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Meryl Streep: I’m greedy for another Oscar

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Meryl Streep: I'm greedy for another Oscar

The real Margaret Thatcher, and Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady.

Most actors would be thrilled to win just one Academy Award, but the inimitable Meryl Streep is desperate for a third.

The 62-year-old actress is nominated for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

After a record 17 Oscar nominations, 25 Golden Globe nominations, and a slew of BAFTAs, Screen Actors Guild awards and People’s Choice awards, Meryl tells the February issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly she still isn’t satisfied.

Related: Meryl Streep triumphs at the Golden Globes

“I am very greedy [for more],” she says.

Meryl loved playing Thatcher, but was surprised by the former British leader’s stamina.

Margaret famously only slept for four or five hours a night and always found time to cook dinner for her husband, even while running an empire.

“I’m in awe of her,” Meryl says. “How, for eleven and a half years, to exist on that amount of sleep and make that many decisions?

“I’m not that way. I need to go away, ‘Leave me alone, I need to go to sleep’, and have a big refurbishment.

“I need to listen to music. I need to read some poetry. I need to be by myself much more.”

There is a deeply poignant moment in the film where Thatcher as an old woman is looking at a DVD of her twins, Mark and Carol, playing as young children on the beach.

The former prime minister wonders aloud if it was all worth it, if she might not have spent more time with her children. Her husband replies, “You can rewind it, but you can’t change it.” It was a scene Meryl could relate to.

“Yes, everything is a decision. Everything is a choice. It comes down to that, the choices. You don’t even know if the choices you made were the right ones and the jury is out until your children have children. So it’s an ongoing anxiety.

In pictures: The best Golden Globes gowns

“But no, to me the reason to make the film was to look at the life of a big public person and then to morph it at some point into a story about you and me and all of us.

“How do we take leave of things? How do we reconcile ourselves to the cost of the choices we made in our life?”

Read David Leser’s exclusive interview with Meryl Streep in the February issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Your say: What is your favourite Meryl Streep film?

Subscribe to 14 issues of Australian Women’s Weekly for only $69.95 (28% saving) and receive bonus kitchen scales.

Video: Meryl Streep on 60 Minutes

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Shane Crawford: Meet my new twins

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Shane Crawford: Meet my new twins

Shane with his identical twins Jack and Harry at 12 days old.

The Celebrity Apprentice was a tough gig, but it was a mere warm-up to Shane Crawford’s next job. Sue Smethurst discovers the family man behind the television and footy star.

Behind the scenes of the boardroom bust-ups and charity challenges of last year’s hit TV series The Celebrity Apprentice, Shane Crawford was secretly preparing for the biggest challenge of his life.

He wasn’t scheming to overthrow his reality rivals, or plotting a mutiny of the TV show that had the nation glued to its seats. Instead, he was snatching every spare minute off-camera to swat up on survival strategies for the arrival of twin boys.

In pictures: Sweet tweets – Celebrity family photos

“When we finished filming each day, I went back to the hotel room and locked the door. There was no mucking around. The only person I would let in was Pauline Hanson because she brought me lemon meringues!” he says with trademark cheekiness.

Joking aside, it takes a lot to make Shane Crawford cry, but get the former footballer talking about his family and fatherhood and you’ve hit the soft spot that always raises a lump in his throat.

The AFL champion turned TV star is unashamedly emotional as he proudly shows off the latest additions to the Crawford clan, precious twins Jack and Harry, who were making their presence felt at their first official photo call.

“This is what life is all about,” he says of the tiny babies nestled in his arms. “Fatherhood is my greatest joy. I love being a dad and my life now is all about my family. I love being around the boys. I couldn’t imagine my life without my kids.”

After several miscarriages, Shane and his long-term partner, Olivia Anderson, were ecstatic when they discovered last May that they were expecting their third child, a brother or sister for sons Charlie, five, and Ben, three.

“We were really happy to have baby number three. We just weren’t expecting babies three and four in one go!”

And at 12 days old, identical twins Jack Anderson Crawford and Harry James Crawford, who have just spent their first nights home from hospital, have already made an indelible mark on their lives.

The reality of a nursery filled with special feeding mats, twin cots, twin baby rockers and an endless supply of nappies, bottles and blankets seems a world away from the glitz and glamour of his football and TV career. Yet it is here, off-camera, surrounded by his family, where his heart is truly at home.

“When we found out we were having twins, we were told that it’s beautiful to have one child, but twins are something else altogether.

“There’s a whole new dimension to twins because of the special bond they have and I think now that we have them home it’s really dawning on me what an amazing thing this is for all of us.

“When I was playing footy, footy meant everything to me, but it’s not a patch on what fatherhood brings, nothing compares to this.”

Shane Crawford made his name carving up the footy field, a 305-game veteran with a swag of accolades to his credit, including a premiership with his beloved Hawthorn Football Club and the league’s most coveted prize, the Brownlow medal.

Shane and Olivia had made no secret of their desire to expand the family. With no history of twins in the family, the possibility of twins and indeed twin boys was the last thing they imagined.

“Olivia has always wanted a girl and I was hoping we’d have a girl so I had someone left in the family to look after me when I’m old because I know the boys won’t!” Shane muses. “So it was a bit of a shock to learn we were having twins.”

Related: AFL stars on life outside footy

Admittedly, it took a little while for the news to sink in, even after Olivia came home from the first check-up to confirm her pregnancy and said, “They’re both fine”.

“It didn’t really register at first,” Shane says, “then she handed me the scan and I was like …what!”

Read more of this story in the February issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Your say: How would you cope if you found out you were having twins?

Subscribe to 14 issues of Australian Women’s Weekly for only $69.95 (28% saving) and receive bonus kitchen scales.

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The secret to a happy divorce

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The secret to a happy divorce

Pru Quinlan, her ex-husband Steve and their sons Zac and Dan.

Divorce can be one of the most painful experiences in life. Yet it doesn’t have to be that way — more couples are working to keep their split friendly for the sake of the children, write Michael Sheather and Sue Williams.

For Pru Quinlan, marriage wasn’t exactly the happy ever after she’d imagined it to be.

Pru and her husband, Steve, were going through a tough time: running an under-performing business, trying to balance the strains of sales pressure, a mortgage, a gruelling seven-day-a-week schedule and the needs of their two young sons, Zac and Dan.

Related: The five arguments that can destroy your relationships

Their 11-year relationship was starting to crack under the pressure and they had consulted a marriage counsellor. Even so, Pru didn’t see what was coming.

“We were under a lot of stress, living in each other’s pockets,” recalls Pru, 45, of her separation 10 years ago.

“Looking back, I can see now that we were growing in different directions. It just caused us to re-evaluate where we were. Steve wasn’t happy, so he did the leaving, not me. To say it was a shock is an understatement. I could have been blindsided by a runaway truck and been less surprised.”

Pru found herself alone, angry and resentful, caring for their two sons, then 18 months and five years old.

The situation had all the hallmarks of a thousand other bitter divorces — screaming matches, recriminations, spiteful property negotiations and duelling lawyers.

Yet Pru and Steve avoided that all too common war of attrition. They managed to find common ground — their love for their children — which helped them to navigate a way to a civilised divorce.

“You know when a marriage is starting to have issues, but what counts is how you choose to work through those issues,” says Pru, now an award-winning public relations consultant.

“For us, Steve chose to end the marriage. In retrospect, it was a good decision. In fact, where we have gone over the past few years, it was a great decision. We are now still good friends. We are probably better friends now than we may have been when we were life partners.”

Today, Steve and Pru both have changed lives, each with a new partner and children. Yet they live just five minutes from each other on Sydney’s North Shore, close enough for their sons, Dan and Zac, now 15 and 11, to walk between their two homes.

They talk by phone at least a couple of times a week and sometimes drop in on each other for a drink and a chat. Along the way, they have managed to preserve the friendship that formed the basis of their former relationship, while leaving behind any lingering anger and regret.

Both are rightfully proud of what they have achieved.

“I don’t think either of us would say it was easy,” says Steve, 46, a communications consultant. “It took a lot of hard work. But we both agreed that the welfare of our children was the paramount concern. That’s what really mattered.”

These days, there’s an increasing awareness around the world that while divorce is never a happy path, it can be made a great deal less rocky for everyone involved if the couple can remain if not friends, then at least civil with each other.

As well as creating a better atmosphere in which to make custody and financial arrangements, so much more is now known about the extent of the emotional damage inflicted on children when they’re forced to walk on a tightrope between parents over a virtual battlefield.

Related: Diary of a divorce

So much energy can be put into surviving that their sense of self-worth and schoolwork often both suffer, and they can become withdrawn, moody and aggressive.

“It can be incredibly destructive,” says psychologist Dr Sarah Edelman. “Home is where they’re meant to feel safe. It’s the world their parents create. So if that safe environment is suddenly threatened, a child can feel anxious and less secure.”

Read more of this story in the February issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Your say: How did you make your divorce easier for your children?

Subscribe to 14 issues of Australian Women’s Weekly for only $69.95 (28% saving) and receive bonus kitchen scales.

Video: Hollywood’s most expensive divorces

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Great Read: After the Darkness

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After the Darkness

After the Darkness by Honey Brown, Viking, $29.95

There’s a sense of foreboding craftily interwoven with the darkness of sexual desire running right from the first to the last sentence in this achingly powerful suspense thriller.

Although it takes a while to realise how every tiny observation and throwaway comment forms a tile in the mosaic of the life story that builds for Trudy and Bruce Harrison following one fateful day on the winding coastal route back from a stolen moments holiday together, reading through a second time reveals just how sharp the storytelling is here.

Author Honey Brown, whose own life changed in a moment when a traumatic farmyard accident when she was 28 left her struggling with a new existence as a paraplegic, knows only too well the potency of a world turned upside down by a single incident and in After the Darkness she explores this idea to its fullest.

Driving home back to their children and successful life as property developers, Bruce and Trudy are lured by the Ocean View gallery, perched teasingly on the cliff edge. It seems innocent enough but as we draw closer to this isolated edifice you can sense the portent of things to come.

Despite Trudy’s growing misgivings the passion-drunk couple mistily head to their oblivion. Once inside the pace picks up.

The severity of what comes next delivers perfect dramatic irony with the reader longing to scream “behind you….get out of there!”

Trapped, brutalised and utterly terrified, one thing is certain: Trudy and Bruce will never know what security feels like again.

Eventually they do get out of there but not before experiencing untold horror and pushing themselves to do things they never could have believed they’d be capable of.

And the chase has only just begun. Should Trudy and Bruce turn themselves in to the police and how will they conceal what has happened from their children?

Honey Brown’s genius is in the way in which her story-telling is dictated by her characters — just when you think you have a handle on how things are going she shifts gear exposing the dark places in their souls.

If there’s one criticism of this switchback ride it’s that the ending doesn’t do justice to what has gone before, but the journey is certainly enthralling.

About the author

Australian mother of two Honey Brown is 40 this month and has been writing novels since an accident forced her to reassess her life and left her wheelchair bound.

She won the Arealis Award with her first novel Red Queen and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her second — The Good Daughter.

“My inspiration for After The Darkness came after holidaying on the Great Ocean Road with my husband,” says Honey.

“We visited an art gallery with an ocean view and there was a moment when I was alone in a section of the gallery, and an eerie feeling came over me.

“I remember the vertical cliff faces down to the ocean, and thinking of how they could be used to cover up a murder.”

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In 30 words or less, tell us what is great about a book you are reading at the moment. The best critique will win The AWW Cooking School cookbook, valued at $74.95, and be printed in the July issue of The Weekly. Simply visit aww.com.au/bookclub, or email [email protected], or write to The Great Read, GPO Box 4178, Sydney, NSW 2001.

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Working mums aren’t in it for the money

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Working mums aren't in it for the money

Image: Getty, posed by models

A new US study has found that although working mums are busy, that’s the way they like it.

The study, which surveyed employed mothers, found that most would work even if they didn’t have to, however, they were also looking for new ways at being the ideal employee managing both motherhood and work commitments.

Unlike earlier research this study, which was published in Gender & Society, highlighted that the employed mothers emphasised the benefits they, and their children, receive from their paid work.

Carried out by Karen Christopher, an associate professor of Women’s/Gender Studies and Sociology at the University of Louisville, the study found that both married and single mothers said they found more fulfilment and gained self-confidence from paid work than in parenting.

This is the essential reason why they chose not to stay at home with their children full time.

Although the women studied said that they enjoyed their careers, they also put limitations on how much they work. In fact, many of the women said they sought out employment by looking for employers that did not demand long hours, this also included high-powered professions such as lawyers.

The study was conducted by surveying a group of young mothers, from Canada and the US of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, class and marital status. Most women in the study were born between 1970 and 1985 with 40 working mothers, each having at least one child under the age of five and over half the women had two children.

Although each mothers’ situation is different, associate professor Christopher said almost all of them wanted to work.

She said that while these mums are not spending intensive amounts of time with their kids, they see themselves as involved parents who are “in charge” of their children’s lives.

“About one-third of the 40 employed mothers expressed some ambivalence or guilt over their employment, but most employed mothers justified their paid work by saying it made them more fulfilled people, in addition to better mothers,” she said.

“So, these mothers are not only reframing what good mothering entails, they also frame employment in ways different than do earlier studies of mothers.”

In the US mothers’ employment rates have risen. In 2010, about two-thirds of North American mothers with young children worked outside of the home.

Your say: How do you feel about this study? Share your thoughts below.

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How to save money this school year

As children head back to school, parents breathe a collective sigh of relief — but that relief may be short-lived as the bills start to pile up. Get an 'A' in budgeting wih these handy tips.
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Back to school savings

School fees

After a mortgage, education costs can be one of the family’s biggest expenses, so it pays to plan carefully. Some families choose to use a dedicated education savings plan, managed fund or a high-interest savings account to prepare for the cost. By making regular deposits into the savings tool of your choice, it can help spread the cost of education and may also earn some interest.

Education expenses

When budgeting for annual education costs, it helps to make a list of all the expected expenses. While fees, uniforms, shoes and stationery are the obvious ones, don’t forget school camps and excursions, music lessons, sporting activities, internet access and computers. Keep a list of all major events and expenses during the year so you can set aside money and won’t be hit with unexpected last-minute bills.

Shopping for a bargain

If you have children in high school then the cost of text books can add up. These items are generally only needed for one year, so why not see if your child’s school has a second-hand book scheme or a swap program. For items you need to buy, try discount stores. Additionally, most chain stores have sales at the start of the year where you can pick up cheap bags, lunch boxes and other necessities. Cost can always be reduced if you shop around and putting name tags on all your kid’s belongings will ensure you don’t have the added expense of replacing lost items.

Tax advantages

Take advantage of any family and childcare benefits available to you, such as the Education Tax Refund if eligible. This benefit offers up to 50 per cent back on a range of children’s education expenses, including items such as computers, software, textbooks, stationary and even uniforms. Just don’t forget to keep your receipts.

Lunch box savings

With many families time-poor, it’s often easier to send your kids to school with lunch money rather than a packed lunch, yet a packed lunch is one of the easiest ways to cut costs on a daily basis. This money saver takes a little extra effort, but the rewards are twofold. Aside from preparing a healthy lunch for your child, it also ends up costing you far less over the course of the year.

Pocket money

The start of a new school year is often the time when families review pocket money. How much you give can depend on the age of the child, how much disposable income you want them to have, and what they are expected to do to earn it. For example, many kids are “paid” for doing household chores such as mowing lawns or washing the car. By paying pocket money online into a low-fee savings account, your kids can also login to watch their balance grow. This helps eliminate any frivolous dipping into cash so they can save for the things they really want.

Back to school expenses can seem endless, but with some pre-planning it is possible to take the sting out of the cost.

Dianne Charman is an AMP financial planner and mother of two.

Any advice given is general only and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of this, before acting on any advice, you should consult a financial planner to consider how appropriate the advice is to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

To find your nearest AMP financial planner visit www.amp.com.au/findaplanner.

Your say: How to you make sure you have enough money for school expenses?

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School-day blues

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New people, new places, new friends, new faces — starting school is a huge change for any child. But what if the one struggling to adapt is you?

Your “baby” is no longer a baby. You’ve watched them crawl, stumble and finally find their feet, and now they’re off to school, leaving you at home with a lump in your throat.

Related: Quick and easy lunch box fillers

They’re learning new things and enjoying their independence, but you’re probably experiencing a huge sense of loss. And that’s perfectly normal, says Anna Cohen, senior clinical psychologist at Kids & Co Clinical Psychology.

“When a child starts school, the mum often feels as if she’s handing over responsibility for that child to someone else,” Anna says. “It can be difficult to let go of something so important.”

Difficult, but not impossible.

Change your thinking

“Starting school marks the end of a developmental stage and means huge changes to your family life,” Anna says. The trick is to think of those changes as something necessary for your child’s development.

“We try to help parents see that their child has a ‘job’ to do,” Anna says. “That job is to complete certain developmental tasks, such as learning from their mistakes, understanding the consequences of breaking rules, developing self-control and responsibility, and learning to cooperate with others.”

As a parent it’s possible — and important — to help your child with those tasks. “Be a source of information,” Anna says. “Be clear with them about routines. Let them experience the consequences of their actions at home. Help them learn how to do things for themselves.”

Fill the gap

A problem for some stay-at-home mums is filling the hours when their child is at school. “When you’re used to your day revolving around caring for someone, it can come as a shock when they’re not there anymore,” Anna says. “The secret is to stay busy, so try creating an activity schedule for yourself.”

Perhaps you’ve always wanted to take up a hobby, have more time to exercise, or simply read all those books that have been gathering dust on your shelf. As long as you’re not sitting around waiting for school to finish you’ll be doing yourself a favour — and we all need a little “me” time now and then.

“Make sure you schedule in some quality ‘child’ time too,” Anna says. “Once they start school it can feel as if you never have any special time with them. It doesn’t have to be something major — Friday afternoon milkshakes or a bedtime story can work wonders.”

**Get involved

** Don’t see school as something you are excluded from. You might not be there with your child, but you can still be involved in their day. “Know what your child likes and what’s all the rage at school,” Anna says. “Whether it’s Zac Efron, Nintendo DS or a cartoon character, find out about it so you know what they’re talking about.”

It’s also worth meeting with the teacher at the start of term to see what your child will be learning about. Then you can build on that at home by reading bedtime stories or drawing pictures on the same subject.

“Being involved like this allows you to feel connected, which is important as feeling disconnected is a big worry for mums,” Anna says. Some schools even provide the opportunity for parents to be involved in lessons or school excursions, so ask staff for details.

Stay strong

Finally, be aware that however you feel about your child going to school will probably rub off on them. “Children are very perceptive, so it’s important to stay positive,” Anna says. “If you feel confident that you and your child can cope, so will they.”

Related: Parents DO have a favourite child

Starting school can be hard enough for some children, and seeing you weep at the school gates will make it even harder. So stay strong, stay involved and enjoy the peace and quiet!

Your say: Did you find it difficult when your child went to school?

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Katherine Heigl’s adorable daughter stars in music clip

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Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelly show off their adorable daughter

Katherine Heigl and her country music singer husband Josh Kelley have shown off their adorable little girl in his new music video.

The couple’s adopted three-year-old daughter Naleigh Moon stars in the video clip of the song named after her.

Katherine, who directed the video, made it a truly family affair.

“The idea was to show how Naleigh changed our lives, Josh’s life specifically,” she told Parent and Child magazine.

The clip features family home videos while Josh sings of the love he has for his little girl which the pair adopted in from Korea in 2009.

And there might even be a little brother or sister on the way for Naleigh with her parents hinting that they would consider adopting again.

“I just wanted to be a mum. So however we do that, it’s fine with me. I’d like to adopt again,” Katherine said.

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Mary and Fred’s public marriage meltdown

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Mary and Fred's public marriage meltdown

A startling quarrel between Denmark’s royal couple shatters the fairytale of their seven-year romance.

In a rare glimpse of the strain behind their seemingly perfect marriage, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary have had a disturbing fight, despite the eyes of the world being on them.Glaring at each other, hunching their shoulders and pursing their lips, it was a portrait of the strained couple the palace never wanted you to see.

During a month of celebrations commemorating the 40th anniversary of Queen Margrethe’s coronation, the couple had clearly had enough of the festivities – and each other. First Mary, who is rarely seen without a placid smile, leans into a grumpy looking Frederik as he mutters something to her. Upset and seething, she purses her lips and looks away.

Finally Fred assumes a haughty expression as he glares past his wife, clearly bored and irritated. It’s the kind of exchange shared by many couples, but it’s one we rarely see from this pair, who normally present a united front. What makes the tense scene even more surprising is that it has come at a time when the spotlight is fixed firmly on Denmark’s royals.

With the cream of European society gathered in Copenhagen to mark Margrethe’s ruby anniversary on the throne, there could hardly have been a more public way for the couple to have displayed their marital tension. There’s little doubt that pictures, taken during an exhibition of the Queen’s couture at Amelienborg Palace earlier this month, are a sign that the pressure of raising four young children is getting to the couple.

Read more about Princess Mary and Prince Frederik’s argument and see the pictures of the pair arguing in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale January 23, 2012.

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Ajay Rochester’s son’s shock: Mummy, that fat woman is you!

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Ajay Rochester's son's shock: Mummy, that fat woman is you!

Ajay Rochester describes in her own words her humiliation when she finally became a cover girl – as the “worst bikini body ever”.

With two weeks off over Christmas [a break from shooting Channel 9’s new weight loss series Excess Baggage], I flew back to LA to spend it with my darling boy Kai. Home and with a Christmas meal to cook the very next day, we raced off to the supermarket to grab some groceries.

“Standing at the checkout, my eyes skim across a magazine I never look twice at, the National Enquirer, and I think, ‘Oh, wow, some random celebrity has the very same bikini as me’. I can’t see the face of the alleged celebrity because there is a sticker across it, claiming that $2 and a turn of a page guarantees a peepshow of the best and worst beach bodies of all time. “It takes me a few seconds. I’m not sure how long, but time stood still, crickets chirped, while clocks probably ticked loudly… and then it hit me! “I looked a little closer at the fat spilling out over the bikini bottom and marvelled at the back fat spilling out of the top like a nicely rolled roast.

“Oh my god! That fat celebrity with the worst beach body of all time was ME! ME! Oh my god! I am on the cover of a magazine, the fattest I have been in years! Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear! “I look around, forgetting that I am in America and no-one knows who I am (it’s only in Australia that people scrutinise my every move), and I grab the magazine, dying a thousand deaths.

“I show Kai, pointing and – unlike me – unable to find the words to describe the horror I am experiencing, but he sympathises immediately. “‘Oh my gosh,’ he says. ‘Why do they do that? That poor person. That’s just rude. Imagine how they feel…’ “At first I think he is joking. Then I realise, bless him, he doesn’t realise it is me – his mother – on the cover of a magazine I hope none of his friends ever get their hands on.

Read more about Ajay’s shock and see her bikini body pictures in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale January 23, 2012.

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