What knocked the ‘wanky parts’ out of Grant Denyer
Grant and Chezzi Denyer open up their home to talk about parenting a newborn and why the television presenter never felt “good enough”.
Stellar
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Ten years ago, when Grant Denyer and his wife Cheryl “Chezzi” were preparing for the birth of their first daughter Sailor, they read all the books and parenting instruction manuals.
Fast-forward a decade, and when it came to preparing for the arrival of their third daughter Sunday, they did the opposite.
“We literally had no furniture, no clothes, no cot and no pram in the minutes leading up to the birth,” recalls Grant.
“We just had the confidence of knowing the other two [Sailor, now 9, and Scout, 5] survived. So we’re not completely useless. Instead of reading tonnes of books to try to reacquaint ourselves, we were like, ‘How about we just let it happen, see if we can remember what to do.’ And I think because we’re in the moment, we’re enjoying it more.”
“We had to get the nurses to show us how to swaddle the baby in the hospital because we couldn’t remember!” adds Chezzi, who met Grant on Sunrise in 2005, when she was a producer and he was the weatherman.
Talking to the Denyers at their home in Bathurst, in regional NSW, it’s hard to ignore the love bubble they’re in, despite the obvious lack of sleep.
“The first night home from the hospital, I turned to Grant and said, ‘I can’t believe we forgot how little babies sleep! What have we done?’” Chezzi says, laughing.
The whole family is enamoured by the new addition – who arrived via C-section in February – especially as she was so hard to come by. “We tried for ages [to conceive] and I think that’s helped how we feel,” Chezzi, 40, tells Stellar.
“There was a period of time when we thought a third wasn’t going to happen for us, so I think going through that makes you so much more appreciative.”
The couple have shared their fertility struggles, including a miscarriage, with their loyal social media following and on their podcast, It’s All True – a decision that 43-year-old Grant says he wouldn’t have made 10 years ago. “Our firstborn was in a different era, when celebrities would often shield their kids from the public eye so they could have a normal life.
“But now everyone is a broadcaster and everyone has an Instagram account,” the Gold Logie winner adds.
“So much of my professional life has been fluffy and smiley and perfect, but that’s not real life. Life is full of roadblocks and dead ends and mistakes and failures. They’re the matrix that makes you up. Talking about those rough patches might help someone else, and if it affects one single life, that’s a cool thing.”
Grant says his recent stint on the reality show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! was also a big lesson in the power of sharing vulnerabilities. During his time in the northern NSW “jungle”, the former Family Feud presenter opened up about everything from his struggles with alcohol to the pressure of being hounded by paparazzi.
Showing off his softer side saw him crowned the runner-up to Abbie Chatfield during the season finale in January, but he believes the real reward was how it changed him as a person.
“When you’re growing up in the media industry, your whole career depends on public opinion and people’s thoughts of you, and you’re so obsessed with making that seem flawless and shiny that you forget to be real,” he tells Stellar.
“I thought [I’m A Celebrity…] was a silly little television show where you eat a couple of gross things and then you go home. But, mate, I couldn’t have got it more wrong. It transforms you. It aligned all my stars correctly again.
“I’ve never felt so much love in my entire life. I think the reason why I’m glowing from the inside out is because the jungle got me right and got me to appreciate something this magical.”
“Going on the show has taken away some of the wanky parts of my personality that I really didn’t like and the parts of my personality that I was lying to myself about. It taught me that you can be yourself and it’s enough. And I guess my whole life I thought I wasn’t enough.”
While it’s clear that Grant is now in a different headspace, it’s also true that he’s in a different space physically than he was a decade ago.
When Sailor was born in 2011, he was working as the weatherman on Sunrise, which meant he spent her first year of life on the road – sometimes accompanied by Chezzi and Sailor – and in the process, notched up 100 flights in Australia and overseas. In contrast, Sunday’s arrival in the midst of a global pandemic has kept the family firmly grounded.
Chezzi adds: “In the past, Grant hasn’t been around to take the kids to school or help much with the new baby,” Chezzi tells Stellar. “But now he’s doing everything – changing nappies, swaddling, patting her on the back, doing the school run and grocery shop.”
And with no work plans currently set in stone, Grant is savouring the newborn baby bubble. “We’ve got this beautiful little moment where, for the first time in my family’s existence, I can be around and do all the jobs and feel all the things.
“When you’re so aggressively chasing the next career opportunity, [reaching for] the next rung on the ladder, your vision is so far forward. Now we’re happy where we are, so our eyes are only on Sunday and that’s bloody special.”
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Originally published as What knocked the ‘wanky parts’ out of Grant Denyer
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