00:00
If you're old enough to remember when phones had cords and the only thing that went viral was a cold, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the Big Six-O with Kaylee Harris and Guy Rowlison. Because who better to discuss life's second act than two people who still think mature is a type of cheese?

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everyone and welcome to another edition of The Big Six. I'm Kayleigh Harris and my co-host is my primary school buddy,  Guy Rolison.  Guy, here on The Big Six podcast, we love to reminisce about the days when we were kids. Notice I didn't say old days. I just said the days when we were kids.  And we also like to talk about what life is like now in our third age.  So we've had the privilege of speaking to some guests who have had amazing.

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lives themselves and I've said it before but I think everyone has a story to tell. Suzy Ellerman definitely has a story to tell and I hope we have enough time to cover it because it's such an extraordinary life. Suzy welcome. Thank you Kayleigh. Good day guys. How are you? Fabulous. We're going to play a bit of tennis I think. I think you are. It's a love game really. Yeah.

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Look, what I want to kick off with and because I've seen you on TV, I've seen you on radio,  is I want to know how you got into the medium. I mean,  you had a life as a Miss New South Wales and Miss Australia and  was that the launching pad into sort of public life?  It was really weird because it all started at my year 12 formal.  And prior to that, well, I had a woman come up to me and she said, I think you're Miss Australia material.

01:57
And I thought I was being G'd up by my schoolmates because all my life I've been what I guess my doctor referred to as being pleasantly plump.  I think that's dreadful, but anyway, that was his polite way of saying it.  And of course I slimmed down a little bit in the last couple of years of high school,  but I was really amazed. And anyway, I brushed it aside and then she went and saw my parents  and really sort of  was quite insistent.

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And so I deferred my studies. was actually going to go into teachers college. So I deferred my studies for 12 months, went and started as a house model for the house of Leroy.  And it's because I had to earn some money  and still living at home and then  spent that year fundraising because in those days from 1954 onward, the Miss Australia quest was

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run by the Australian Cerebral Palsy Association and all the proceeds in New South Wales went to the Spastic Centre of New South Wales, which is now Cerebral Palsy Alliance. And so I spent the year fundraising and of course at the end of the year, and in case people are wondering, was 1847 was the year, just in case you're casting your memory back. And of course it just changed the trajectory of my life because after being crowned with New South Wales, you then sign a contract.

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that you will work for them for 12 months. And then I toured the state.  I  went absolutely everywhere, including to Wollongong many times  and was a guest on a show, a morning show called Home Fair.  And at the end of my year, when I handed over my title,  I got a phone call from Wynn TV saying, would you like to come down and audition for a job? Now I had actually started PR, I should say,  what was then the rural bank, is then went on to become the state bank and doesn't exist anymore.

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And so I went down, auditioned for the job, got the job, moved to Wollongong and the show folded.  And so started my media career. Wow.  Oh my goodness. So show folded  not long after you started or before you even started? Kind of  as I was sort of moving and getting all set up. And the reason it folded, it had been going for years I might add, I think since the station had started,  but it was sponsored by David Jones.

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And the manager of David Jones in Wollongong  got a promotion to become  the head of  David Jones in Sydney, which of course were two stores in those days.  And he took all the budgets of all the money from all the David Jones stores and created what became Good Morning Sydney with Mooring Duval.  Which was the precursor to all of the morning shows that we know today. my goodness.  So  where did you grow up?

04:44
Well, I actually grew up on the Northern Beaches. Wollongong has always claimed me as their own, which I'm really chuffed about because I was actually 19, 20 when I moved to Wollongong. But I actually was born in Manly Hospital, which doesn't exist anymore. Grew up at Mona Vale. The Mona Vale Hospital doesn't exist anymore.  yes, and so I grew up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. What was growing up like on the Northern Beaches? it were you the surfer chick? you the what was it?

05:11
Was it like puberty blues or something like that? Well, think part of it was, it was a really mixed bag for me growing up in Sydney's North. I mean, it was the most fabulous place to grow up because you were really never bored. We lived, you know, a five, 10 minute walk from the beach. We lived on the main road and there was, we were one street back from the beach. It was just fantastic. So growing up and really sort of almost living in the country, but being in a city or a suburb was absolutely fabulous.

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except we were  one of the token wogs in the Northern Beaches. So we really copped it a lot.  I always say I won my last fight by about 100 metres.  I want to ask you about your parents because a very interesting history with your parents as well. Tell us about that. Yeah, very much so.  My mum and dad and my eldest brother came here as refugees.  My dad was a Holocaust survivor. He was a Polish Jew. He spent time in Auschwitz.

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And unfortunately, with the exception of he and his brother,  all my relatives on my dad's side were murdered during the war. Yeah, was really. And so they had the opportunity of going to America or Australia. And of course, back in those days, there were no  tourist bureaus.  There was certainly no hoag's shrimp on the barbie  or Ellen or Oprah or  Chris Hemsworth parents born at that stage.  So  all they knew was, and

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As dad said, they wanted to get as far away from Europe as they possibly can. And as our former prime minister put it so eloquently, we're at the ass end of the world.  So they chose to come to Australia and it was incredible. They went from a train from Germany to Italy. Then my eldest brother got chickenpox in Italy, so they were quarantined.  And what very little money they had left, they had to buy food.

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And then they boarded a converted American tanker. Mum said they had to put up towels to actually separate rooms from people.  then the horrendous six week journey where mum was seasick every single day.  Then they arrived in  Sydney.  Couldn't get a sea legs because they were whisked off by train to a camp in Bathurst.  And dad lasted one day.

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When he then took off, I don't know how he did it, but he managed to get from Bathurst to Sydney. Then he managed to get out to the Northern beaches.  I should point out that my dad could speak 11 languages when he arrived in Australia. It's just a shame not one of them was English.  So, has that shaped you? How has their history shaped you as a person? Oh, hugely.  Absolutely.

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It was really interesting because it wasn't until I went to Wollongong to start my media career,  which is so  European orientated, know, the still works  attracted so many different nationalities.  And because they were first generation, they all had their own clubs and their own  everything. And when I got to Wollongong, I felt at home  because they lived as Europeans. We lived at Europeans.

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inside the house because mum wasn't Jewish, I should point out. Dad was, but mum wasn't.  And so we kind of lived as Europeans inside the house and then tried to be Aussies  outside the house.  But it was a real sort of fish out of water, very much so.  so that  was hard at times because we didn't have any family. Like there was my two brothers. So  mum and dad came with my eldest brother, then my brother Eddie was born, then I was born.

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And then that was it. was always the five of us our whole lives. how did the whole television, because you had Susie running from 2007, 2008. Yeah. How did, where was the starting point as far as everything was concerned? You mean getting my own show? That's right. Okay. Very briefly. So I started at Wynn. I stayed at Wynn for 13 years, got poached by Channel 7, went to Channel 7 for a couple of years, but unfortunately Skace went belly up.

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So anyone whose contract was up and there was 87 of us in the newsroom were let go. So I came back to Wollongong, started doing a few things, a little bit of freelance work back at Wynn and then a bit at Prime. And then got the job, I got a couple of years at Capital and then started on Good Morning Australia with Bert and did that for like nine years, which was just unbelievable.

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going, being the Sydney based reporter presenter and then going to Melbourne like every week and fortnight, it was just bliss. And then working alongside someone like Burt Newton, mean,  it just doesn't get better than that. was that? Oh,  oh, it's,  I feel so privileged.  You know, people talk about Burt and anyone that's worked with him, but he was  the consummate professional. Just that his work ethic was extraordinary and his, his generosity as a

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performer.  I've often been  quoted saying that  Bert would set you up for a joke but he would let you down with a parachute, golden parachute, because he would always be the one that would bear the brunt of it.  Every single time you were with him he was so switched on. He never ever phoned in a performance ever, ever, ever in that nine years that I spent with him.

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And then we remained friends and as with Patty as well. And  I was very honoured and it was in the middle of COVID when Bert passed. And I was so honoured when  Patty said, and there was only 500 people allowed to be in the cathedral and so honoured that she said, no, there's a spot for you to be able to farewell.  Incredible man. Yeah, just amazing. I always get sidetracked. So bring me back to where I was. Oh, yes.

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And I, you know, I did Beauty and the Beast with Stan. There's lots of things that I did.  And then there was a real quiet time where  television did a real shift. There was a lot of shows that weren't being produced. Today we look at what's on television. Most primetime things now  are- Reality. Reality and they're realities that are, you know, that have come from overseas, et cetera. So I realized that  the pie

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pieces were not only getting smaller but the pie was shrinking so I had to create my own pie.  So I put together a pitch for Suzy  and pitched it to Bruce Gordon and the team at Wynn TV  and  the rest is modern history. Bruce said yes and so I came down to Wollongong. We produced it. It not only went out on the Wynn network but it went to  Channel 9 in Perth and Adelaide which was owned by Wynn at the time.

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So the only place you couldn't see, Susie, was in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. And Bahrain. They asked, but we said, you know, maybe next time. I want to continue along with your professional life as well. I had the pleasure of working with you at 2GB for many years. We both worked there. We're probably the only, maybe the only women that were there for a long time.

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Well, yes, I'm not allowed to talk about that. Okay. Because I was almost, well, I was almost sued by a certain company. And we won't broach. No, we won't. We go back when Kayleigh was having all her babies, I was lucky enough to fill in for her with hands-tow. Wow. You did. That's right. privilege. And that was incredible. babies and big kids. They're still kids, aren't they? So talented. Can we talk about your personal life? So going back

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You've never married?  Never married. And never had children? Never had children. Conscious decision? Very conscious decision. Very, very conscious. Well, funnily enough, a conscious decision as an adult, but I think a subconscious decision from a very, very early age.  I have come up with so many reasons  not to have children  over the years, but I think the catalyst certainly started long before I even realised.

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realised it. Are you happy to talk about that? Oh, yeah, I might cry. it  and I know you've been through something we have in common, something we do have in common.  And for me, this will be the second time in my entire life that I've actually verbalised it.  So I've ever.  Thank trusting us. Thank you. I've only I wrote it in my book. There was it kind of felt if I was going to do it  my life, I had to kind of there were bits of it that I couldn't leave out.

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So yeah, was  sexually assaulted just before my seventh This is 15 minutes of fame, right? Is this the book? Yes, yes, yes. And that will absolutely change my entire life. Was that somebody you knew? Yes,  yes,  unfortunately.  But  I knew  that if,  and aside from being threatened, that I would be killed if I

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told anybody  and you know as an almost seven year old you take that pretty seriously but even that aside I knew  that life would change  more for the worst  if I said something.  Now that might sound really strange but my dad was European.

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He was as strict as anything.  In fact, probably if he'd have known what happened to me  at that early age, he might not have been as strict with me  as I got a little bit older.  But he was  really that European where the boys could do anything they wanted, but his precious little daughter couldn't. And I knew that if I had gone to him and told him what had happened,  I would have spent my life with him being in jail because

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there would be no question with what he went through in World War II, he would have  either done serious damage, possibly killed that person. Did your parents ever know? No. Still to this day? Still to this day.  No. Oh my goodness.  Thank you for sharing that. And I actually, yeah, the person that did it is now dead.  you ever get a chance to front them? I did,  but it was

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It was too late. It was,  I thought they would have just said, look, I'm really, really sorry, but no. And  it was at a situation where when I saw them,  it wasn't worth it.  What motivated you to explore that? And so as readers  would be, you know, aware of- You mean why I actually hunted out, well, I didn't hunt out that person, but I had the opportunity  of

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coming in contact with them, something that I had avoided for most of my life.  What happened to you as a seven year old? Did that contribute to you? Not wanting to have children? A hundred percent,  a thousand percent. You would have been too worried about them?  Yes.  My parents, like my dad was hard. He was hard work.  He had PTSD, which of course didn't have a title back then.

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So we walked on eggshells a lot around him, but he was a beautiful man and an incredible provider and  you know, just had these terrible demons.  But my mother was the best mother you could possibly have because she did a lot of the shadowing  of, know, like keeping us away from what could have been a much,  I guess, more brunt from Dad, if that makes sense. Not that Dad would ever have hurt us, not quite the contrary, but

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And I guess these days his bark was far worse than his bite. But mum was the best mum on earth. And I knew I couldn't be a patch on her. And I thought, if she can't protect me, how could I possibly even think that I could protect  a child of mine? It's a  parent's nightmare. Absolutely.  so when, but it's a parent's nightmare when you don't have what's in the back of my mind or your mind. you know what I mean. I've been a step mum.

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And that's been very rewarding. And I'm an enduring guardian and power of attorney of my nephew, We want to talk about Matthew. Yeah, I want to talk about his story as well and how that came to be. But before we get to that, all the men in your life,  have there been a lot of loves of Suzy? Oh,  how long have you got?  Oh my gosh. I've been the worst person in choosing men.  And again, I think,  I think

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Because, and I guess it all relates to it, you know?  Because my age,  and I am over 60,  back when I was young, if you got married, the next step was always children.  And I think that's one of the reasons why I never bothered to get married. I mean, I was in long-term relationships.  I was in relationship for 11 years, one was 10 years,  one was eight years, you know, I've been in, but I've never wanted to actually physically marry them.

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Because then the pressure has always been, oh, you're married, you're going to have children. So I think that was a real conscious decision.  And oh yeah, no, I've been terrible. I'm disastrous with men.  Disasterous. There were probably one or two that weren't necessarily someone you would have chosen. And I'm  just going to roll forward to the opera house and  the opening and all that sort of thing. And you know where I'm going with this. I do.

19:08
Look, share it with us.  OK, well, this goes way, back to my Miss New South Wales days. And I had not long been crowned. So very fresh. Remember, I'm an 18 year old, quite naive.  And  I'm at one of the big official functions that the  that the quest had to raise funds. And there were hundreds of people there. And I was introduced to this man.

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who I didn't know who he was, right? Short little man, sort of these sort of bushy eyebrows and what have you, very forceful. And I met him as I met a lot of people.  And not long after he came over and he undid my handbag, which was on my arm, and put his hotel key, his Boulevard hotel key.  I'm sure people who are,  will know who used to stay regularly at the Boulevard hotel.

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And I should point out that this bloke is like in his 40s. So I'm thinking, you're my dad's age.  What are you doing? And so I took it out and gave it back to him and said, thanks, but no thanks. But he persisted and he kept doing like throughout the night. And  then he'd sort of move on to other people. So I kept putting it back in his pocket. And in the end, I had to kind of keep.

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an eye out for him because I thought this is getting out of hand as the night was getting on.  So  fast forward, at the end of my reign, I find out that I've been invited to open the opera house with the Queen. I'm sworn to secrecy.  This is like, oh my God, are you for real?  I couldn't tell anyone.  And then they did all the, all the.

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checks back and forth. In those days, there's no fax machine. It's all done by snail mail. All the police checks, absolutely everything, so that's fine. But then, of course, there's the opera house that's been delayed because of design faults and strikes. I find out that the fellow that kept putting his keys in,  of course, in those days was the head of the ACTU.

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So I think to myself, hmm, maybe if I'd have gone back to his hotel,  I could have convinced him to get the strikes not to be delayed. And I could have opened the opera house with the Your place in history would have been sealed. Would have been sealed. But the funny thing is, if you fast forward, I think it was in the mid 90s.  And there was  a  something gardens, was a thing in Pitt Street, a new shopping complex that was opening up.

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And Max Markson had invited Maria Venuti myself and this gentleman who had subsequently gone on to be our prime minister. So I thought, oh, this will be interesting. So I met him and introduced myself. Oh, nice to meet you. And I said, you probably don't remember, but we met. He go, oh, really? Did we do it? Yeah. So I relayed the story to him to which his reply was, which floored me.

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Did you come back? Which said to me, somebody must've. That's right. Thank goodness it wasn't you. And I went, no. And he looked me up and down and went, well, that's a shame. Oh, that's a great story. You could have been our very own Monica Louise. I could have been the first lady. You couldn't be. So did he think you were the game?

22:55
Oh, must have. Look, think  when you carry that much power, whether it's PM or whether it's head of a union or what have you,  and again, going back, we're talking about 1847. You  we're not talking about today where women  have more power. And I think because we can't, there's so much social media that people don't get away with as much as they used to.  But back then, we were second class citizens to so many people. Well, we've talked about that.

23:25
Yeah, and I think the media itself,  particularly traditional media, is honest enough with itself now to  know that stuff that happened in the  80s,  I shudder to think  the things that

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you would know as well as I do what happened. And even when I was pregnant with my first child, my boss at the time said, well, you can't take maternity leave. And I said, well, no, he goes, well, it's just not a thing in our business. And I believe it was the law, but I believed him and I went, oh, okay. That's the thing. When I started working in television and I was working with these amazing women, as soon as they got pregnant, they had to resign. There was no maternity leave back when we started.

24:18
Well, I had six weeks and came back after the first child and I can remember, you know, expressing in the toilets during the news breaks just to keep that going. And I  regret it now that I didn't spend as much time with my babies as I probably should have.  But that was just the way it was and we didn't think. And also there were so few jobs for women back then  that you really couldn't be in a position to say,

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Oh no, I'm having three months off or six more, heaven forbid 12 months. Oh yeah, just didn't happen. Career suicide.  Yet blokes can have children or  their wives can have the children  and still  their career doesn't even have a hitch. Well these days blokes get paternity leave as well, which they never got. That's right. True. And you've been open with your  confronting these issues. Has anything really changed in the media or is it evolving? Is it evolving at a quick enough?

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place that we can say, isn't glacial. Look, I think it is, it is changing.  But I still think for instance, I always remember  Clive Robertson, who again,  so honored and so privileged to have worked alongside genius, incredible man.  And of course we worked together at Channel 7. So I used to fill in for Newswell for him. And just as an aside, I remember

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The crew sang to me,  oh, wait till Clive finds out a woman's doing his show, you know, that sort of thing. And he did it. He wasn't. He really admired me. He was incredible. He wasn't the misogynist that everyone painted him to be. But I can remember him saying at the time, because  Rebecca LaTourne was on air and she got told she couldn't wear glasses.  And Clive said, you know,  in television, in commercial television, he said,

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They would not employ a woman that looked like me, bespectacled and slightly overweight.  And that was true though, wasn't It is true. Yeah. Very true. Yeah. Even when I was at Channel 7 in the mid eighties,  yeah, there was rules and regulations and unspoken rules and regulations as well.  Also in those days, which  when you think about it, there was, I think every manager, A, had his own office, not this open plan these days.

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But in that was a bar fridge and it was stopped. And the long lunches that used to take place and the condition of the management that used to come in, the stuff they got away with was unbelievable. Back in 1847. Yeah, then, even in 1947. Can we change the tone? I think you mentioned it, Kayleigh, about your advocacy for National Carers Week. Oh, yes. Yeah. Can you walk me through that? Sure.

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As I mentioned, I'm an Enduring Guardian and Power of Attorney of my nephew, Matthew, who is now 36. He'll be 37 this year. And Matt was born 16 weeks preemie and he died several times during his birth and spent the first three months of his life in a humidity crib. And he is now severely disabled with cerebral palsy. He requires 24-7 care, two-person manual handling.

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He's in a group home,  which is  staffed 24-7. He also goes to a day program where he gets one-on-one. So he's on the really the extreme end of someone with a disability.  And so for me, his carers are his life. You know, I have an enormous, I've just seen him today. He comes to me after hydrotherapy and has lunch and what have you.  And everything he relies on comes from his carers.

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and they are just the salt of the earth. If you get a good carer, oh my gosh, they're worth their weight in gold, and they get paid peanuts. Absolute nut of peanuts. And they've got all care and all the responsibility. You know, I get so angry at things, you know, like train drivers who go on strike because they want to earn more than 120 grand a year, you know. And these guys are lucky to get 25, 30 bucks an hour. And they've got his life in their hands. It's just extraordinary.

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I will always promote carers. Has that shaped your opinion about caregivers over the years  or what they're entitled to, what they should be getting  and their place in society? I think  it's not just carers in disability or aged care,  nurses, all those frontline people who really have such an enormous responsibility. They're earning the same amount of money as someone who's waiting a table and they've got no propensity to get a tip.

29:02
It just doesn't sit right with me. Yeah. Let's talk about your books now. I want to talk about your first book, which was Half My Size, A Thinking Person's Diet. And you were voted Australia's most dynamic author in 2006. Tell us about that first book. Well, I've had, as I said, a weight problem all my life, pleasantly plump from a very early age. And I think the catalyst for me to write the book and to certainly lose the weight

29:32
Because my emotions are linked to my eating. And so I think when I'm at my worst time is when I'm at my biggest size. And so that whole emotional roller coaster. And I remember  making the worst dressed list of Who magazine in that black and white dress at the Logies.  Where Julietta Jamison, very clever journalist wrote that I looked like a herd.

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of zebras rampaging down the Red Cup.  Which is a gel, it's just fantastic.  I don't think I laughed at it at the time, but I can see the joke now. And that I think was certainly the catalyst for me to lose in excess of 50 kilograms. And I thought, well, it's time for me to write my journey. Because my dad had two service stations, I wrote the book.

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and did it as a journey like a car. So I likened everything about, you you make and model and what you  would like to carry yourself around in what sort of car and all that sort of stuff and, you know, junk in the trunk and  all that, just so that people  could relate. Because what I wasn't doing was I was abusing my body. I was, because I was punishing myself.

30:55
And therefore I had to prize it and therefore I had to make it something, you know, people say, oh, I think of your body as a temple, you know, well, I do the temple of do.  So I had to kind of almost take it out of myself and put it something that I value. And so I thought the car I've always wanted is a red Mercedes convertible. So that's what I'm going to be and put the top down in summer.

31:20
As long as you don't pull the top down in summer, that's  okay. You've seen some of my Logan's  dresses. A bit late to tell me that now,  But you've worn so many creative hats, whether it's as an author or within the media. What continues that spark  and  are you evolving as you sort of... It's called survival.  When you don't... But see, I never went to university or college or...

31:47
There were no courses when I started, know, dare I say, well, 50 years ago. And so therefore you got a role with the punches. You know, I'm single, I've got to pay my own way. Unfortunately, the men in my life have probably lived off me more than I've lived off them, unfortunately. So I've always had to provide for myself. And again, you asked me about my parents as an inspiration. When they landed in Australia,

32:17
They had five pound in their pocket, which is the equivalent to about 10 bucks. A chest, which had stuff that my mother had brought with it, clothes and stuff, a suitcase, and a two and a half year old.  And  that's what we do. That's what I learned all my life. Everything was always, well, you can do it. No one else is gonna do it for you if you don't do it. Mum's catch cry was, what's the worst thing they can say? No.

32:46
Yeah, so  it is. To me, yeah, that's the drive.  And also I can't work like I don't need the money.  Tell us about,  you've  sort of, you've spoken about your authentic self now and who you are and you stopped dying your hair.  I'm so much admiration for you for doing that and  I don't think I could be that brave.  And you've got your hearing aids, you're an ambassador for Connect Hearing. Another thing I'm thinking, look at you and I go, my gosh, you're fucked.

33:15
I wish I had more courage because then I'd be able to hear better. It like I could go and do it. Well, we take the hair first, it really interesting. I started getting grey hairs at probably 15, 16. Really? Yeah. I had more grey hairs at 21 than my mum had at 71 when she passed away. Yeah, wow. And I honestly thought about seven or eight years before I turned 50, I was convinced I was going to have beautiful silver white hair like Rowena Wallace.

33:44
So I told myself at age 50, I was going to shave my head. So I did.  And it's the most empowering thing I've ever done. It was just, I felt so free. But when it grew back, you know how people complained about mousy brown hair? Yeah. This was rat grey. Yeah. It was so unfashionable. What's rat grey? Rat grey has too much pepper, not enough salt. Right, okay. So it was really, it  was horrible and ageing.  In fact, I did an audition at Foxtel.

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with that involved Tony Barber. I did the audition, I didn't do it with Tony, but if I got the gig, it would have been with Tony. And I got told I looked too old.  Oh, it's Tony Barber. Yes, yes.  Love you, Tony, but know, he's in his 80s.  And so I had to dye it again. I had to sort of go blonde for a while, which was great because I'd always been, you know, jet black hair.  And I thought blondes.

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I  just thought they got dirty quicker.  They do have more fun, there's no doubt about it.  And yeah, and then it was sort of a few, I think it wasn't until I hit 60 that it was gray enough to be able to actually wear it naturally and I love it. And hearing aids is something I've been  wearing hearing aids now for, I think I'll go back now about 20 years, but  I wished there were hearing aids around to help me when I started losing my hearing.

35:12
in about my  20s and definitely into my  30s. Really? Yeah, very much so. And we think it might have been as a result of Meniere's disease. And I can actually remember the three or four occasions when I had these sort of terms that would be defined as a Meniere's sort of episode, I guess,  because I've lost the lower register. I can hear a pin drop. I just can't hear conversation. Yeah. Which is...

35:41
hard. And everyone's hearing is different. You lose it for different reasons, whether it's industrial deafness, whether it's a misspent youth. We all lose it differently and lose, yeah, that sort of thing. So do you think people are ageing differently than our parents did? We are ageing differently than our parents did. And that's a good thing, I think. It's a great thing. It's a great thing. Because what we've learned

36:10
and particularly with hearing aids,  is that if you ignore your hearing, then there is  research, I mean, I'm no doctor, but  I know there's research available that will tell you that there is a higher risk of you getting dementia.  Because what happens is, and anyone that's losing their hearing does this, you tend to start isolating yourself.  And the old adage, if you don't use it, you lose it.  And a lot of people,

36:39
avoid areas like background noise in restaurants, so many places, concerts. I don't go to concerts,  although now with my new hearing aids that have got AI technology in them and they block out the extraneous noise, I'm going to try going to a concert. I'm going to be  sensible about it. But it is, you do tend to sort of  not do things because of it. And I think

37:05
when you understand that you've got hearing loss, you can live with it. And there's  the technology that's around.  My phone's Bluetooth to my hearing aids. So my phone rings, it can ring in my handbag and all I have to do is tap my ear and answer it.  It's fantastic. I've got a little apparatus that goes the back of my telly. The telly comes through my hearing aids and then I take it with me and it's an omnidirectional microphone.

37:31
There is so much technology around today for people with hearing loss. There's no excuse.  And it's different, I mean, obviously aging is different and we need to embrace that. Very much so. Very much so. Rather than going, oh my gosh, I'm not  going to wear them because they'll make me look old. Old is not a bad thing. It's certainly better than the alternative, right? You bet.  And also, I mean, people,  you can't get much shorter hair than mine.

37:56
And when I talk about hearing loss and wearing hearing aids, people go, you don't wear hearing aids?  And I flip them out and they go, oh, I can't even see them.  Yet people will walk around with those white eye  ear buds things to know that there is  and think nothing of it. It's like, That's right. And as you say, getting older is the preferable option. Oh, yeah.  What's life like now for you?  And knowing where you are now.

38:22
What's in the future and what would you have told 18 year old Susie, apart from taking people's hotel cards and saying, no, thank you.  What, what, what. Don't say no.  What's the next thing? What's the next stage as far as you're concerned?  I am still very, very active in everything I do.  I'm still doing television. I'm still doing radio. I'm still doing brand ambassadorships with  a couple of corporate companies and things like that.  Mainly because  obviously I've got to earn money, but.

38:52
But I can't see myself ever not working. I if I was in a position where I didn't have to, you know, like work, work, I would still do stuff, you know?  That to me is really important, engaging  and all of that. It's, yeah, I don't think of myself as ageing. You know, I don't sort of think,  oh, I shouldn't be doing this because I'm this age. Some things I do wear clothes I do now. I sort of think, oh, no, no, I think that's...

39:21
Bit long in the tooth for that.  But as far as  working and going places, I'm so independent. My life just gets filled up. It's  fabulous. I wouldn't mind a bloke.  Guy says that all the time.  It's a Saturday night thing.  Would you have told 18-year-old Susie, this is where you're going to be at this point in your life? Or did 18-year-old Susie have something else that she wanted to do? No, no idea.

39:51
she was doing.  No idea whatsoever. No, not at all. think,  as I said, I was going to go to teachers' college. I really didn't...it  was not something that, you know, I yearned to be a journalist or I yearned to be a  something or other.  I didn't really. I think I  was just trying to sort of learn life. You know, we were, yeah, just sort of growing up and experiencing things and...yeah.

40:21
Would you give advice to anyone that may be looking to not so much emulate you,  particularly when we're talking about women in media,  is there any advice now that would be altered today in today's environment compared with say 10 or 15 or 20 years ago? I think the whole landscape of media today has changed so much and there is, there are a lot of opportunities obviously  in social media. I don't know that they pay terribly much, but.

40:49
But I think it's like, I think it's anything in life. It doesn't matter whether it's whether you're my age or whether you're 18. I think you've just got to pitch for things. You've got to put yourself out there. You've to have a little bit of a hootspar to be able to be ahead of the rest. I went through a time where it was getting really tough. I've been dirt poor, like not dirt poor in a sense. That's probably a bad way of putting it.

41:18
Not knowing where my next dollar was coming from, twice in my life, and didn't like it at all, not good at all. But I remember a mate of mine, because I was like then calling and just trying to get work everywhere you could, and I remember a mate of mine had to go as a guarantor for me for something, and I remember him ringing me back and goes, I don't care how poor you are, mate, you're not working for that so-and-so.  He said, looks like you're going to have to look under far more rocks than that one.

41:48
And I've never forgotten that.  Okay, I'm start turning some more rocks. And that's what it's all about.  If you can't find it, you've got to create it.  Really. Fantastic advice. Isn't it really?  When you think about it. Thank you so much for your time, Susie. My pleasure. been fabulous having you on the Big Sixo podcast.  No one gets a word in edgeways.  Wouldn't have it any other Exactly. Exactly. Thank so much for your time.

42:15
The views and opinions expressed on the Big Six O are personal and reflect those of the hosts and guests.  They do not represent the views or positions of any affiliated organisations  or companies.  This podcast is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. Please consult with a qualified professional for guidance on any personal matters.  Ah, and before we go,  let's give credit where credit is due.

42:44
Kaylee Harris and I came up with all the genius content for this week's episode.  Our producer,  Nick Abood,  well he keeps the lights on and makes sure we don't accidentally upload a cat video instead of a podcast. thanks for keeping us on track Nick.  Nick?  Nick?