GOING WITH the flow

The past year has thrown a few big curveballs at Kanoa Lloyd. She talks to Phoebe Watt about her new approach to handling her anxiety and taking things as they come

Summer looks good on Kanoa Lloyd. I mean, everything looks good on Kanoa Lloyd. But you get the sense that if she could spend the rest of her days in togs, jandals and billowy shirts, chasing her salty, sandy, boisterous dog Brown down the beach, she would. Even with no ocean views to speak of – say, at a central Auckland café a stone’s throw from the television studio where she co-hosts Three’s The Project five nights a week – she’ll find a patch of sun and be instantly in her happy place. At our interview, she shows up wearing a white dress, a huge smile, and little hint of the anxiety that has crippled her in the past.

“I think it comes down to having built a solid enough foundation that I’m not rocked by the unexpected,” says the 33-year-old, reflecting on the progress she’s made in managing her mental health. When we spoke a year ago, she was all about identifying the things that would help her get back on track after an anxious episode.

“Now I’m more focused on what I need to do to be on track all the time, so that change isn’t derailing, it’s just a fork in the road and I’m in charge of deciding which way to go.”

It occurs that this progress was achieved just in time. In October, Kanoa was among the 500-plus MediaWorks employees to learn – allegedly just six minutes before the general public – that the cash-strapped media company was putting its TV arm up for sale. With no interested buyers to speak of, and rumours then-circulating that the network could be closed by Christmas, joblessness was a real possibility. The old Kanoa might’ve spiralled into a panic at the prospect. “But when the news came through, I was just like, ‘Okay, I guess this is what we’re dealing with now!’”

Optimistic thinking