DELILAH HAS HEALED MY HEART

MasterChef star Julie Goodwin's heart overflows with love for her adorable granddaughter, who has her famous granny wrapped around her little finger

- Phillip Koch

Julie Goodwin lets out one of those belly laughs that put an instant smile on the faces of all in her orbit as she sheepishly admits that one of the first words her two-year-old granddaughter Delilah uttered was "cookie" "She's just burst into our lives.

I couldn't have foreseen what she has done to our hearts. You love your children so much, you feel like you're going to bust with it, and then a grandchild comes and a whole new part of you opens up," Julie, 52, tells Woman's Day.

She and her husband, Mick, 53, recently returned from a week holidaying on the NSW south coast with the entire family - including Delilah, her parents Tom, 26, and Crystal, their eldest son Joe, 27, and youngest son Paddy, 25, and his girlfriend Brooke.

"It was fricking unreal," says Julie. "We're all very close. It's like herding cats. We've all got different commitments, and it took months to nail them down. We have dinner together all the time, but to have a whole week together was just beautiful." Julie unashamedly loves that Joe and Paddy still live at home on the NSW Central Coast in the same house she and Mick bought long before she became one of Australia's most recognisable faces when she beat Poh Ling Yeow to win the inaugural season of MasterChef Australia in 2009.

"I've never thought, 'I can't wait until they leave home! I dread them all being gone," she admits, explaining that Tom and Crystal only live five minutes away, allowing her precious daily time with Delilah.