Lighting up TV screens at breakfast time for more than a decade, newsreader Natalie Barr has been one of Sunrise’s greatest assets.
And now that Samantha Armytage has stepped down from the co-host role alongside David “Kochie” Koch, rumours are rampant that Natalie could be next in line for the top job.
WATCH: Natalie Barr’s horrifying discovery in son’s school bag
But away from the small screen, the bubbly brunette has had just as much success in her personal life, including a low-key marriage with film editor Andrew “Drew” Thompson, with whom she shares two teenage sons.
“I feel like I have two lives. I have this TV life, with the false eyelashes and the hairpieces, but then the rest of my life is like every other mum’s,” she told Stellar in July last year.
“When I got up at 2.30 this morning, I took out the mince to make shepherd’s pie tonight and I’ll get the potatoes from Woolies on the way home.”
It’s this humble, down-to-earth appeal that has emanated all throughout Natalie’s tenure on Sunrise – and indeed was a hallmark of the beginning of her relationship with Drew.
There was no over-the-top rom-com-like meeting to kick off their enduring romance. Instead, their relationship grew organically.
“My husband, Andrew, started out as my flatmate. He moved in with my girlfriend Kylie and me and we became best friends,” Natalie told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2019.
“We’d hang out a lot and he became as good a friend as any of my girlfriends. Somewhere along the line our relationship just changed – it was a natural evolution, and one day we realised that it was something more.
“We’ve been together 30 years now and I feel so lucky that we started as best friends. It’s a great way to begin a marriage.”
The couple tied the knot back in 1995 and have since welcomed two sons into the world, Lachlan, born in 2001, and Hunter, born in 2005.
It’s important to both Natalie and Drew that their sons are brought up knowing that their parents are equal – and that the couple’s respective careers hold equal value.
And, as Natalie explained to the Sydney Morning Herald, this respect for one another has been one of the keys to their marriage success – among others.
“The secret to our relationship is talking. We talk a lot, all day, every day. One of the top things for us has always been respect – to respect what the other wants to do,” she said.
“That’s really important. Also, to give one another space and to talk about how you’re feeling, where you want to go in life, and to be honest.”
While Natalie has been relatively private about her personal life over the years, it’s clear she’s grateful for the man and boys in her life.
“I’ve had an amazing 25-year marriage – 30 years together – and our two beautiful boys are our life,” she gushed in an interview with Stellar.
“I’m lucky and I try very hard not to take that for granted.”
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