Debbie Newsome: Love is all I need

The vivacious Perfect Match co-host never takes her health – or loved ones – for granted.

Debbie Newsome always wore a brave face for devoted husband Mark Learmonth before her regular health checks. The star of 80s hit dating show Perfect Match has a family history of breast cancer. Her grandmother was a victim of Australia’s leading cause of cancer deaths in women, and more recently so was her Aunt Louise.

But glass-half-full Debbie, 51, always assured Mark, 54, she was different. She would live forever, she’d joke to put his mind at ease. That is, until a routine check-up last October when her doctor found a lump under her breast. The biopsy result was benign but it was the scariest wait of her life. “I don’t want anything to happen to me because of Mark,” says Debbie. “I don’t want him to be alone.”

By sharing her scare for the first time during October’s National Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, Debbie hopes to inspire other women to get checked. “I even make sure my daughter, who is just 22, gets checked, and if you can’t get to a doctor, at least do regular self-exams. You don’t need to have a family history.”

The former beauty queen says her love for sparky Mark is reason to stay healthy. The pair have been inseparable since the For Your Eyes Only Bond bombshell moved to NSW’s Central Coast 12 years ago to live with Mark. “I can’t imagine life without him – we’re just so the perfect match. My girlfriends call him my angel sent from heaven.”