Time changes everything! ANTONIA'S EXCITING MILESTONE

The livewire actress is relishing the chance to pause and ponder what matters most at 40

- Emma Clifton

This month, Antonia Prebble has turned 40 and despite ticking off so many of the lucky life achievements one associates with that great career, newly married, two kids - she admits the reality of the milestone birthday is a world away from what she expected.

"When I was younger, I always thought 40 was really old," she laughs. "Someone who was 40 was a real grown-up. They knew what life was about, they had it all figured out. But now, being 40 myself, those ideas have absolutely fallen away. I definitely don't have all the answers and I also don't feel old! I'm just on the journey of life."

The tail-end of Antonia's thirties were extremely adult in nature - she gave birth to Freddie, now four, and Gus, two, starred in multiple television series, including Westside, Shortland Street and Double Parked, and "managed to squeak in" marrying her long-term love Dan Musgrove after a pandemic and a devastating house fire delayed their big day for years. This long list of achievements, coupled with the challenges, might also explain why she feels such a "seismic shift" at reaching the milestone.

"Turning 21, turning 30... they just felt like an excuse for a big party," she smiles. "But turning 40 does feel different. It feels like quite a significant milestone because even though I don't feel how I thought I would, it does seem like the beginning of a new chapter."

There are plans for a party lined up for later in the year, but as she and Dan only just tied the knot in March, Antonia jokes that it's a bit too soon to bring everyone back together again for another gathering in her honour. There's a quieter plan for a birthday dinner with her husband in the meantime, but also a gradual arrival of something that has eluded Antonia for a lot of her adult life: time.