Kylie Gillies on Family, Morning TV and Anti-Ageing

We love starting the day with a cuppa and The Morning Show, with the delightful Kylie Gillies and hilarious co-host Larry Emdur. So we loved getting to know Kylie – doesn’t she look amazing at 46? – in the latest issue of Prevention, on sale now.

What do you love about life right now?
That’s a broad one to open up with! It’s an interesting question because sometimes you have to remember life is really great. I get caught up with how busy life is, so I make the time to stop and be grateful. It’s easier said than done.

I can stop and bring myself into the moment but then I go, “Ah! What’s for dinner?!” What I love about life is my family. My husband Tony and I will have been married 25 years in May. I was a child bride (laughs). I was engaged at 20 and married two days after I turned 22. It’s young these days, I guess, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

When did you decide to start a family?
After 13 years of marriage, we had our children Gus and Archie [aged 11 and 9]. It was a conscious decision to wait. We both had really fulfilling careers [Tony is editor-in-chief of Australian Associated Press] but after about 11 years of marriage, we thought we were ready to have babies. It didn’t happen straight away—I had difficulties and I also wanted to do it on my calendar and my schedule.

How do you and Tony make it work while juggling two very busy careers?
I read these articles where people say, “we have a date night once a month” or “we check in with each other at the end of the day”. I think that’s fabulous but, in our life, it just doesn’t happen that way, we’re not that organised. Around Christmas time, I sent Tony an email called ‘Our Life’ and it had every day listed on it for the fortnight up until Christmas with the 65 different places I had to be, he had to be, the kids had to be. We should do that email for 52 weeks of the year but I’m not a great planner.

What’s your best remedy after a long day—a massage or a martini?
Neither! I try not to drink during the week and I haven’t got time for a massage. Real-estate reality TV shows are my guilty pleasure. I like that voyeuristic stuff where you get to look at people’s homes.

How do you stay energised?
I know it should be exercise, but I just don’t have a regular regime. Our house backs onto a park, so the boys will grab a footy, I’ll grab our dog Pepe and they’ll have a kick while I take Pepe for a little run. There are those people who have a great drive to exercise but I’m missing that gene. I like watching sport; I’m a Sydney Swans ambassador; I love AFL and was a sports reporter for many years. Those who can do, do. Those who can’t, report on it!

What’s your relationship like with Larry Emdur, your co-host on The Morning Show?
I’m really lucky, we have this great friendship. Don’t get me wrong, we give each other plenty of stick but it comes from a place of friendship. The feedback we get from people is that they enjoy watching because they feel like they are getting to see the real us and I take that as a great compliment.

Is it hard when you’re having a bad day but still have to turn it on for the cameras?
There is a certain pressure to turn up emotionally every day. You can’t have a bad day. You just have to park that at 9am and then say, “I will come back to that at 11:31am and deal with it then”. People in their lounge rooms might be having a bad day and they don’t need to see me having a bad day too! I just say, “Come on Laz, here we go”. Everyone has stuff that they have to deal with from time to time but once you get into the studio with the crew and Larry, it’s pretty easy to forget about things.

Signature dish? Anything in the slow cooker. I am a slow-cooking queen.

Guilty pleasure? Chocolate at bedtime. I’m kind of doing an at-home hotel turndown service.

Best anti-ageing tip? I wear heavy make-up every day, but I always take it off. It can be 2 o’clock in the morning but I always take off my make-up, and cleanse and moisturise, no matter what time it is.

Green smoothie or glass of wine? I had my first green smoothie last week—the ginger really burnt my mouth! I have to try one without ginger.

Last big belly laugh? Probably at 9.27am this morning on air with Larry [Emdur, Kylie’s co-host].

Photo: Fabrizio Lipari for Prevention