Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies’ TV marriage secret on Seven’s The Morning Show

SEVEN’S The Morning Show co-hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies say their TV marriage has lasted 10 years because of one vital thing.

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SURVIVING 10 years in any one job is a remarkable feat. In television, it’s a miracle.

For Seven’s The Morning Show co-hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies, it’s an anniversary worth celebrating and, to News Corp Australia, a relationship worth analysing for the secrets to their longevity.

“Our marriage is fine because we’re paid to be married and we have some very strict contractual arrangements which means at 11.29am every single day we go through a divorce,” he explains, with a laugh.

“In our case we’ve taken it one step further with the work marriage and The Morning Show is like our little baby. We were there day one and that’s the beauty and the strength of this relationship … it was our baby, now it’s our 10-year-old child.”

Having that sense of parental responsibility over the daily program has kept both TV talents invested over the decade.

The Morning Show co-hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies are married to the job. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Both trained journalists, Emdur came to the project as the gregarious game show guy, hitting it off instantly with Gillies, the more stern sportscaster and news presenter.

“He came to it with all sequins blazing and I came to it very much in the straight-laced, newsreader blazer,” Gillies says.

“We’ve been able to meet in the middle, but that took me a little while to get used to, I won’t lie. ‘What? I can actually express an opinion? Really?’ Mind you, I’ve fully embraced that opportunity now,” she chuckles.

Emdur says they don’t always get on, but in their case, opposites attract. Picture: Channel 7

It works best, Emdur adds, because these opposites attract.

“We’ve happily added a few more dimensions to our dynamic, now that we’re past the giggly, flirty, first-date phase, but I really do think that’s what works,” he says.

“We’re not always getting on, we’re just not but we don’t try to mask that … you can’t on live TV. “We don’t agree on a whole bunch of stuff and I think that’s normal in any relationship.” While the breakfast TV ratings battle between Seven’s Sunrise and Nine’s Today can be a blood sport at times, the mornings timeslot, while competitive, is less adversarial; in part, because Seven’s rival shows are populated by many former colleagues.

“We all go back a long way: Sonia [Kruger] was filling in for Kylie and David [Campbell, their opposites on Nine’s Today Extra] was filling in for me, and [Studio 10’s executive producer] Rob McKnight was working with us … but competition is great, it makes us all work harder.”

This week, TMS will revisit its highs and lows — from the serious human drama of the Lindt Café siege which unfolded opposite their Martin Place studio, as they were live to air back in 2014; to the more frivolous moments and flinchingly funny fashions over the years.

Gillies prepares to give Emdur a haircut as part of the World's Greatest Shave charity fundraiser. Picture: Channel 7

So what do you get the TV couple who have everything?

Emdur knows what he wants, and Gillies, his ever supportive office wife wants it too: for him to co-host with Modern Family siren Sofia Vergara.

“He shows me shots of [her] on Instagram and says to me, ‘I don’t think she looks happy, do you think she looks happy?’ And I say, ‘Larry, she’s married to Joe Manganiello, of course she’s happy.’ But if it makes him happy to have Sofia Vergara on our couch, it would make me happy … if only because it would shut him up!”

THE MORNING SHOW, Channel 7, weekdays, 9am