The renaissance of KERRE Woodham

After the beloved broadcaster tripped the light fantastic on Dancing with the Stars, she tells Wendyl Nissen she's found her joy again after a dark time and shares the lesson she wants other women to know.

- Wendyl Nissen

In recent weeks, broadcaster Kerre Woodham has been described as "classy and hilarious", "a perennial star and a perennial celebrity", "X-rated nana entertainment" and "the very definition of a wahine toa".

"There's certainly plenty to work with there for my obituary," laughs 57-year-old Kerre, who has earned these many plaudits by agreeing to be a competitor on the reality television show Dancing with the Stars NZ.

It was something she had turned down for many years, but in 2022? Well, she just felt like pushing herself a little bit after two years of "living in Covid times" left her feeling lonely and unable to find any joy in her life.

Kerre had left her marriage in 2019 and really struggled through lockdown on her own. Even though she had friends around her, she felt starved of love and was getting up every morning to do a radio show where the many negatives that Covid released in people were aired day after day.

"It's no secret that I hated Covid and what it did to me," she says. "I'm a person who needs to be doing things, to be out and about, to be surrounded by friends and family, and none of that happened in those two years."

With her trademark frank honesty that has earned her a legion of loyal fans, she admits, "I was in a very terrible place. I was in a state of flux. I had no idea what I was doing. I had nothing to focus on and my default is to drink when that happens, which makes me get fatter and fatter. I was feeling unlovely and unlovable."

When the chance to get back on TV with DWTS came up, she confesses she had nothing to lose.

"You get to a certain stage when you look at yourself in the mirror, and you know that everybody can see that you have completely and utterly let yourself go. You have given up."