Inside beloved Aussie TV couple’s split

Usually-private actress Noni Hazlehurst has lifted the lid on the end of her marriage to Wolf Creek star John Jarratt.

Noni Hazlehurst and John Jarratt were once the golden couple of Australian television – so when they abruptly split, it left fans and industry colleagues reeling.

The former Play School host, who has just released her memoir, Dropping The Mask, admitted that she too, had been “in shock” – and had stayed that way “ever since”.

Hazlehurst, 71, and the Wolf Creek actor were married for 12 years, from 1987 until 1999, and share two sons together, Charlie, 36, and William, 30.

During their relationship, the spouses even co-hosted lifestyle show Better Homes and Gardens together, but sadly, the show wound up playing a role in their divorce.

“John and I had some wonderful times together – and then we didn’t,’ Hazlehurst told Woman’s Day in a new interview.

“That’s true of many relationships. They start off full of hope and optimism and, along the way, buried issues come to the surface.”

John Jarratt and Noni Hazlehurst divorced in 1999.

The spouses had co-presented on Better Homes and Gardens.

The popular Australian TV host and actress revealed she knew her “marriage was over” when she discovered her husband “grown close” to a person in their show’s production crew.

“At that moment, I knew the marriage was over,’ she said.

“We simply wanted different things.

“The ending of my previous relationships had been hard enough, but this was far worse. In some ways, I think I’ve been in shock ever since.”

Despite the hurt, Hazlehurst insisted she had no hard feelings toward her ex.

“The end result of our marriage was two beautiful children,” she said.

“Whatever happened can’t negate the joy they’ve brought me.”

Before Jarratt, Hazlehurst was married to director Kevin Dobson for three years, while Jarratt has tied the knot four times.

He wed first wife Rosa Miano in the 1970s, then Hazlehurst, then TV producer Cody Jarratt and eventually remarried Miano in 2017, 27 years on from their split.

They remain together to this day, and she firmly supported him through his trial after he was accused of raping a former female housemate. He was found not guilty in 2019.

Jarratt has described Miano as “the love of [his] life.”

Hazlehurst has just released her memoir. Picture: SBS

Miano and Jarratt. Picture: Belinda Rolland

Last week, Hazlehurst opened up to The Project about one of the more embarrassing stories within her new memoir.

The book is full of anecdotes from her nearly five-decades-long career in film, television, theatre and radio – but it was a cringe-worthy moment with Hollywood actor Mel Gibson that she was asked to explain.

Hazlehurst told the panel that the pair had been starring together in an Australian play called No Names, No Pack Drill, portraying a couple.

She said they were expected to “come together” and “hit lips” for their first kiss just before the interval, but one particular night, she felt like she was “going to be sick”.

“As we were coming together, I was trying to signal to him that I wasn’t very well at all,” she recalled.

“And every night when Mel kissed me, because he was so gorgeous, the audience would sigh with longing to be in my shoes.”

“(On this night) He came in for the kiss, I ran off and threw up in a bucket and we had to cancel the rest of the show.”

Originally published as Inside beloved Aussie TV couple’s split