Emily spent the past few months cooking up a proposal, and the answer was a resounding yes!
They’ve been dating for nearly nine years and own a house together, so it’s hardly surprising friends of My Kitchen Rules star Emily Cheung and her boyfriend Matt Davenport have been wondering when the two might say “I do”. “It’s hilarious,” Emily, 27, laughs. “Everyone always asks us when we’re going to get married. And I just say, ‘You know every time you ask us that, we’re going to add another year, right?’”
And although the topic often came up in conversation, Emily managed to avoid making any serious plans. “I was having a conversation not long ago with my mum and she’d been asking me whether we might get married soon,” Matt says. “I said, ‘Nah, Mum. She’s not ready yet. When she starts showing me some signs, then I’ll start moving on my plan to propose.’” Little did Matt know that Emily, who along with her sister Carly, 29, became an audience favourite, had other plans.
“I decided to propose,” she explains. “I know, it’s not very traditional but I don’t really do things normally.”Emily got to work organising her dream proposal – complete with a stunning Georg Jensen engagement ring for Matt, 30, and a lavish meal, of course! “We were watching the episode of My Kitchen Rules where we cooked up the seafood platter, and Matt said, ‘You need to make me that!’” says Emily.
For the finishing touch, Emily planned to present Matt with the pet they always dreamed of adopting – a gorgeous Rottweiler puppy. While she had no problem finding the perfect dog, a purebred named Chevy, he wasn’t old enough to leave the litter. “I scoured the shops for a soft toy version,” laughs Emily.
Emily purchased her ring from Temelli Jewellery, Eastland, Victoria.
Read more in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday March 26, 2012.
Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall and Crown Princess Mary were in fits of laughter playing with guns in Denmark yesterday – but they aren’t the only royals who enjoy being armed.
The entire British royal family spends two weeks each year shooting pheasants, Queen Elizabeth wields a ceremonial sword every other week and Harry has served in Afghanistan.
But the royal with the biggest love of weapons appears to be Prince Charles, who can’t stop smiling whether he’s holding a rifle or a paintball gun.
Camilla and Mary played with prop guns on the set of a Danish TV show.
Camilla looked rather odd with a handgun instead of a handbag.
Charles was delighted to experiment with a paintball gun in March 2012.
Queen Elizabeth waves from the gundeck of a tank in 1997.
Charles shooting a rifle in 1978.
Charles with a traditional Japanese Kendo sword in 2008.
Charles and Camilla experiment with a field gun in 2005.
Charles tries his hand at archery in 1999.
Charles fires his handgun to start a race in Sydney in 1985.
Harry was impressed with this tank’s guns in 2010.
The Netherlands’ Prince Philippe looked overwhelmed by this old-fashioned gun in 2006.
Harry on duty in Afghanistan in 2008.
Harry with his beloved ceremonial sword in 2006.
Harry serving in Afghanistan in 2008.
Harry wields a rather less deadly “gun” in 2011.
Prince William engaging in some target practice in Sydney in January 2010.
Queen Elizabeth grasps a ceremonial sword in Exeter in 2002.
“That’s a big one!” Camilla was very impressed by the size of this mortar in 2008.
Monaco’s Prince Albert competing in a pentathlon in 2001.
Charles looks happy with this field gun at a London museum in 2005.
Prince Philip playing with a bow and arrow as a child.
Young royals: Prince William, Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
He has just completed his first solo royal tour, but it seems Prince Harry prefers the company of other royals.
Prince Harry’s brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge moved in with him at Clarence House when they were first married and now Prince Harry is following the pair to Kensington Palace.
A royal rep has confirmed to the Daily Beast that the prince has already secretly moved into Kensington Palace, where William and Kate have use of a 20-room apartment that is currently being renovated.
“We can confirm that Harry has moved into KP. That’s now his official London residence,” the representative said.
Prince Harry was originally meant to move from his father’s residence at Clarence House to Kensington Palace’s Nottingham Cottage, but William and Kate are currently living there while their apartment is being refurbished.
Prince Harry, who lived at Kensington Palace while he was growing up with his mother Princess Diana, is currently residing in a one-bedroom staff apartment set apart from the main building.
Kensington Palace is currently home to a number of other royals including Richard and Birgitte, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and Prince Michael of Kent and his wife.
The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman, Random House, $32.95.
There was an international bidding war for this debut novel by Australian author Margot Stedman and while the plotline is solid, it is the mesmerising quality of the writing that has caused the much deserved commotion.
Stedman’s descriptions are superb: vivid and accessible without being overblown.
Set for the most part in the 1920s, this is the story of quiet, reliable but enigmatic Tom Sherbourne who, desperate to escape the painful memories of his feted actions in World War I, happily signs up for banishment to the uninhabited island of Janus Rock, off the coast of Western Australia, to work as a lighthouse keeper and find much-needed peace.
Here, like Tom, we fall in love with the isolation, the power of nature and the rhythms of a simple and ordered life.
“It seemed his lungs could never be large enough to breathe in this much air, his eyes could never see this much space, nor could he hear the full extent of the rolling, roaring ocean. For the briefest moment, he had no edges.”
The sense of freedom is intense and invigorating, and when Tom brings his new wife, Isobel, to share his oblivion, the pair set about trying to expand their family.
Despite her attachment to Tom, Izzy — who, to be honest, is a little wet — is crippled with loneliness and aches to have a child, but she is plagued with miscarriages.
So when a baby and a dead body are washed ashore in a dingy, it seems as if God is handing them a lifeline which Izzy, engulfed with a needy mother’s love, grabs with both hands.
What follows is, at times, predictable and many of the characters are stuck in two dimensions, but the sheer passion and poetry of Stedman’s prose carries us on a wave of emotion and heartbreak, as we teeter on a tightrope between right and wrong.
Destined for book club discussions around the globe.
About the author
Margot Stedman was born and raised in Perth, and although she now lives in London, Perth is “still definitely home”.
Margot decided she wanted to write in 1997, but didn’t start until 2008.
“I never plan what I write. I usually start with a picture in my imagination, or a sentence, or the sound of a voice. The Light Between Oceans started when I closed my eyes to imagine a scene and a lighthouse turned up.
“I could see a woman and, later, a man, who I worked out was the lightkeeper, and I gradually realised it was his story.”
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Georgie Gardner, her husband Tim and their children Bronte, six, and Angus, four. Photo by Michelle Holden.
On the surface, Georgie Gardner appears to have a perfect life. She has a loving husband, two healthy children and a fulfilling career as a news reader on Channel Nine’s Today — but underneath the flawless facade lurks a traumatic childhood that has made her what she is today.
Georgie was one of four children born and bred in Perth. Her early childhood was happy but when she was five years old, her parents went through a bitter divorce.
Her mother remarried shortly afterwards and Georgie’s world turned upside down.
Her new post-divorce life had all the trappings of domestic bliss. She lived in Dalkeith, one of Perth’s most affluent suburbs. She attended St Hilda’s, the Western Australian capital’s most exclusive private girl’s school.
Her mother was a pillar of Perth society and her new stepfather was the son of the state’s governor and a well-known lawyer.
There were trips to Government House when the queen was visiting, tea parties and pretty frocks. From the outside, theirs was a life of privilege and respectability, but beyond the white picket fence and behind closed doors, life was infinitely more complicated.
“There was a tumultuous divorce when we were very young and it led to difficulties in the house we were growing up in with our mother and stepfather, and it was not pleasant,” explains Georgie’s younger brother, John.
“I don’t have particularly fond memories of childhood myself and I know Georgie doesn’t.”
Suzanne Julian is one of Georgie’s oldest friends. They met at school when they were 12 years old. Suzanne remembers Georgie as a “natural leader” with “the gift of the gab and a wicked sense of humour” who had lead roles in all the school musicals such that “everyone assumed she was going to leave school and become an actress”.
Suzanne also spent a lot of time at Georgie’s house and saw first-hand the tensions with which Georgie and her siblings lived. “I was very aware of what was playing out in her home life,” recalls Suzanne.
“Everything was not as it seemed on the outside. There was a lot of pressure on Georgie as a young girl — there were things going on at home that were not pleasant. You can go to the best school and wear a nice uniform, but if things are not right at home, you are no better off than anyone else.
“Georgie has definitely been affected by her family situation over the years. Knowing all the crap she has been through, the way she has blossomed is such a credit to her. Instead of dwelling on it, she has carved out such an amazing, impressive life.”
When asked, Georgie herself won’t be drawn on exactly what the home life “unpleasantness” comprised, except to say she and her siblings suffered after their mother remarried.
“We had a privileged upbringing, in the material and opportunity sense, but there was a lot of turbulence and confusion, and deep sadness brought on by a pretty bitter divorce,” she says. “During the darkest period, my friends and siblings got me through.”
Though she won’t say it outright, it’s obvious that Georgie experienced some sort of trauma growing up. She says she doesn’t want to talk about it publicly — “It risks hurting too many people I care about” — yet it clearly gives shape to her every day.
She has only limited contact with her mother now and mainly for the sake of not denying her children a relationship with their grandmother.
And yet she’s also acutely aware of the privileges she enjoyed and the opportunities afforded by her education and upbringing. She bristles visibly at any suggestion she is a victim.
“I never feel, ‘Woe is me’, because I have so much in my life now to be grateful for and I have managed to extricate myself from that toxic environment and surround myself with beautiful, loving, incredible people,” she says.
“Suffice to say, divorce can be very destructive and a fair amount of pain and misunderstanding exists to this day. But I try and focus on the positives and, without question, my greatest achievement is creating the family unit I have now. They’re my world. I’m at my happiest when I’m with my family.”
Read more of this story in the April issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have two beautiful daughters, but no matter how lovely his girls are, Keith will always love his wife more.
While most parents would confess to loving their children more than their partner, Keith says his Nicole is the centre of his universe, and always will be.
“We’re very, very tight as a family unit and the children are our life, but I know the order of my love,” the country music star tells the April issue The Australian Women’s Weekly. “It’s my wife and then my daughters. I just think it’s really important for the kids.”
“There are too many parents who start to lose the plot a little and start to give all their love to the kids, and then the partner starts to go without. And then everybody loses. As a kid, all I needed to know was that my parents were solid. Kids shouldn’t feel like they are being favoured. It’s a dangerous place.”
Keith and Nicole, both 44, met in Los Angeles in 2005 and married in Sydney the following year. Nicole gave birth to their first daughter, Sunday Rose, in July 2008 and their second child Faith was born to a surrogate in December 2010.
Keith says Nicole is his “spiritual other half” and says it is absolutely impossible not to love her.
“I truly think there are only two kinds of people in the world,” Keith says. “There are people who love Nic and people who haven’t met her yet. I really do. People who say negative things about her, I think, well, you just can’t have met her yet. You can’t have.
“Because she’s sensitive and joyous, and wonderfully compassionate and empathetic towards people, and she has a heart that is just infinite in size. She has such a zest for life. And she’s as loyal as the day is long. And I still can’t quite believe I got to marry her, quite frankly.”
Keith is a coach on new singing show The Voice, which airs on the Nine Network from Sunday, April 15, at 6.30pm. Keith’s latest album, Get Closer, is available now. For more information, visit the official Keith Urban website.
Read more of this story in the April issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Your say: Do you love your partner more than your children?
Gordon Wood and his family. Photography by Damian Bennett. Styling by Vanessa Pennisi.
For Gordon Wood, going to jail was traumatic. But it was nothing compared to how he felt the night his girlfriend, Caroline Byrne, died.
He still grieves for her, and wonders whether he could have done anything to prevent her death.
“It still weighs heavily on me, whether I could have done more in the days before she died, whether I should have read some of the signals better,” he tells The Weekly, breaking down in public for the first time since Caroline’s death.
Caroline Byrne died in 1995 at notorious Sydney suicide spot The Gap. Some believed Gordon, who worked for stockbroker Rene Rivkin, had killed her because she knew too much about his business dealings.
Gordon was found guilty of her murder in 2008, but this year, the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the verdict, questioning the evidence and arguments from his original trial.
Gordon declined to give evidence in court and has never spoken publicly about Caroline’s death or their relationship.
Breaking his silence to The Weekly, Gordon was reduced to tears twice during the interview.
Once, when he spoke about the days before Caroline died; the second when he spoke about the future he hoped they would share.
“When I met Caroline, it was clear to me why I was on this planet [and that] was to be a husband and a father,” he says.
“I don’t care if I clean toilets; I knew that was it. I knew we were going to get married and have children, and whatever else I did, I was going to do that brilliantly.”
Gordon says rumours of a gay affair with his boss, Rene Rivkin, were “nonsense”, and that Rene was not a criminal.
“To call him a fraudster is unfair, he wasn’t. He might have sailed close to the wind in terms of taxes and what have you [but] in my knowledge and experience, he was a lovely guy.”
When asked how the Wood family felt about Caroline’s father Tony’s belief that Gordon was guilty, his sister Jackie said: “We understand how difficult it would be to accept one suicide in the family [Caroline’s mother committed suicide]. We understand how impossible it would be to accept a second one. And I guess now he’s got a difficult task ahead of him of actually dealing with the fact that his daughter committed suicide.”
Read more of this story in the April issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
The actress breaks down as Pax’s biological mother asks for his return.
Dwarfed by the two oversized teddy bears they were carrying, Zahara and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt giggled and stumbled their way through LA airport last week. But their superstar mother couldn’t even crack a smile. Angelina Jolie looked tense and exhausted after their flight from Amsterdam. Now Woman’s Day can reveal it wasn’t the long-haul journey with two young children that had the mum-of-six seemingly shattered.
We’re told Ange is battling a private nightmare over fears she could lose her adopted son Pax, with a source close to the family claiming she’s been “knocked for six” by a request from the eight-year-old’s Vietnamese biological mother, via the orphanage he came from, to meet him.
“Angelina is in a total spin about this,” the insider reveals. “She is torn about what the right thing to do is. She has always felt slightly insecure about Pax and this is just making matters worse. She’s terrified he’ll choose his birth family over her.”
Pham Thu Dung, 32 – who says she’s clean of the heroin addiction that saw Pax placed in an orphanage – has told authorities she wants Brad, 48, and Ange, 36, to bring the boy to Vietnam to spend time with her and his extended family. “Dung says it’s important Pax knows where he comes from and is aware of his heritage,” a Vietnamese source says. “She is desperate to meet her son after only seeing pictures of him in magazines.” “My dream is that one day he’ll visit me and call me mother,” Dung herself says.
Read more about Pax’s biological mum and why she wants him back in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday March 26, 2012.
Octomum Nadya Suleman has posed topless for Closer magazine showing off her post-baby body after losing 64kg. The mother of 14, who had octuplets in 2009, is claiming she has “never looked this good”.
“I just pinged back into shape like a rubber band after the kids, I don’t know how I did it. I eat like a horse, don’t count calories and have never owned a set of scales,” she said.
“I gained an entire human when I was pregnant with the octuplets, going from 140 pounds [63kg] to over 266 pounds [120kg], but two months later, I was a size eight again. Now, I never weigh myself.”
With 14 children to take care of she also claims that she has been celibate for 13 years with all her children being conceived through IVF.
Nadya Suleman on the cover of *Closer* Magazine.
Nadya Suleman on the cover of Closer Magazine.
Now and then: Nadya now and when she was pregnant with octuplets in 2009.
Nadya says she eats 15 portions of fruit or veges a day and runs over 60 kilometers a week.
“I get too much male attention, but I won’t date until the octuplets are 18 – I live for them.”
“I know I’m beautiful – I don’t need a man to tell me that,” she says.
Nadya says her kids “have structure and discipline” and “don’t know what candy is”.
“I’ve done a really great job with them. I don’t get any credit,” she said.
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