry in 1983 found she was dead and had “likely been killed”.
While the investigation into the journalist’s disappearance ran cold, police quickly uncovered a plot by Trigg and the club’s barman Shayne Martin-Simmonds to kidnap Nielsen just days before her last known sighting. The attempt failed after Nielsen’s boyfriend David Farrell answered their front door instead of her.
In 1981, Martin-Simmonds was sentenced to two years in prison for the plot. “[Trigg and I] talked about when she came into the room, one of us would be standing there and the other one would come up behind her and just quietly grab her by the arms and maybe put a hand over her mouth or a pillowslip over the head,” he told the police.
Two years later, Trigg pleaded guilty and was given a three-year sentence. “They’re making all this noise over a woman who was nothing but an out-and-out communist. No loss to society at all,” Trigg callously told police of Nielsen.
Despite the kidnap attempts, it remains unbelievable that 46 years later, Nielsen hasn’t been found and no-one has been charged with her disappearance or murder. “Right from the start there was an air of corruption around this case,” Rees explains. In 1994, a parliamentary committee investigating her disappearance did conclude that “corruption” had hampered the investigation.
“Today, it’s hard for us to understand the level of corruption there was within Kings Cross in the ’60s and ’70s and the police involvement,” Rees says. “Police seemed to do everything they could to throw suspicion off the Carousel Club, which should have been declared a crime scene as it was the last place Juanita was seen alive. Instead, they put out theories like her having a history of going missing or being seen hopping into a yellow car, which was all untrue,” he explains.
The NSW government offered a $1 million reward for information about Nielsen’s suspected murder in June. Despite this, Rees believes no-one will ever be held accountable for what really happened to the stylish heiress. “All the major players involved in her kidnapping attempts have died,” he adds.
But for the journalist who has spent decades investigating the case, Rees hopes the reward may lead to new information. “The best we can hope for is getting information that leads to finding her body,” he says. “The family deserves closure.”
By Kylie Walters
(Killing Juanita by Peter Rees is out now)
With a mansion in upstate New York, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have decided to offload their place in the city – putting the stunning penthouse in the Upper West Side on the market for $29 million. The enormous fourbedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom home is located on the top floor of the “white glove, full service” Kenilworth building and offers sweeping city views overlooking Central Park.
Built in 1908, the property looks like a 12th-century English castle. And while the penthouse still has an old-world charm about it, with period details and high ceilings, the actress, 51, and her husband, 76 – who share the same birthday on September 25 – have given it a modern lift with luxe interiors.
Opening straight into a grand foyer, the sunny living room is flanked by a large corner library with two wood-burning fireplaces for those cosy winter nights. A dining room sits at the opposite end and also leads to a chef ’s kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances.
With their other New York abode, a house in Zeta-Jones’ hometown in Wales and a gorgeous Majorca estate, the couple may not be too worried about letting this one go – but they’ll certainly miss that view!
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