Australian of the Year: Who is Taryn Brumfitt?
The Adelaide mum of four turned a single Facebook post into a global movement, four best-selling books and two celebrated films. We take a look back at the Australian of the Year’s inspiring journey.
Lifestyle
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Adelaide mum Taryn Brumfitt has commanded the world’s attention through her trailblazing work to change the way we think about our bodies.
A best-selling writer and public speaker, Brumfitt has collaborated with body image experts to produce a handbook and free resources hub for parents, schools and the wider community.
In 2016 she was catapulted onto the international stage through her documentary Embrace, which aims to promote body positivity and has been seen by millions of people in 190 countries.
The movie is available on Netflix.
Speaking previously to The Advertiser, Brumfitt explained her core mission was to dismantle the social perceptions that can lead people to be unhappy about their bodies.
“No child was born hating their body – it’s a learned behaviour,” she said.
“I want to undo what’s been done.”
Brumfitt says her mission is not just about the way people feel about their bodies on the outside but also their mental health and wellbeing.
“We know that adolescents who experienced body dissatisfaction are 24 times more likely to develop depression and anxiety,” she said.
“So it’s beyond just a hashtag love your body issue. This is something that we really need to start taking seriously for the wellbeing of every Australian.”
PERSONAL LIFE
Brumfitt was born in Adelaide in 1978. She went to Unley High and is a mother of four - Oliver, Cruz and Michaela from her first marriage to husband Matthew, and Jacob. Her partner, Tim Pearson, is a nurse. She is a professional photographer and ran her own studio.
In an interview with Body&Soul in 2021, Brumfitt spoke about being trapped in a haze of “depression and saddness” when her marriage of 19 years was coming to an end in 2020.
“Those early days [when the marriage was breaking down] were like walking through thick mud in a haze of depression and sadness – there’s nothing quite like looking suffering in the eye,” she said.
“I remember walking through a shopping mall and thinking, please no-one be too nice to me. You know when someone asks if you’re OK and you drop your bundle? And no-one be mean to me, either.”
She explains how gardening helped her rebuild her confidence at her lowest ebb, especially because it was amid the pandemic so dating and socialising with friends were off the table.
“I survived a marriage separation by hanging out in hardware stores, not bars; wearing work boots, not heels; and literally pruning back my life to nothing and rebuilding again.”
After giving dating apps a try, Brumfitt met new partner Tim and the pair have since bought a house and blended their family with kids, two cats and a dog.
The couple also took up dancing together and Brumfitt says she has never been happier.
“[Tim] is everything I had ever wanted. I had dreamed about this man for a long time. He’s just a delight.”
BODY IMAGE MOVEMENT
As Penelope Debelle discovered in a cover article for SAWeekend in 2020, Brumfitt’s body positivity movement began in 2012 when, “without thinking too deeply about it”, she posted two images - a before and after shot of herself -, side by side, on Facebook.
“The before shot was Brumfitt looking ripped in a silver bikini; the other a tastefully naked shot of her very normal body as she headed into middle age after three children,” Debelle writes.
After her children were born, Brumfitt considered plastic surgery, but worried about the message that might send her children, instead embarked on a rigorous fitness and diet regime, taking up bodybuilding to transform her physique.
“I trained for hours a day and restricted my food,” she told LA Times journalist James Fell in 2017.
. “I lost all this weight and toned up got the ‘bikini body,’ the body so many women fight to have.”
She achieved her goal, she told the Times, but realised the punishing progamme didn’t make her happy.“It just wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t a balanced life.”
As Fell writes, what Brumfitt’s before and after photos served to do was to “blow apart the toxic stereotype of what women are “supposed” to look like”.
The after photo, he writes, not only depicted a larger, heavier woman than the before photo but “a happier one”.
Her simple Facebook post sparked a huge reaction, attention from film crews, talk shows and newspapers around the world - and an entire movement for social change.
The movement’s key goals include to provide tools that promote positive body image, celebrate body diversity “in shape, size, ethnicity and ability” and to combat “toxic messaging in media and advertising.
EMBRACE DOCUMENTARY
In 2016, Brumfitt produced a documentary called “Embrace”, which documented her own journey, but also encouraged women not to waste time and energy waging war against their own bodies.
As Penelope Debelle writes, Brumfitt visited hundreds of schools showing the film and quickly discovered that body negativity wasn’t just a problem for adults and that it seemed to be endemic among teenagers.
“I was hearing from boys and girls heartbreaking stories about how they felt about their bodies,” Brumfitt said.
“They were telling me how they hated the way they looked, how they felt bullied on social media, how they didn’t feel like they could keep up with what it means to be beautiful.”
EMBRACE YOUR BODY BOOK
After an academic study found the documentary was having a positive impact on body image and in tackling problems such as fat-shaming, Brumfitt began wondering whether her movement could make a difference among children, where many negative and damaging ideas were taking root in the first place.
“Knowing that, and being in schools and hearing these stories, it felt like we were almost getting to them too late when I was seeing them in their teenage years, Brumfitt told SAWeekend. “It just made sense to start getting to people earlier.”
With that in mind, she developed a book for primary school children called “Embrace Your Body”, teaching kids how to love the body they were given and giving parents and teachers a resource to spark conversations about the subject.
“It’s an opportunity for parents and carers and teachers to open up a safe space to talk about our bodies and really get across a positive message to respect and nourish and move your body,” said said. “You’re kids – enjoy it.”
EMBRACE KIDS
In 2019, Brumfitt announced plans to make a second documentary, this time targeting her body positive message to children.
Adelaide-born Hollywood actress Teresa Palmer, along with comedian Celeste Barber and former politician Natasha Stott Despoja AO came on board as producers and Brumfitt ran a marathon and sold an Embrace Warrior women’s scarf to help raise funds for the production.
As Brumfitt explained to journalist Rebecca Baker, she and Palmer became friends after Palmer saw Embace on a flight to the US for the Oscars.
“She reached out, I was in the US, we met up immediately and the friendship began,” Brumfitt said.“As a mum of three, Teresa is (also) passionate about positive body image.”
She became friends with Barber at a photo shoot in Sydney and already had Stott Despoja in her corner after she helped with Embrace’s release in America.
The film was released in 2022 and is now available via an online “Embrace Hub”, which comprises a whole range of resources for schools, parents and the broader community.
AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Just over a decade after she first took to Facebook with a simple message about loving the body you’re in, Brumfitt was named Australian of the Year for 2023.
Brumfitt said she would be using her win as a platform for her continuing work.
“I’m mostly looking forward to having an opportunity to have a national platform to talk about body image,” Brumfitt told The Advertiser ahead of the ceremony.
“Because everyone has a body across Australia, and we need to get this right for our kids.”
Accepting the award, she called on Australians to invest their energy into more important things than the size or shape of their bodies.
“There is so much despair in this nation for children and adults when it comes to what we think and how we feel about our bodies,” she said.
TARYN’S NEXT PROJECT
In an interview with The Advertiser following her Australian of the Year win, Brumfitt revealed she had a new film in the works, this time focusing on body image issues for men.
To be called Embrace Men, the film is currently at the financing stage.
“I want everyone to understand body image is not just about women or kids, but men also – everybody,” she told Anna Vlach.
Within minutes of her win, Brumfitt expressed interest in meeting with the Federal Government and hopes to meet with SA Premier Peter Malinauskas as soon as possible to talk about the role governments can play in her mission.
“The burden this will take off the health care system is not to be ignored,” she said.
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