From the moment she entered The Golden Bachelor Australia mansion, Sunny Long made an impression on Barry “Bear” Myrden and fans.
With her heart on her sleeve, she’s won everyone over with her warmth, honesty, and vulnerability.
Along with being a mother and successful tech founder, there is so much more to her story.
Find out more about her below.
What does Sunny from The Golden Bachelor Australia do?
Sunny was born and raised in South Korea. After finishing university, she moved to Hong Kong, where she met her first husband, an Australian.
They then went back to South Korea and raised three children together.
The show favourite, who’s tipped to be the woman at the end, told Mamamia that he wanted to move back to Australia to look after his parents.
He then gave her an ultimatum, and she moved for good in her twenties.
Then, the CEO built her own software from the ground up.
Along with cementing her place in the business and IT world, she also has a passion for golf, chess puzzles, and books.
Does Sunny from The Golden Bachelor Australia have children?
Away from her professional life, she is the proud mother of her daughters, Penny and Claudia, who are both influencers.
She never shies away from sharing her pride for them on Instagram.
“I’m proud of many things in life, but nothing beats being a mother,” she wrote on Instagram in May 2023, along with a carousel of photos with her daughters.
Why did Sunny go on The Golden Bachelor Australia?
Along with hoping to find love, Sunny saw the show as an opportunity to meet other like-minded women and reclaim parts of herself she thought she had lost.
“I didn’t even think about the camera,” she told Mamamia about how she’s been received by the public.
“I was just staying true to myself. I try not to read a lot of feedback, but yesterday, I had lunch with my two daughters, and then they showed me some public feedback about me, and I cried [sobs] because I feel like I’m not alone anymore. I have wonderful people supporting me.”
Earlier on the show, Sunny revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. Although she’s in the clear now, she said it was a turning point in her life.
She told Mamamia that she never saw it coming.
“I don’t have any family history, and I didn’t have any symptoms. I always check when I have a shower, like any other lady, but there were no symptoms whatsoever. They found a three-centimetre suspicious cell growing in my left breast.”
She also said that she prioritised her career over her health at the time, which frustrated her ex-partner.
“I didn’t have any work-life balance,” she explained.
“I was focusing on generating financial stability for my grown-up kids, and also my retirement, because I don’t have anyone here, and I’m the only one who can look after myself. I was punching away on my laptop, even as I was lying down on the theatre table [in hospital] because I had to prepare data for my Chairman… and they know that I’m about to have the operation.
“That was the conflict between me and my ex-partner, because he doesn’t understand my viewpoint.”
“He thought it was health first, not work first. I even asked my doctors, am I dying now? Do I have some time? I was treating it like a business deal. That was my turning point, so that’s why I gave them my resignation letter.”
During one of the rose ceremonies, she also wore a wig, which she purchased when she was first diagnosed.
“…I bought this wig in preparation for potential hair loss,” she wrote on Instagram. “It has meant a lot to me since, and I love to pull it out for an occasion now and then, because why not! Variety is the spice of life! ✨”
Viewers also watched Sunny speak about her mother’s dementia diagnosis, and how relocating to Korea to care for her placed a strain on her last long-term relationship.
Together for more than 15 years, she said the cracks started to form two years before, and they didn’t have the same family values.
Her mother initially lived with her in Australia for six months, and her dementia worsened when she went to Korea.
“Of course, he was my number one,” she told Mamamia. “But at the same time, I can’t give him my undivided attention all the time. That has been very hard for me. But my mum had been unwell for a long time.”
While she dropped her business and said it was the “catalyst” for the relationship ending, she had no hard feelings towards him. Since then, he’s moved on.
“I am glad he found happiness,” she said. “He has a girlfriend, and I’m just happy for him. I just tried to look at the time we had — rather than sad memories — and he showed me a beautiful life.”
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