Socialising & Serendipity

TV AND RADIO STAR AMANDA KELLER CHATS TO PAUL EWART ABOUT MORNING HUNGER PANGS, MOTHERHOOD, AND THE RECENT MENTAL HEALTH REVELATION THAT CHANGED HER LIFE

- Paul Ewart

Confident, courageous, funny, and ridiculously talented – at 57, Amanda Keller has scaled the ladder to become one of the country’s most successful women in media. In between co-hosting WSFM’s top-rating breakfast show, and long-running TV program The Living Room on Ten, she’s also built a strong marriage (one that’s just shy of its 30-year anniversary) and conquered fertility struggles to raise two happy boys.

Suffice to say, this is one busy lady. So how does she find internal equilibrium amidst all of these commitments? Turns out, it’s pretty simple. She’s learned to say ‘no’.

“I’ve realised the value in terms of mental wellbeing of just being in my own home on the weekend with nothing to do,” the blonde beauty tells Good Health & Wellbeing. “No one coming over, no plans, no social events to get to… it’s just bliss.”

Mental time out

This is typical Amanda. Rather than hanging out with celebrities or attending glitzy red-carpet events, she’ll take dog walks and TV-watching sessions on the sofa with her hubby and two teenage sons, any day of the week. Ironically, learning how to achieve this mental headspace was fuelled by adding to her workload when she signed on to co-host the recent series of Dancing With the Stars earlier this year.

“At 57 you don’t get offered many new opportunities or get » to test yourself,” she says. “So, I thought I’d take up the challenge, and I’m glad I did. I absolutely loved it. But for the 10 weeks the show was on air, I shut my social life down. I thought, ‘Okay, to preserve my sanity, I’m gonna shut up shop a little’, so I didn’t go out on Saturday and I didn’t see people on Sunday… and it was so good for me.