Father’s Day exclusive: Guy Sebastian on family and fame

“WHEN you have a kid it is like this new chamber opens up in your heart ... ” In a rare interview for Father’s Day, singer Guy Sebastian speaks about how he handles family and fame.

“He will call me Guy Sebastian out in public.” The singer with sons Archie, 3, and Hudson, 5, in Double Bay. Picture: Justin Lloyd

HUDSON Sebastian learnt an unusual lesson during his first year at school — that his dad is famous.

The five-year-old has been experimenting with what that means, much to his father’s amusement, and sometimes embarrassment.

“He will call me Guy Sebastian out in public,” the singer said.

“He will go, ‘hey, Guy Sebastian,’ and will look around and see if anyone notices. He is such a weirdo. He didn’t get it for years and suddenly something clicked. It was school that did it.”

“I love being a dad. It is amazing. It has changed me.” Picture: Justin Lloyd

Sebastian, 35, took part in a rare photo shoot with his two young sons — Hudson, five, and Archer, three — to celebrate Father’s Day.

Having a famous dad can be challenging. At a recent parent teacher night, Sebastian’s wife Jules went alone as her husband was on the road for work.

“His teacher told Jules he is an angel but the only issue has been trying to balance the fact his dad is a well known person and a lot of the kids make comments and I think it makes him feel different,” he explained.

“Hopefully when he is a bit older, in his teens, I will be washed up and no one cares.”

While he’s regularly away for work, Sebastian’s boys are his priority. He is fiercely protective of them.

“I love being a dad. It is amazing. It has changed me,” he said.

“I think it just softens you a lot and puts life into perspective. It is challenging and it is tough at times but when you are sitting there holding your kid as they are falling asleep looking up at you, you are literally so in love with your kid.”

“This is like this weird protective, ‘Oh my God, I made this thing’.”

He continued: “This is super cheesy but when you have a kid it is like this new chamber opens up in your heart you didn’t know was there and that you could love something this much. It is a different love. You love your partner and you love your parents and your friends and stuff. But this is like this weird protective, ‘oh my god, I made this thing’. It literally relies on us for safety and food. I am so in love, I just cannot get enough of them.”

Sebastian has been home more this year than previously. He’s been busy working on his new album, Conscious, that is released on October 27.

His new single, High On Me, came out yesterday. Sebastian works from home in Sydney’s south east but also has a fully equipped studio in Surry Hills.

When Hudson was a baby, his Dad tweeted: ”Morning cuddles with the champion.” Picture: Twitter

“We are doing it on our own and it can be hard.” Picture: Justin Lloyd

“I just needed to chill a bit with the travel because it has been pretty bad in the past where I’ve been away for months at a time,” he said. “I just really struggle. I struggle after a week. I am literally pining for my kids. It was easier before because I could just take the kids but now Hudson is in school I can’t just pull him out. It is an ongoing battle of trying to juggle priorities but it works.”

Growing up in Adelaide, Sebastian’s father, Ivan, was as a geologist on an oil rig, working away for a month and back home for a month.

“I was used to that sort of father dynamic at home but it has just made me realise how hard it was for my dad because I feel like I’m doing the same thing.

“You juggle and make it work though and we are lucky to have FaceTime. Back when my dad would go, we would literally say goodbye and we wouldn’t speak to him or see him for a month. Now I can at whatever time of day FaceTime back home.”

Sebastian and his wife Jules renovated a second foster care home in the inner west as part of the work they do with their charity, the Sebastian Foundation. Picture: Craig Wilson

When he is home, Sebastian tries to be totally present. And he likes to give wife of nine years Jules a break as she is also busy with her career as a fashion stylist.

“We don’t have parents here in Sydney and we don’t have a nanny,” he said. “We are doing it on our own and it can be hard. I don’t know how Jules does it. Girls, they just have something that guys don’t have. They’ve got this patience and this motherly thing, we just don’t have that same patience as men. When I’ve had to do lunches or pack things, I will always forget something, a drink bottle or whatever.”

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As well as working on his album and spending as much time with his family as possible, Sebastian has had a major physical makeover. He works out up to six times a week and totally overhauled his diet, which has helped him personally and professionally.

“I didn’t think I was fat and then I saw those before photos and I had little man titties,” he laughed. “I needed to get fit. I can pick up my kids now, one in each arm.”

It’s also helped with an ongoing issue with his hip — Femoracetabular Impingement (FAI) — that saw doctors recommend Sebastian undergo surgery.

“For the first time in five years I am not waking up in pain. I was waking up wincing. I sneezed on a plane and my back went and I was in bed for four days. I just needed to sort out the issues I had from touring and powering through my career and not addressing these injuries. I don’t need surgery now. I am literally pain free. That has been the motivation to keep me going.”

Sebastian performs at the Cairns Convention Centre. Picture: Brendan Radke

His new fit self will help when he tours the country in November for the new album, playing Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on the 3rd of the month.

“It will be a reasonably stripped back tour and a bit of a creative set up, a little bit of electronic triggering but still a pretty rad live band. This album is probably going to be the most challenging of my albums to recreate live just because there is quite a bit of production in it and working out how to translate that live.

As for whether or not Sebastian and wife would consider having more kids, he said: “I can’t imagine it. We’ve always said our dream ages are six and four, just because they are such a punish around three years old. Right now they are five and three so in a years time they will be at our dream ages so throw another newborn screaming child into the mix, we don’t really lead normal lives. We are both all over the place and busy. My life is weird and I just don’t think I could do another kid.”

Guy Sebastian’s single, High on Me, is out now. His album, Conscious, is released October 27.

Tour Dates (for more info and tickets go to guysebastian.com):

November 2 — QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane

November 3 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney

November 4 — Newcastle Civic Theatre

November 6 — Palais Theatre, Melbourne

November 10 — Barton Theatre, Adelaide

November 11 — Astor Theatre, Perth