Sunny Side Up

EVER POSITIVE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY, TV VETERAN KERRI-ANNE KENNERLEY TELLS PAUL EWART HOW SHE’S LIVING A NEW KIND OF NORMAL

She’s forged a successful 50-year career in an industry that’s notorious for having more downs than ups, and has managed to build a happy marriage − one that’s approaching its 35th anniversary − in the process. But although veteran TV presenter and Logies Hall of Fame Inductee Kerri-Anne Kennerley − or ‘KAK’ to her friends − makes it look easy, behind the glitz and glam, her incredible story is one of strength, resilience, courage and hope.

Though she’s dominated our screens for years presenting Good Morning Australia, Midday with Kerri-Anne and Kerri-Anne, the bubbly Queenslander’s dazzling smile has belied multiple personal tragedies. A miscarriage at 36 robbed her of a chance at motherhood, and in 2012, she battled cancer after discovering a lump in her breast during a costume fitting while competing on Seven’s Dancing With the Stars.

She underwent surgery to remove two lumps and four lymph nodes, and had weeks of radiation therapy before finally being given the all-clear, but this brush with mortality prompted the small-screen stunner to realise that she wasn’t “bulletproof.”

“It does put things into perspective,” the 64-year-old tells Good Health. “Afterwards, you don’t really get too »be informed be nourished be energised be inspired simply be caught up with small stuff that used to bother or worry you − annoying things or annoying people. It also makes you realise how important your health is and subsequently the importance of exercise and diet. There’s so much new evidence that shows how beneficial exercise is to your brain and in helping prevent disease.”

Counting her blessings

Acknowledging that she previously had to “work at” exercising, Kerri-Anne’s cancer treatment ironically spurred on her fitness.