The real Hilary Barry The me you don't see

The beloved broadcaster talks to Emma Clifton about being an optimist in the face of online bullying and why she’s fallen in love with her husband all over again.

- Emma Clifton

Coming into a brand-new year, a tanned and relaxed-looking Hilary Barry apologises for her “holiday hair” as she chats to The Australian Women’s Weekly from her trip away in sunny Northland.

The summer weather is glorious and the energetic Seven Sharp presenter feels similarly bright as 2022 stretches ahead of us – although she points out that she said the same thing last time she spoke to us, at the beginning of 2021. This time, there’s a touch of realism thrown in there for good measure.

“I’m still full of optimism – I refuse to ever shed my optimism,” grins Hilary, 52. “But I would say that I’ve set my expectations on how the year will go pretty low. So anything that exceeds that, I’m going to be thrilled by. I’m prepared for the fact that there might be another time when I can’t leave Auckland or my travel plans might be disrupted again, so I’m coming into 2022 with a far more realistic expectation for how the year might unfold.”

Her plan is two-fold, she laughs. One, there’s nothing set in concrete in the calendar. And two, she’s going to be enjoying everything to the max when it does happen.

“That’s part of my cautious optimism,” Hilary says. “I absolutely will embrace doing things, but I’m probably not going to book them until a couple of weeks beforehand! That doesn’t sound like an optimistic person, but it’s an optimistic realist.”