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P CTURES: GETTY MAGES, NEWSP XCELEBRITY INTERVIEW
rom landing her first TV roles
at age 13 to running off to find
fame in New York at 19, an
ill-fated marriage followed by
an enduring romance and a stellar
career in live TV spanning 30 years,
Kerri-Anne Kennerley has certainly
led an interesting life.
Now “KAK”, as she’s affectionately
known, finally tells all in her no-holds-
barred autobiography. But, of course,
the most recent chapters involving her
husband John’s accident (he suffered
a spinal cord injury after a fall in March
2016 and is now a quadriplegic) were
words Kerri-Anne, 64,
says she would “give
anything” to delete.
Here she shares why,
despite some extremely
dark days, she refuses
to wallow, instead
preferring to carry on
living her bold life.
y:^ You’ve finally written your
autobiography. Why now?
Kerri-Anne: John gave me the nudge.
I think he wanted to keep me busy
with something fun to focus on. I’m
not very good at sitting in one place
‘You can’t
wallow in
self-pity’
Australian TV legend KERRI-ANNE KENNERLEY,
64, has experienced plenty of highs and lows
in her life but has never lost her (champagne!)
glass half-full mentality,Melissa Fieldwritesldi hfitTV l A
for a long time, so I resisted at first but
then I thought, Why not? John’s always
kept scrapbooks of my career – since
1981 – and he’s still very sharp and
remembers everything, so it was fun
to look back – at the good and the bad.
y:What were the most difficult parts
to write about?I needed to hold back on. John was
supportive and so when it came to
writing about my miscarriage or first
marriage in which I experienced
domestic violence, or breast cancer,
then I felt strongly that I had to do
it as openly and honestly as I could.
y:How has John’s awful accident
anged your day-to-day existence?
rri-Anne: You never think your
sband’s going to end up quadriplegic
ter a small fall, but it’s happened.
Would I love to have a time machine
d be able to go back so his accident
dn’t happen? Of course, but that’s not
alistic. But don’t ask me to like where
e’re at now because sometimes I feel
sentful that John and I no longer have
e fab life we were enjoying together
well, it’s 80 per cent destroyed – but
you can’t wallow in self-pity because it’s
not constructive or practical.
y:^ Has the accident had a significant
financial impact on you?‘John’s
always kept
scrapbooks
of my career
and he’s still
very sharp’about? y
ch
Ker
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aft
W
an
did
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Kerri-Anne: The things I’ve been through
are no different to things countless
other Australian women have been
through, so there was nothing I felt
PERFECT 10!
Kerri-Anne gets
full marks for her
amazing career