PIPPA WETZELL ‘It's about being a role model – not a supermodel!'

The chilled-out TVNZ presenter and mother-of-three has a refreshing attitude when it comes to giving life a fair go, writes Emma Clifton.

- Emma Clifton

While motherhood might feel like an area where people never seem short of an opinion, Pippa Wetzell is not here to give you any parenting advice. Despite the fact that she has a very happy home life with her three children – Brodie, 14, Cameron, 11, and Taj, 10 – the TVNZ 1 star is keen to impress that she and husband Torrin Crowther are “just muddling through, to be honest”.

The 44-year-old is a big believer, however, that “good role-modelling is the most important thing you can do for them”. Particularly when it comes to raising two girls with healthy body images, she’s very aware of walking the talk.

“My kids are very used to seeing me not looking particularly glamorous and eating whatever,” she says. “I’m very normal in that I have times where I think, ‘Oh, I wish I was a few kilos lighter,’ or, ‘I wish this was a bit more this or a bit less this...’ But I’m OK with that.”

Balancing the childhood fixation on fast food with the teenage need for good fuel – particularly over summer, with multiple trips to the dairy for ice creams – is always a conversation that comes from a health perspective, not a beauty one, Pippa says.

“I had someone close to me – when I was my daughter’s age – suffer from anorexia and even though it was a long time ago, I watch my girls and how they think about food, and they don’t even think about it. They have a great relationship with food, which is something I’m so grateful for as I get a lot of enjoyment out of food as well. My view and the way that we approach parenthood is that we’re the role models in terms of how you feel about yourself and how you look.”