Lynne McGranger has a lot to celebrate. Not only has she notched up an incredible 28 years playing Irene Roberts on Home and Away, but her new memoir, Acting Up, hits bookshops next month.
Yet, the showbiz veteran tells New Idea there’s another milestone that she and long-term partner, Paul McWaters, are thrilled to be toasting even more than her own success – their daughter Clancy is getting married!
Watch: Lynne McGranger announces her new memoir
“Clancy and her fiancé [Luke] just got engaged,” an excited Lynne, 68, gushes to New Idea.
“He proposed to her in the afternoon at a picnic. Paul knew it was happening because he asked for Paul’s permission, but Clancy didn’t know and I didn’t know. It’s lovely. I am so excited for them!”
But, with planning now underway for a wedding “sometime in 2023”, has it got Lynne thinking about finally tying the knot with Paul after more than 30 years together?
“No, never. I was married once and I didn’t breed well in captivity – he was a nice man, but the wrong man,” she says with a laugh.
“Marriage has never been on our radar. We have been together 36 years and it’s not important at all. I’m actually much more excited about Clancy’s wedding.”
While saying ‘I do’ might not be on the cards for Lynne, she does admit that Paul has been fundamental to her Home and Away career.
“If I hadn’t had a partner who was prepared to be a full-time house husband and look after Clancy while I worked … I couldn’t have done it,” the star explains.
“I have seen so many people come and go on Home and Away with young children, trying to juggle nannies, and they really struggle. So I have been so lucky and so blessed.
“If it wasn’t for Paul, I probably wouldn’t have lasted three years on the show, let alone 28.”
And Lynne reveals that she has no plans of leaving Summer Bay any time soon.
“Ray [Meagher] and I always joke that they will have to wheel us away in a box!”
Clearly a fan of keeping busy, Lynne even used the downtime she had during the COVID lockdown in 2020 to detail her incredible life story in her memoir, Acting Up.
“It was fun just reliving my memories and going through the old photo albums,” she says. “But since I’ve finished the book I keep thinking, ‘Oh I left that bit out, and that bit out.’ So, you know, when the time comes that I do eventually leave Home and Away, I might write another one.”
Lynne’s memoir is filled with all the highs and lows in her life, from an Aussie childhood full of fad diets to her relationship heartaches, career disasters, and the touching friendships she formed along the way.
To say writing the book was cathartic for Lynne is an understatement. But while there are many things in life she “regrets”, she’s come to embrace the fact those decisions are what make her who she is.
“You can’t change the past. Even if I could change things I would not be where I am today. I would not have the husband, daughter, comfortable life and friends I have now.”
Lynne hopes that readers will enjoy the memoir, but there are two important critics who have yet to read it – Paul and Clancy, as she has “deliberately withheld” it from them!
“I am sure they will read it when it comes out, but it was a deliberate choice not to let them read it during the process because I didn’t want Paul to say, ‘Maybe you should do this or change that.’ Now it’s all done and dusted, you can’t change it!”
Read more in this week’s New Idea, on sale now.
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