Barry Hall, Lauren Brant relocate to Melbourne after radio fallout
The partner of AFL legend Barry Hall has revealed how the emotional and financial fallout following his sacking from radio forced the couple to move interstate and totally reinvent themselves.
The partner of AFL legend Barry Hall has revealed how the emotional and financial fallout following his sacking from radio forced the couple to move interstate and totally reinvent themselves.
Former Hi-5 performer Lauren Brant said what made the difficult months following Hall’s dismissal from Triple M over offensive on-air comments about the pregnant wife of ex-St Kilda player Leigh Montagna even tougher was having to weather the public reaction.
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“We had some really hard months because it wasn’t just a time where we were out of work, it was a time when we had to watch what the nation was saying, knowing that is not who we are,” Brant said.
“We are family-oriented, we are loving people, we are probably the most honest people out of everyone we know.
“So we decided, let’s work in a world we are really passionate about, where people will take us for who we are.”
Six months on and the couple is preparing to quit the Gold Coast, with Hall already working two jobs in Melbourne during the week and spending weekends with Brant, who is launching her own kids’ clothes range loliboli, and their 18-month-old son Miller.
Explaining how abrupt the change has been, Brant, 29, said: “When Miller was born I thought ‘right, I am not going to take on any stage shows overseas, I am not going to sign on any new contracts, this is my time to be able to stay at home with Miller and start working on the brand that had been on my mind since the Hi-5 days’.
“But I guess it was really when Barry left radio and lost other endorsement jobs that I put a timeline on launching loliboli.
“Him being out of work spurred us both on. We both had to re-evaluate our lives.
“It was the right time because I have wanted to do it forever and it’s a little piece of magic that I have had in my heart which I just need to share with the world.”
With the former Sydney Swans premiership captain now working for non-bank lender Money Tech and auto parts shop Castlemaine Rod Shop, the family will move to Melbourne full-time next month.
“It’s a big change,” Hall, 41, said. “We were so settled and everything was going so smoothly.
“But life throws curve balls, that’s a part of it. Sometimes curve balls hit you right between the eyes and you need to pick yourself up.
“Although you would love to take things back, everything happens for a reason. Life is good.
“But the downside to it is I have to wear a suit everyday.”
Brandt has dreamt of launching loliboli since her days in Hi-5, hoping to create a clothes range that allows kids to have “100 per cent performance while still being able to express themselves”.
“This is not what people would expect a family who is out of work to do — spend all your savings on a business,” she said.
“Daunting is an understatement, it is terrifying. To have an idea and invest so much into it — emotionally and monetary — before you even know if you can make a dollar back is daunting. “
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