Royal biographer Christopher Wilson gives us an intimate peek inside their marriage.
On her way to her post-wedding party, after four hours alone with her new husband Prince William inside Clarence House, the newly named Duchess of Cambridge flexed her royal muscle for the very first time. Approaching a photographer who was snapping away at her, Kate asked to see the pictures, leaving her frustrated new father-in-law, Prince Charles, waiting with an open door and an uneasy look on his face.
It is only now that the beautiful brunette can publicly show she’s firmly in charge, but that’s the way it’s always been when it comes to her relationship with William. Although he may have kept her waiting for nine years, and it was his job that delayed their honeymoon, Kate sent out a big message when she chose to omit the word “obey” from her wedding vows. She was telling her new husband, “I’m the boss!” – and as a close friend of the couple tells Woman’s Day, “That’s the way William likes it.”
As far back as 2002, Kate told the prince where they were headed. While they were students at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, William was floundering in his art history course and ready to quit. Despite the fact their romance had only just begun, Kate sat him down and gave him a stiff lecture. “Flunking out is not a thing future kings do,” she told him. “Change to a different course and stick with it – I’m here to help you.”
At that moment, William realised he’d found the woman of his dreams, someone strong who was determined to see him succeed.“He’s lucky to have got me,” said Kate in one of her rare interviews. And it’s not only friends who believe it – her new husband does too.
William, 28, brings more than 1000 years of royal history to the marriage, but Kate, 29, brings backbone. Her mother, Carole, 56, is the dominant partner in her 31-year marriage to Kate’s father, Michael, 61. The Middleton family’s multimillion-dollar business, online party paraphernalia company Party Pieces, was built up largely due to Carole’s ruthless streak and business acumen.
The no-fuss food judge has all the ingredients to be a successful parent.
From the outside, George Calombaris’s house is just like any other in the stylish Melbourne street he calls home – but once you step through the front gate it’s immediately obvious this is the home of the popular MasterChef judge.
Even before George throws open the door and meets us with his trademark gusto, we’ve been greeted by the enticing smell of the breakfast he’s rustling up for us. Inside, a second smiling face welcomes us into the sunny home – George’s partner of four years, Natalie Tricarico, proudly sporting a blossoming baby bump.
“Doesn’t she look beautiful?” beams George, 32, before ducking into the kitchen and returning with coffee and a round of buttery raisin toast. “She looks fantastic… absolutely beautiful. “She’s healthy and happy and everything is chugging along wonderfully.”
Marketing manager Natalie, 33, is clearly not the only one who’s glowing. “There’s this amazing sort of connection that happens knowing we created something together, and that’s a really lovely thing,” George enthuses.
The only downside to Natalie’s pregnancy is that she no longer craves George’s celebrated cuisine.
“The only thing I’ve craved has been lemonade icy poles, and that was only in the first trimester,” Natalie laughs. “I lost my taste for coffee and alcohol straight away, even though I have always loved red wine. The icy poles were great – they were so soothing and I loved that. I haven’t craved anything else, so George is off the hook.”
Natalie has enjoyed a straightforward pregnancy right from the day she took a test at home, and discovered she and George would soon have a Junior MasterChef of their own.
“I hadn’t noticed any of the normal changes in my body that I would normally get around that time of the month,” she remembers. “I thought it was weird because I have always been on time – although, I had been through something similar once before and found out I wasn’t pregnant. But I did the test that afternoon and it was positive.
Do you have a favourite MasterChef contestant for this series yet? Share your thoughts below.
It’s a photo that captures the outback spirit. More than 50 years after The drover’s wife was taken, Glen Williams heads to the Northern Territory to find out what became of the young couple.
For the last 53 years, her hauntingly beautiful eyes have stared out from a distant, sepia world. There is something in those eyes that compels you to stare back. With a battered Akubra on her head, she sits resting against her husband in his tattered shirt, nursing their three-week-old son. A sense of serenity permeates the scene.
This photo, one of the most acclaimed images of life in rural Australia, was taken by the late photographer and author Jeff Carter in June 1958. Woman’s Day became mesmerised by The drover’s wife when we stumbled across the photo at a recent exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales.
The couple were Ron and Mavis Kerr, and their little bub was named Johnny. Jeff Carter had found them at Urisino Bore in western NSW, while they were droving a mob of 3700 merino ewes between Tibooburra and Coonamble. There they sat in the shade of their old Bedford truck, “just having a spell”.
What happened to the Kerr family? Did this young mum stay the drover’s wife? Or did she seek an easier life and move to the big smoke? Hardly. Mavis, now 69, and Ron, 75, live in remote Borroloola in the Northern Territory – a small town of around 700 about 950km south-east of Darwin.
“I’m still the drover’s wife,” Mavis laughs. Today, as Mavis and Ron arrive in Darwin to relive their experiences, they are instantly recognisable. They look at their old truck, which resides in the hangar at Darwin airport, and are transported back to the dusty stock routes that were their way of life.
Once upon a time cosmetic surgery was taboo; reserved for the rich or the vain. If you’d had it, you didn’t admit it and you certainly never questioned your flat-chested colleague who came back from “visiting the relatives” with ample double Ds.
Things have definitely progressed over the past 10 years. Okay, so maybe it’s hardly frowned upon (because our facial muscles won’t allow it) and a quick nip-tuck is nearly as normal as getting your roots done at the hairdresser. But why?
A revealing survey by Rouge beauty website found that more than half of Australian women would contemplate having cosmetic surgery. The number-one reason for going under the knife? Low self-esteem. Followed closely by a fear of ageing.
Vote for which cosmetic surgery procedure you would have by clicking on the Vote button to the right.
A similar survey commissioned by the Lifestyle Channel showed a massive eight out of 10 Australians would have cosmetic surgery if money was no problem. Are we really that vain? Or are there other issues at play here?
Let’s take a look:
Often though, we’re never satisfied by just one procedure because issues are so deep rooted. Just look at reality star Heidi Montag and her sad obsession with perfection. It took 10 procedures in one day to transform her into the Barbie doll of her dreams but it left her desperately unhappy, not to mention in agonising pain.
In the UK, a BBC presenter was recently awarded damages after being unfairly sacked due to her age. With the sexist double standard that sees an abundance of men over-50 in high-profile jobs, is it any wonder women feel under pressure to resort to drastic measures?
Birth defects in children, burns victims and women who’ve suffered mastectomies can all benefit from the emotional and physical healing cosmetic surgery can provide too.
It seems that whatever the circumstance, be it medical or aesthetic, the underlying reason for cosmetic surgery is often self-confidence.
While we can understand why, just where has this modern acceptance of cosmetic surgery sprung from?
In fact it’s unusual to find a star that hasn’t had a cosmetic procedure these days, with many willing to talk about it. While Sharon Osbourne famously gushed about her love for cosmetic surgery, sitcom star Patricia Heaton was honest about her reasons for surgery after becoming a mother: “Vanity. I mean it, vanity… and I feel fine about saying I did it.”
Even the younger Hollywood generation have succumbed to the craze, believing cheek implants and Botox are a necessary part of their day job.
If stunning actresses like Megan Fox aren’t happy with their gorgeous faces, should we be so content with ours?
The positive slant that Extreme Makeover and How to Look Younger in 10 Days adopted took acceptance to a whole new level, perhaps contributing to the rise in cosmetic procedures in the US from 14.8 million in 2004 to 16.2 million in 2006.
A quick Restylane shot in your lunchbreak is not such big deal. Some bigger procedures can mean you’re in and out over a weekend which is revolutionary.
With more “have they or haven’t they” stories dominating weekly magazines and TV coverage, cosmetic surgery is on everyone’s plumped up lips. And while it’s a great testament to how far the industry has come, it’s also a worrying testament to our state of mind.
Your say: Have you had cosmetic surgery or are you considering it? If you have, was it a good experience? Share your stories and thoughts below.
Sir Paul McCartney, 68, will marry US businesswoman Nancy Shevell, 51, in a small ceremony at a registry office sooner rather than later, the former Beatle’s fiancée has said.
Nancy told US reporter Cindy Adams about their wedding plans, saying they are planning a “small” ceremony with only family invited, which will be held “soon”, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.
“And don’t ask what I’ll wear, because how dressy do you get to stand before a justice of the peace in his chambers? Which is exactly what we’re going to do,” Nancy reportedly said.
She also spoke about her engagement ring, which she has been spotted wearing since the couple announced their engagement on Friday, May 6, describing it as a five carat “vintage 1925 Cartier engagement solitaire diamond”.
The Gold Logie winner discusses love, family and how he nearly ended up in the Australian cricket team.
It’s the darndest thing. You wake up with someone every morning and you think you know them. Then BAM! Out of the blue, you discover something that changes everything — and explains so much.
Karl Stefanovic, the genial bloke who fronts the Today show, is for many of us the first face we see when we get out of bed.
For the past four months, we’ve been letting him into our living rooms so he can inform us about the tsunami devastation in Japan, the cyclone and flood havoc in Queensland and the earthquake disaster in Christchurch.
For the past six years, he’s been fronting Today, gravely conducting interviews with prime ministers before crossing to a segment on next season’s summer fashion must-haves. Yet how well do we really know this man?
Did you know, for example, that instead of voting for “Karl Stefanovic: Journalist and Today Show Presenter” at this year’s Logie Awards, we could all just as easily have been voting for “Karl Stefanovic — Most Popular Actor”? Or if fate had skewed differently, we might have spent the summer watching him face down the English bowling attack as opening batsman for Australia in The Ashes series?
Before he threw his professional lot in with this TV journalism caper, a young Karl Stefanovic auditioned for and was very nearly accepted into the country’s most prestigious acting course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).
At around the same time, he was playing representative schoolboy cricket for Queensland, opening the state’s batting order and sharing the wicket with the likes of Michael Kasprowicz and Andrew Symonds.
His on-air colleague, Lisa Wilkinson, jokes that Karl has 24 different personalities and she never knows which one she is going to be sitting next to from one day to the next.
“There’s more than a hint of showman in Karl,” says Lisa. “More like a great big brush stroke. One of the great things about him is you never quite know what he is going to do next. I probably know him as well as anybody, but I’m often poised on the edge of my seat wondering what he’s going to do or say.”
And then there’s Karl’s wife Cassie — shrewd, smart, sassy Cassie. She has wit and charm the equal of her man and — perhaps most importantly — keeps his ego in check.
While posing together during The Weekly photo shoot, Cassie, 40, chides her husband for his vanity. “Look at, me Karl, not at the camera,” she mocks as he stares down the lens like a Myer catalogue model.
For Cassie, an accomplished journalist in her own right, playing her part in the building of Brand Stefanovic has not always been easy. There have been sacrifices along the way.
“The first 12 months we were in LA, Karl was on the road for eight of them,” Cassie remembers. “I was pregnant with Ava. I remember one morning waking up with awful morning sickness and barely being able to get out of bed. Jackson was four years old and could see his mummy was sick and said, ‘If Daddy doesn’t want to be the daddy anymore, I’ll be the daddy’. It broke my heart.”
Lisa Wilkinson says Cassie and her own husband, author and journalist Peter FitzSimons, constitute a “two-person club” effectively widowed by the Today show. Robin describes Cassie as “the steel that supports Karl” and Alan Jones ascribes a good part of Karl’s success to her.
“She is a smart, straightforward woman,” he says. “If Karl ever got tickets on himself, Cassie would bring him back down to earth straight away. I’m always telling Karl she’s the one with the real strength and ability.”
Now the proud mother of Jackson, 11, Ava, six, and River, four, Cassie has no regrets about the way things have turned out.
“I’d like to go back to work at some stage, but I’m not about to unravel the whole family,” she says. “Karl is obviously really busy at the moment and I don’t feel like I’m putting everything to one side at all. This is the right thing for our family at the moment.
“And so we are all playing our roles in that. If Karl is going to be away a lot, then it’s my job to be here for the kids.”
Read more of this story in the May issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Your say: Do you think Karl Stefanovic deserved to win the Gold Logie?
Australian Fashion Week has come to a close, and with it we have no doubt about what we’ll be wearing this coming summer.
While Australian designers don’t particularly set the trends on the international stage, instead taking inspiration from their European counterparts (from the bright colour-blocking of Jil Sander to the minimalism of Celine), they have undoubtedly cemented the trends we saw at the latest spring-summer collections in Paris, Milan and New York for use in our own backyard.
Though there were plenty of mini-trends scattered throughout the collections, like paper-bag waists, soft leather (in the form of skirts, shorts, dresses and tops), oriental inspired prints, wide pants, linen and the colour orange, there were five stand-out looks that were hard to ignore.
Mile-high club
While attention of the upper leg area is usually reserved for miniskirts, sky-high slits in ankle-length dresses, knee-length skirts and palazzo pants have ensured there is a new focus on our thighs this summer. This trend is great news for more mature women who want to show a bit of leg without bearing all.
Colouring in
Bright, block-colours were seen all over the catwalk this week, but they were also spotted on all the front-row fashion editors, proving that mixing bold, colourful separates is a trend not going anywhere fast. However, make sure you stick to one colour palette when combining your statement pieces — rust, burnt orange and mustard give a strong effect when worn together, as do jewelled hues of teal, gold, and chartreuse, or if you’re felling really brave go for bright colours of aqua, watermelon pink and lime.
Most shows this week opened with beautifully crafted white, cream and ivory pieces that reflected the minimalism and simplicity of Paris’ Celine and Chloe. Although extremely difficult to keep clean, these classic pieces are an easy way to perfect effortless chic in a country famous for its cut-off denim shorts during summer. If all white is too daunting, invest in a crisp white shirt or silk cream blouse to take you through summer.
Modern romance
Probably the least appealing trend to a fashion realist is romance. All the ruffles, floaty shapes and lace look gorgeous on the catwalk, but what about in real life? Our designers, however, seemed to seamlessly blend modernity and romance, making it a wearable style that I’m sure we’ll all fall head over heels in love with. Think ethereal chiffon skirts, fluid silk pants and dreamy free-flowing dresses perfect for any number of summer soirees.
Jumpsuits
The jumpsuit will continue to reign as a summer staple, however this season designers left the boho behind and embraced simple, well cut all-in-ones for a sexier, grown-up feel that will make you want to put up with their only downside — the slow powder-room pit stops.
She is barely out of nappies and according to recent pictures still sucks a dummy, but that doesn’t make Suri Cruise any less stylish.
The five-year-old daughter to Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise has come in at number 21 in Glamour magazine’s best-dressed women poll for 2011.
Suri has beaten the likes of reality TV star Kim Kardashian, Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and singer Lady Gaga in the poll, which is voted for by readers.
Harry Potter star Emma Watson took out the top spot, but if her style continues to evolve Suri should be at the of the list before long!
Despite his bitter break-up with Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt has been spotted having dinner with Jen’s best buddy, Courteney Cox.
The pair were reunited out at dinner together on Wednesday night in West Hollywood at a birthday celebration for Cynthia Pett-Dante, who manages both of them, Us magazine reported.
So was there any bad blood between them? An unnamed source told the magazine that the pair were “happy to see each other”.
“Brad was the first to arrive and he hung out at the bar, grabbed a cocktail and sort of chatted with patrons. Nice as ever,” the unnamed source said.
“[They] looked happy to see one another, like old friends. They huddled for a good five minutes, like they were catching up.
“They were very sweet to each other. He gave her a big hug.”
Missing in action was Brad’s partner, Angelina Jolie. Courteney, who is currently on a trial separation from her husband, David Arquette, also arrived alone.
The dinner party, which was held at Eva Longoria’s restaurant, Beso, saw guests feast on tacos, flatbreads, guacamole and salad.
After the meal, Brad and Courteney parted ways with Brad accompanying the rest of the group to the Ford Theatre for American rocker Chris Cornell’s concert, while Courteney headed home to her six-year-old daughter, Coco.
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