To say the last six months have been busy for Sunrise colleagues Natalie Barr and Edwina Bartholomew is certainly an understatement.
Nat replaced Samantha Armytage as co-host of the popular breakfast program, alongside David ‘Kochie’ Koch, back in March. As a result, Eddie stepped into Nat’s shoes as newsreader.
Watch: Natalie Barr reveals Sunrise COVID-19 scare live on air
Both women have plenty of years of experience under their belts, but they tell New Idea that they never stop learning on the job.
“People say to me, ‘Oh, you’ve filled in as host heaps of times, you will be fine,’” says Nat. “But it’s very different being in the role 24/7.”
Eddie, 38, says she’s especially lucky to still have Nat, 53, on hand to help with her role, which the seasoned journalist held for 18 years!
“It’s been great to have Nat as a sounding board for all the things I’m not sure of –particularly how to pronounce the names of obscure WA cities,” she says with a laugh.
But a life in the public eye also comes with a lot of criticism, and both Nat and Eddie are no strangers to online trolls. While they agree it’s difficult not to hit back, they have learnt to ignore the noise.
“I think the easiest thing is to block them and not get sucked in,” says Nat.
As for Eddie, her views on trolling completely changed when she welcomed her daughter, Molly, in 2019.
“I used to weigh into it a lot more and fixate on it, but it can be really bad for your mental health,” she adds.
“I take the same approach as Nat now and I tend to block, occasionally I engage if I think it’s informative … but I don’t go further down that rabbit hole because it’s a fruitless waste of time.”
Instead, Eddie is thrilled to be focusing on the impeding arrival of her second child. And as a mother of two boys herself, Nat was the first colleague to pick up on the telltale pregnancy signs.
“Eddie was feeling queasy one morning and as someone who was sick through both my pregnancies, you notice the signs,” Nat explains.
Although, Nat does admit she is envious over Eddie’s ability to “cruise through” pregnancy, adding that her pal is a very “calm” mum-to-be.
Since the pair agree they are “similar in terms of parenting”, it comes as no surprise that Eddie loves to turn to Nat for advice – even if it’s been a while since she went through the baby stage.
“In the mornings in makeup, we sit there for an hour and we can chat about parenting, or what’s going on with her boys or my family,” she says. “So it’s really nice to have that relationship.”
Nat adds: “I’m in awe now with what happens with bringing up kids these days. I was in Eddie’s position 20 years ago, so I am always shocked with what’s new – there are so many new inventions.”
Read more in this week’s New Idea, on sale now.
