Sandra Sully caused a media firestorm when she refused to back down last month after she weighed in on the scandal surrounding Peter Dutton’s teen son being snapped with a mystery white powder.
After she shared a news story about the incident on social media, a commenter suggested Sandra “could have easily chosen to ignore” the matter. But the TV host fired back, “What and pretend the story isn’t in a major newspaper? #Fool.”
SANDRA SULLY LIKES HAVING HER SAY
Over a media career that has spanned more than three decades, the veteran newsreader has developed a reputation for being outspoken. “Speak up and as loudly as you can.
“Let your mighty voice reign over boardrooms and ring out across playing fields. Set it free on the stage. Let it loose in front of cameras. And let it barrel down the corridors of power,” the star – who turns 60 next year – shared in a HuffPost blog in 2017.
And the 10 News First host – who was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in January for her significant service to the media, charitable organisations and the community – practices what she preaches!
Last year, Sandra revealed she once called out a former colleague after he said a journalist’s breasts were too large for her on-camera role.
Sandra then mentioned the incident at a women in media speaking engagement. “It got back to the office and that [former male colleague] said to me, ‘That was a bit pointed, wasn’t it?’” she said.
“And I went, ‘You shouldn’t have said it, should you? You’ve got to stop this. It’s not how you behave anymore.’”
It isn’t the first workplace clash the newsreader has gone public with. In 2013, Sandra revealed she’d been bullied by a female colleague for a decade.
“She wasn’t a presenter. But she was a colleague who tormented me or tried to torment me,” said Sandra, who claimed the unnamed woman tried to derail her TV career.
“It then escalated to a level where I was very distressed. She used those old tricks
of flirting with bosses and using her feminine wiles to present me as demanding ‘talent’ to her superiors and they all fell for it.”
Sandra admitted one of her biggest regrets was not calling the torment out earlier, as she thought “nobody would believe” her.
Perhaps it’s a big reason the star isn’t afraid to cause controversy by airing her views these days.
IT TAKES COURAGE
And her candour couldn’t be more timely, considering the number of Aussie TV networks in the headlines in recent months for all the wrong reasons.
“Whether the issue is bullying or something else, it takes courage to stand up and say what’s wrong is wrong,” Sandra said at the time.
It took even more courage for Sandra to speak out about the terrifying moment in November 1997 when she was attacked by a masked assailant in the carpark of her Sydney apartment and had a gun held to her head. The attacker has never been caught.
“It was at least 10 years before I was ready to talk about it to anyone other than my family, and probably 15 before I felt I could put it behind me.
“I still don’t like to be surprised. If someone makes a loud noise, I jump. I am always aware in a carpark,” she said.
“You realise life can be snuffed out in an instant,” added Sandra, who admits the near-death experience “made me a lot stronger”.
Sandra’s stepdaughter Mia, 19, who she shares with her husband of 13 years, banking executive Symon Brewis-Weston, 55, has also motivated Sandra to continually speak out on women’s issues.
“I have this gift in my life,” says the beloved newsreader, who is passing her passion for feminism onto the teen.
“Mia is a beautiful young girl. I try to remind her that she’s a good person and not to focus too much on looks. That’s what I fear for young women today, particularly in this ‘selfie’ obsessed new world.”
