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April 25, 2010

Brian hits back: “I am a good dad!”

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The star prepares to fly back to the UK for his kids, after a vicious public row with his ex, reports Matthew Denby.

Brian McFadden is jetting off to face his ex-wife, Kerry Katona – for the sake of their two children – after publicly declaring she is “dead to me” in a bitter internet rant.

The Australia’s Got Talent judge, who is furious with his ex for claiming he has little to do with their daughters, Molly, 8, and Lilly-Sue, 7, says he will be with the girls when they take Holy Communion next week. The occasion is expected to be fraught.

“People always say it must be really hard for them, and for me not being there with them, but for us, it’s not,” Brian last week told Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper.

“We’re used to being away from each other. When Molly was born, two weeks after I went on a world tour with Westlife. We’re used to having that sort of relationship.

“We’ve never had the living under the same roof thing. That’s the way it’s been since day one.”

Brian was outraged by 29-year-old Kerry’s claims that he rings the girls just five times a year, and that Lilly “hardly knows who he is”. Exploding with anger last week, he posted a string of harsh words on his Twitter page, before having second thoughts and deleting them.

“A certain pig faced mole [sic] has suggested my own daughter Lilly doesn’t know me, and that I never speak to my kids,” he raged. “FACT … I call my girls at least twice a week and have a beautiful relationship with my daughters.

“And call me fat! Take the bowl of mayonnaise drenched chips out of your face and look in the mirror!”

For the story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale April 26, 2010.

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April 25, 2010

Sara and Glenn: “We are ready to have babies!”

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Glenn McGrath’s new love, Sara Leonardi, tells Jonica Bray why they want children…soon.

She’s only 28, but her relationship with cricket great Glenn McGrath means Sara Leonardi has walked into a ready-made family – and she can’t wait to add to it.

Sara has quickly become part of the McGrath household, made up of Glenn and his children, James, 10, and Holly, 8 – and she looks forward to expanding the family.

“Having kids opens your eyes to a whole new world,” Sara says during a candid chat at Sydney’s Royal Randwick racecourse. “You see everything differently, and that’s good.”

While Glenn confirms to Woman’s Day that Sara “isn’t pregnant” yet, he hints the couple might start trying for a baby together.

“Hopefully soon!” the 40-year-old adds.

Sara says she would never dream of trying to replace Holly and James’s mother Jane, who died of breast cancer in 2008. She’s adapted effortlessly to having them in her life, though.

“I absolutely love Glenn’s kids,” she says. “There isn’t one thing not to love about them. You only ever get one mum in your life and I’m never going to be that, but … you can have other women who you look up to and who love you, and that’s what I’m going to be for them.”

On weekend afternoons, Sara often travels with Holly into the city from their mansion in Sydney’s south to go shopping, or she can be found cheering at James’s cricket matches. On weekdays she’ll run the kids to school.

For the story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale April 26, 2010.

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April 25, 2010

Roberta Williams: I killed Carl

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Multiple murderer Carl Williams should have been out-of-sight, out-of-mind in maximum security in a Victorian jail. But his ex-wife’s taste for publicity made sure he was not forgotten…either by the public or his equally vicious enemies. Ray Chesterton takes up the story.

When it comes to publicity, Roberta Williams can grab a headline as easily as her drug-dealing, multiple-murderer ex-husband Carl could order the ruthless execution of a criminal rival.

Her flamboyance and flashy style made her a natural media target after she was portrayed so vividly on TV in Underbelly, which brought Melbourne’s gang wars between the Moran family and Williams’ hoodlums to a national stage.

Now there is speculation Roberta’s taste for publicity may have helped focus unwanted attention on Carl, with whom she remained exceptionally close, as he began his 35-year minimum jail term for multiple murders.

Just days after Roberta talked about getting a publisher for a tell-all book she said her husband had written, Williams was bashed at Barwon Prison near Geelong in Victoria and later died in his tiny cell.

“Being high-profile is a dangerous position when you are in jail,’’ Andrew explains to Woman’s Day. “It makes you a target, especially if you’re not particularly tough yourself. Carl always hired other people to do his murders, he wasn’t strong. He didn’t do them himself.

“He also burnt various blokes by offering them money for murder and then dudding them.’’

Williams, whose violent grab for power between 2000 and 2006 sparked a killing spree that left more than 30 people dead, once even fired bullets on Christmas Day at his then wife Roberta, who was pregnant at the time.

The bullets missed, but the attack did nothing to reduce Roberta’s esteem for her slow-thinking, overweight husband. His answer to every question was savagery and mayhem as he chased domination of the Victorian drug trade, gathering an estimated $20 million in profits before he was jailed, and died broke at 39.

For the story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale April 26, 2010.

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April 25, 2010

Greg Page: Meet my miracle baby!

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Greg Page has found his smile again, he tells Jacqui Lang, thanks to two of the girls in his life.

Meet the two lovely females who’ve put the spring back in the step of former Wiggle Greg Page: beloved new wife Vanessa, and adorable baby daughter Lara.

For the first time, a very private Greg and Vanessa are revealing their happiness at finding one another.

“Until Vanessa came along, on a lot of levels I was a pretty sad and lonely guy,” admits Greg, cradling little six-month-old Lara.

Nods Vanessa, “It was obvious to me that for a lot of reasons you were very unsettled in your life when I met you.”

Looking at the relaxed, happy couple today, it’s hard to imagine that when they first met up for an innocent coffee a couple of years ago, both were in a fragile state. “We were both undergoing big life changes – but it was our similar approach to life that really brought us together,” Greg reflects.

Newly widowed, Vanessa was still dealing with the loss of her beloved husband, the father of her two children, Hayden, then four, and Claudia, then two.

Greg, who’d been living on his own for several years, was battling the debilitating effects of orthostatic intolerance, the dizzying disorder which had forced him to quit The Wiggles.

“Leaving the group was a major life change. I guess for a while, I lost my direction. The Wiggles had been my career for 16 years, since leaving school,” he says. “Suddenly, everything I knew was changing.”

One day, Greg heard through friends that his old classmate, Vanessa, was mourning the loss of her husband of eight years, who’d died after a lengthy battle with cancer.

“I decided to send her some flowers and a card,” Greg recalls. “I hadn’t seen Vanessa for many years, but our mutual friends had kept me in touch perdiodically with what she’d been going through.”

Vanessa and Greg, both 38, attended the same Sydney primary and high schools, where they remember each other as “good people”, but mixed in different circles.

Several weeks after sending the flowers, Greg got Vanessa’s number from friends and telephoned her; they got talking.

For the story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale April 26, 2010.

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April 25, 2010

Brad and Ange back on track!

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Life is good in Venice, with the star couple lapping up the romance of the city and their lively kids running wild with Grandma and Grandpa.

Putting to rest recent speculation that their relationship is on the rocks, life in Venice seems happier than ever for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – and their six children.

With Brad’s parents Jane and William Pitt jetting in to check out the sights – and help out with babysitting duties whenever the need arises – the world’s most famous couple have enjoyed some precious time out together.

Holding hands as they walked the city’s cobbled streets, it seems any recent troubles for Brad, 46, and Ange, 34, are behind them.

“They’re inseparable, and it’s just rare within the universe that you get that kind of love,” says Ange’s close friend, musician Wyclef Jean. “They’re really, really inseparable.”

The family has been staying at the sumptuous 16th-century Palazzo Mocenigo while Ange films her movie, The Tourist.

The $6.8 million property is fully furnished with Italian antiques, features spectacular balconies overlooking the city’s famous canals and boasts a huge private atrium garden – so the family could be excused for staying indoors all day.

However, with the northern hemisphere spring well and truly in the air, they have taken every opportunity to hit the streets of the historical city.

As Shiloh, 3, her big brothers Pax, 6, and Maddox, 8, and sister Zahara, 5, checked out Venice’s Piazza San Marco with Grandma and Grandpa, it seemed there was no such thing as too much gelato.

For the story and pictures of the couple’s venice home see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale April 26, 2010.

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April 25, 2010

Catherine and Michael torn apart!

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The superstar couple face their toughest challenge as Michael’s son is sent to prison, turning their world – and their marriage – upside down. Matthew Denby reports.

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ ultimate nightmare came true last week, with the news that the veteran actor’s son Cameron will be spending the next five years behind bars in a tough New York prison.

Now the couple are struggling to get their relationship back on track, as Michael deals with intense feelings of guilt and shame over his son’s descent.

A stressed Catherine has been so affected by the emotional upheaval at home she has shed a dramatic amount of weight.

Last week Cameron was found guilty of possession and dealing ethamphetamine and cocaine – despite pleas from both Michael and Catherine to the judge to take his deeply troubled background into account.

Michael confessed in a letter to the judge that he was admitted to an Arizona clinic in the 1990s for alcohol abuse, and was often absent when Cameron was growing up. The star is now said to be obsessing over his failures as a father -often leaving Catherine at her wits’ end.

“I love my son, but I’m not blind to his actions,” Michael wrote in a heartbreaking submission to judge Richard Berman begging for leniency.

“I don’t want to see him break. “He is an adult and responsible for his own actions. We do know, however, that genes, family and peer pressure are all a strong influence on a substance abuser.

“I have some idea of the pressure of finding your own identity with a famous father. I’m not sure I can comprehend it with two generations to deal with.”

Michael, whose father is screen legend Kirk Douglas, admitted that his “bad marriage” to first wife Diandra contributed to his son’s downfall.

“Cameron grew up a single child in a bad marriage,” he wrote. “Cameron found his family in the gang mentality.”

Catherine added that Cameron was a “caring, considerate, worthy human being” who never let his addictions affect his relationship with her children, Dylan, 9, and Carys, 7.

But the pleas fell largely on deaf ears, with the judge instructing Cameron’s supporters to “get over the idea” he was a victim and calling Michael and Diandra “distant”, “problematic” and “immature” parents when their son was growing up.

For the story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale April 26, 2010.

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April 25, 2010

Masterchef: The fresh Batch!

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Lucy Chesterton serves up the inside info on the top 24. Who will take the heat and stay in the kitchen?

ADELE

Just like Australia’s first MasterChef Julie Goodwin, Adele is a home-grown mum, who’s very close to her sons, Matthew and Michael, and deeply in love with her husband, Vince. Her big heart means she is a favourite among contestants, her excellent gnocchi is revered by the three judges, while audiences love her humility.

JONATHAN

He looks like the perfect ladies’ man, but Jonathan is newly wed, to Mandy. And luckily for Mandy, her new husband can handle a range of cuisines, from Moroccan to French, and is dedicated to desserts. With his charm and his killer kitchen skills, Jonathan is sure to get the judges fired up for all the right reasons.

SARAH

Leaving behind her young sons, Harry, 3, and six-month-old Sam, means Sarah has sacrificed a lot for her shot at the second MasterChef title. With so much at stake, and the support of her loving hubby, Nick, we predict we’ll see Sarah dishing up her hearty lamb shanks and roasts well into the last rounds of the competition.

MATTHEW

What he lacks in professional experience, Matt makes up for with a determination worthy of a top cook. While he’s not afraid to make fun of himself, joking, “I’m the only accountant here, which means I have no sense of humour and I’m boring,” Matt is far more interesting than he admits, and will likely go far in the competition.

MasterChef airs Sunday to Friday at 7.30pm on Network Ten.

Your say: What do you think of the second series of MasterChef? Are you hooked? Share your commetns below.

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April 25, 2010

Little boy brave

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Josh Frank’s heroic fight for life is inspiring others. Jonica Bray reports.

When Josh Frank shows off his chest scar, he tells tales of ferocious shark attacks and nasty crocodiles, but the truth is, this little boy is even braver than his stories.

His 25cm scar is the result of heart surgery – or rather, many surgeries. In fact, Josh’s heart is one of the most operated on in Australia. He has notched up 15 surgeries – and he is only eight.

The little battler from Willetton, WA, was just three weeks old when he had his first operation, but his mum Belinda says no matter how tough it gets, Josh never lets it get him down.

“He’s exceptionally brave. He’s my inspiration in life, because he continually amazes me with how much he puts up with,” she says.

“His heart has quite a few problems. The right ventricle is very small, he had no flow of blood from the heart to the lungs, and he had a very large hole in the heart as well.”

Josh’s problems were diagnosed when Belinda was pregnant.

“The cardiologist gave us a range of options,” she recalls. “One was termination, another was letting him go through his life cycle naturally, or he could have operations.

“We opted for the surgery.

We thought if he made it through the pregnancy, then he was obviously a little fighter. We were prepared to give him every opportunity we could as parents, and that’s what we’ve done.”

The hospital became a second home for Belinda, 38, husband Michael, 38, and their daughter Jayde, 10, with Josh admitted on average every three months.

“The first operation took about 10 hours,” recalls Belinda. “They put a shunt [artificial tube] in his chest, sewed him up, then took him out to the holding area.

“Before they could take him to ICU, his oxygen levels plummeted; he was in big trouble.”

Read the full story in this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale April 26, 2010.

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April 24, 2010

True Confessions Agony Aunt: Affair dilemma

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Image source: Getty - posed by models

The guy I met was very honest with me from the start about having a girlfriend and a little girl and tells me he has no feelings for his girlfriend any more and doesn’t care for her at all. He feels he loves me more but he’s frightened he’ll lose his little girl if he’s caught having an affair with me.

I know we shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing but I feel the same way about him as he feels about me. I never felt this way about my husband and I really feel that he’s the one for me.

The sex we have is amazing but it’s very hard to have a passion like this and then for him to go back to his girlfriend. He’s all I can think about and I’ve realised what life can be like if you are with the right person.

We’ve tried to stay away from each other so he can try to sort himself out but that only lasts a day or two before he calls me constantly on the phone telling me he misses me and loves me more than anything and we’re forced to see each other and so it all starts up again. And I do feel guilty about us cheating on his girlfriend and his baby girl but I love him and I don’t know what to do.

No matter how passionate you feel about each other, his home life and responsibilities change this from being a thrilling new relationship into a potentially sad situation for everyone involved.

You can’t say that you cannot stay apart. You are both adults and while there’s something very dramatic about the way you describe being unable to stay away from each other, if you want to salvage any dignity about your relationship you have to be far more honest. Do you expect him to leave his girlfriend? Is that his intention and when does he plan to do it?

It won’t be easy but if this is the way forward you both need to start acting like mature adults, put the grand passion on hold for a while and sort out the practicalities and legalities, including access to and the support of his baby.

Picture posed by models.

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April 22, 2010

Immune boosters

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Winter’s on its way and so is cold and flu season. To stay healthy, during the colder months, there are some easy, natural ways to boost your immunity and help protect you.

Food can be an immune booster

Enjoy plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, nuts and seeds so that your body gets vital nutrients for building a strong immune system. Specific nutrients with potential immune boosting effects include:

Iron, which is found in green leafy vegetables, legumes, wholegrain bread, fortified breakfast cereals and lean red meat;
Antioxidants, including vitamin E, C and some of the phytochemicals found in fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes and wholegrains; and
Selenium, which is found in wholemeal flour, rice, almonds, Brazil nuts, egg, cheese and fish.

Whole foods are best

Protective compounds naturally found in plant foods — particularly antioxidants — are often more effective when eaten as part of the whole food rather than taken as supplements. Fresh, whole foods have a wide range of protective elements that interact with each other to make them beneficial.

Weight cycling

Significant fluctuations in body weight — such as those you get with fad dieting — may weaken your immune system. While more research is needed, this observation certainly reinforces that a balanced, long-term approach to weight loss is a far healthier option.

Exercise

Moderate physical activity boosts our immune system and can mean we are sick less often. Enjoying some form of activity for 30 minutes most days of the week is ideal. However, intense, strenuous physical activity (at the level of a professional athlete or serious “weekend athlete”), can depress your immunity in the short term, especially if you’re also stressed, malnourished and tired.

Rest and relaxation

High levels of stress and lack of sleep can weaken the immune system. To help improve the quality of sleep you’re getting, try to get your body into a routine of sleeping and waking by going to bed and rising at the same time — even on weekends. While a long sleep-in feels nice, it can often leave you feeling extra-tired.