Don’t try and deny it, 2017 is the year of Kerri-Anne Kennerley.
We saw KAK inducted into the Logie’s 2017 Hall of Fame, she supported her husband John Kennerley as he beat the odds surviving his life-debilitating accident…
And now the Australian Women’s Weekly December cover girl has officially released her autobiography: A Bold Life.
On Tuesday morning, TV’s darling dropped by the Kyle and Jackie O Show, where she chatted about just some of the jaw-dropping chapters in her colourful memoirs.
Describing herself as the “quintessential Aussie girl”, KAK admitted on air that it was time to share her story – and hubby John agreed.
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“My husband said if you’re going to do this, do this properly. It did take a while and I had to go back through the memory bank.”
Thankfully, her biggest fan was there for back-up.
“I couldn’t have done it without John because over 30 odd years, he collected pieces out of the paper and made scrapbooks and I could actually go back and document what had happened.”
Kyle piped up, “He was so proud of you he made scrapbooks!”
Showcasing her trademark humble humour, Kerri-Anne laughed, “I could never be that disciplined.”
Speaking of her partner’s record, the 64-year-old shared, “I could go back to the moments in my life. I also love photographs, and I’ve taken so many happy snaps since the ’70s – when you could go to the chemist and get two-for-one!”
How John Kennerley is doing
Ever since John’s accident back in 2016, the Kennerleys have reaffirmed their unwavering love for one another.
But KAK admits things are very different for her once active spouse.
“He’s just a remarkable person. He’s unbelievable! He can run a power chair forward he can’t reverse so he can’t push a button, turn a page or feed himself.”
Explaining, “So it’s 24-hour care but he’s lucky he’s not ventilated so he can breathe and chew and eat. His talking is about 40% of what he was.”
When asked if her husband’s condition will improve, she remarked, “To be quite frank, no. When you have quadriplegia – which is a broken spine – his type of injury two-thirds is damaged.”
‘He’s just a remarkable person!”
But their love is stronger than ever.
“We still talk! He’s still got the same intellect, though he gets on some of these drugs and he doesn’t share it about,” she laughed at her joke.
“It’s a really wicked thing to say!”
“I’ll tell you, John and I have had some of the worst jokes because you have to have a sense of humour.”
On her ex-husband Jimmy Miller
The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and Mick Jagger with producer Jimmy Miller (middle).
KAK has spoken out about her first husband, New York music producer Jimmy Miller.
It was at his hands that she suffered from domestic abuse and she even threatened to shoot him.
Touching on that time in her life, KAK mused, “He was addicted to prescription drugs and when he took those he was pretty violent – he was 6ft 2.”
“I ended up feeling isolated, lonely. I ended up in hospital a few times. You can’t run away from a manic 6ft 2 person, so you run into different rooms and wait until it’s over.”
Before adding, “But then they’re always sorry.”
Explaining her decision to stay for as long as she did, the TV legend confessed, “I [was] young, naïve and had never experienced that sort of behaviour.”
Speaking of the moment she cracked, she reflected: “I still remember mum’s words, ‘You never let a man put a hand on you!'”
“I distinctly remember it, he started getting aggressive and abusive again and I thought this is the line in the sand.”
“I said, ‘I will shoot you!'”
“I’m pretty easy going until you push me so far.”
Her dabble with cocaine
She’s TV’s darling as you’ve never seen her before!
Kyle asked her outright, “When you did all the coke – when was that?”
Laughing, she yelled, “Not all the coke!”
“I was living in New York and during the ’80s I mean ’70s – New York was abuzz! We’re talking Studio 54 – Cocaine was the drug!”
“I was a girl from Brisbane – I went Brisbane to New York via Jamaica. It was a learning experience… an education! A university education without paying for it though you do pay for it many ways.”
She continued, “Drugs were about but I decided coke was just way too good. I’ve got a really addictive personality.”
Living abroad for five years, KAK admitted it didn’t last long.
Joking, she shared, “As I like to say: Doing coke is God’s way of telling you [that] you earn too much money. “
Kerri-Anne is The Weekly’s December cover girl.
On the seedy underbelly of the Australian entertainment industry
Kerri-Anne is undoubtedly one of the strongest and most respected women in Australia.
Yet sadly she too has been a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace.
“It was always there! Always,” she expressed about the latest Hollywood scandals, before touching on home, “And in Australia in the ’80s and ’90s – c’mon!”
“Do people think it didn’t happen here? Of course it did! Women just didn’t get paid off – they just got fired.”
The entertainment veteran admits that thanks to workplace laws, things are very different today.
“Today there are laws against it. Back then there weren’t. Women had to draw the line in the sand.”
Looking back at things that had happened to her, she recalled, “There were always blokes having cracks.”
“I remember I was standing and it was at a Christmas party. The back zip of my dress was just going down, down, down.”
“So I turned around to hit him and it happened to be a really important person – so I said to him , ‘You do it [my dress] up or I will deck you!'”
“I knew I might not work again but I would have decked him.”
KAK added, “Women had to learn how to stand up for themselves, which is important. But that said, it’s great there are laws now, because no woman should put up with that.”
“You’ve got to learn how to defend yourself. You can’t run to court or human resources every time someone looks at you sideways.”
Lightening the mood she confessed, “Now not so much! Now nobody bothers. How p—- off am I?”
The book has so many gems, including her infamous John Stamos interview: “I think he was probably a little more than drunk. It was fabulous… just FABULOUS!”
