To say 2018 was a big year for Lisa Curry is a bit of an understatement.
Not only did the three-time Olympic swimming champ tie the knot with husband Mark Tabone, but she also welcomed her first grandchild with ex-husband Grant Kenny, Flynn, who turns one in March. And it seems like the doting grandma can’t wait to hear the pitter-patter of more little feet in the future.
In an exclusive chat with Now To Love, the grandmother-of-one opens up about her adorable family, her health goals for 2019 and the I’m A Celebrity contestant she’d love to sit down and have a chat with.
Lisa loves being a grannie to little Flynn. (Image: Instagram @lisacurry)
While more grandchildren aren’t on the immediate horizon, Lisa says there will hopefully be lots to come, especially as she’s smitten with grandson Flynn, daughter Morgan and her husband Ryan Gruell’s first child.
“Flynn is just the most adorable child, he’s just amazing,” Lisa gushes.
“He’s crawling now, I don’t think it’ll be too long before he’s taking his first steps. He’s pulling himself up on the furniture and then lets go and stands there for about three seconds and then pops down onto his bottom but he’s just divine. And the best thing about being a grandparent is you’re able to have so much fun with them and then give them back!”
And Flynn is one lucky tot!
“We all spoil him. Morgan was dancing in a big show on New Year’s Eve in Singapore and Dad had to go back to work so Mark and I got to babysit Flynn for a day and night, half a day, and it was so much fun, it was really good.”
WATCH: The first pictures of Lisa Curry and Grant Kenny’s first grandchild, Flynn. Post continues after video…
Despite divorcing 10 years ago, Lisa and ex husband Grant Kenny share one of the most beautifully modern families and remain good friends. In fact, they continue to celebrate big milestones together with their three kids and Lisa’s new husband, Elvis impersonator, Mark Tabone.
“We had Christmas at our place which was nice,” Lisa tells us.
“It’s been a big year, a happy year, a challenging year in some ways…in a lot of ways, lots of travelling. Last year went so quickly, I wasn’t sure if it was just me or everybody, it just seems to whizz past. But we’re always looking for new adventures.”
Lisa celebrated Christmas with her entire family, including ex-husband Grant Kenny. (Image: Instagram @lisacurry)
But amid all the family fun, Lisa is busy with her business Happy Healthy You, which aims to help women take responsibility for their own health via online communities and features including free eating plans and a personal health assessment.
Lisa’s even preparing to host workshops and retreats on her 60 acre Sunshine Coast property to bring the online community together.
“They see each other online but they can actually talk to each other, sit around, listen to our naturopaths and nutritionists in our workshops, work out with me and have a yoga class, Mark will sing with them, it’s going to be fabulous.”
Despite her athletic background, Lisa has had her fair share of health problems, especially when it comes to her out-of-whack hormonal issues which started with her irregular periods in her early twenties.
“I trained hard and you know and a large amount of exercise can disrupt your hormones as well.”
Former Olympian Lisa admits her hormonal health problems started in her early twenties. (Image: Getty Images)
Lisa also confesses that after three pregnancies, the hormones continued to go up and down as a new mum.
“I just never seemed to get a break. I don’t know where I got it all from but there were times when it was really bad and I didn’t connect the dots. I didn’t realise that every month I was like a big old angry cow that kicked and screamed for no reason and blamed people for things that weren’t their fault and cry and say ‘No one loves me’ and all these really awful emotional ups and downs and I had that for such a long time.”
It wasn’t until years later that Lisa was able to understand and tackle her hormonal health issues and loves that through her experience, she can help other women struggling.
“Thank goodness I do know now and that I’m able to allow ladies to talk about their feelings and emotions and vent if they want to in our group pages. They’re very supportive, if one person has a bad day, they’ll have 40,000 other women to say ‘It’s ok’, so the whole thing has gone from strength to strength and it’s helping thousands of women.”
For years, Lisa battled with emotional ups and downs. (Image: Instagram @lisacurry)
Now it’s a new year, many of us have given up on those new year’s resolutions, but Lisa realised she needed to tackle her health and fitness goals just a few weeks into 2019.
“I had a bit of a revelation that my jeans only stretch about seven kilos so it was time to have a weigh in and be Lisa Curry again,” she says.
“I’d been happy sleeping in and happy travelling and happy eating out every meal and then all of a sudden your undies get tight, your jeans get tight so I thought, ‘Ok, time to reel it all in!'”
Luckily for Lisa, some of her friends (and even her daughter) are personal trainers, so she messaged them all to come and train her once a week at her place and once a week at their’s.
“Between the four of them I have between six and eight sessions to work out with them. I just needed to kick-start myself,” she says.
“A lot of people would think I’m super motivated but I was super motivated for 30 years of my life when I represented Australia and I don’t feel like doing it now. I’d rather be a grandmother and a wife and a mother and just relax and settle into life but I do really enjoy my exercise, I must admit. I’m so sore I can barely move but that’s ok, it’s such a good feeling.”
WATCH: Lisa Curry is the crunch queen! Post continues…
While son Jett is set to get his groove on in this year’s season of Dancing With The Stars, Lisa herself has dipped her toe in the reality TV pool when she starred on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2017. Though she’s happy to watch the action at home these days.
“I said to Mark, ‘Was it as funny as when I was on there?’ because it’s actually fun to watch, I love it,” she says.
Lisa’s experience may have been a challenge, but from the show, she confesses she made some great friendships from her time in the jungle. Fellow teammates Keira Maguire, Tegan Martin and Natalie Bassingthwaite as well as host Julia Morris were all in attendance at her wedding last year and Lisa admits they keep in touch, though Nazeem Hussain is apparently a little trickier to “pin down” for a catch up.
“I don’t really stay in contact with the others but you’re not meant to, you’re thrown into a situation and sometimes you make friends and sometimes you don’t.”
Lisa formed some close friendships in the South African jungle. (Image: Network Ten)
As for this year, though she thinks one of the guys will be crowned King of the Jungle, one celebrity has caught her eye, and it wasn’t who she expected.
“I really like Jacqui Lambie, there’s something about her that I like but before the show I didn’t like her at all,” the former contestant confesses.
“I thought ‘Oh yuck, get out of my face,’ but now, I’d love to sit down and have a chat with her, I think she’s pretty cool. And that’s a shame about society I guess, we form an opinion or a perception about someone and we don’t even know them which is sad and it’s wrong and then you get to know them and they are nice people so it’s wrong to judge people when you don’t know them.”
Could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship? (Images: Instagram @lisacurry/@lambienetwork)
