Rob Farnham places his hand on his heart as he talks about his father, unwittingly drawing attention to a bold tattoo poking through the top of his shirt. The swirling cursive letters spell the title of his favourite song, Playing to Win, one of his dad John Farnham’s biggest hits, and a mantra the family has lived by for decades.
“I was in my 20s when I got it. I thought it was a good outlook to have on life,” says the 42-year-old actor and musician, noting that the script forever inked on his heart has taken on new significance of late.
“You have to keep positive and not get bogged down,” he tells The Weekly, referring to his father’s recent battle with cancer. “It’s cruel and brutal but they’re the cards you’re dealt in life and cancer doesn’t care who you are. We are really proud of him. He’s inspiring us every day, but then again, he always has.”
In August last year, the nation held its collective breath when the Farnham family announced that their adored husband and father, John, would immediately undergo a marathon 13-hour surgery after finding a cancerous tumour in his mouth. The diagnosis was an especially brutal blow because John was still reeling from the passing of his dear friend, Olivia Newton-John, just weeks earlier, and the sudden death that February of his long-time manager and best mate, Glenn Wheatley, from complications related to COVID-19.
Mercifully, John’s operation was a success. Indeed, he has recovered so well that the Farnham and Wheatley families have now turned their attention to a project dear to all their hearts – finishing the film that Glenn started before his death, John Farnham: Finding the Voice.
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の May 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の May 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
