Edwina Bartholomew ‘shamed’ for unusual sleeping arrangements

An Aussie TV star who faced criticism about her unusual sleeping arrangements says “people don’t talk” about it, but many couples do it.

Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew has opened up on the criticism she copped for revealing she and her husband have an unusual sleeping arrangement.

The TV host, who is one of this year’s Witchery White Shirt Campaign ambassadors, told Stellar last month she and her other half, journalist Neil Varcoe, sleep in separate beds.

They also live in separate homes throughout the week, reuniting at weekends.
While the set-up works for them, Bartholomew’s candid admission ignited an “extraordinary” conversation about a living arrangements, as many weighed in on their bedroom situation.

But the popular news reporter has defended their living arrangements after being “shamed”, stating that while “people don’t talk” about sleeping in different rooms, many couples do it.

Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew was ‘shamed’ for sleeping in a different bed to her husband. Picture: Instagram/EdwinaBartholomew

But the 2024 Witchery White Shirt ambassador said she and husband Neil Varcoe are celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary. Picture: Stellar/Witchery

“Well, today [April 21] is actually my [sixth] wedding anniversary, and I can confirm we are still married,” she told the magazine’s editor-in-chief Sarrah Le Marquand on the Stellar Podcast.

“It was an amazing response. It’s just something people don’t talk about, but so many couples do.

“It absolutely went bananas, because I think it’s not ‘the done thing’. So when you talk about what you’re doing in your relationship that just works for you – and that’s it for us, for many reasons and on many levels – I think that resonates.”

The 40-year-old, who initially shared their unique bedroom set-up in her Stellar column in March, added: “I was just being honest, [which] is what I’ve tried to be in all facets of my life, be it social media, TV and now in my writing.”

Bartholomew previously explained she and Varcoe had adopted the living arrangement due to their conflicting schedules.

“For some women, snoring sent them packing; others wanted a sanctuary filled with throw cushions, their partners did not. Now our family has taken things to the next level,” she wrote.

“My husband lives in the country with the dog and I live in the city with the kids. Each weekend, we traipse back and forth between the two or meet somewhere in the middle.”

Bartholomew, who started sleeping separately from Varcoe about seven years ago, says this set-up could help other relationships too, as it certainly makes her value the time they do spend together with their two children: Molly, 4, and Thomas, 2.

“It feels like a Love Actually airport reunion every time we come together with a slow-motion embrace and those newlywed feels,” she said.

“Was it Shakespeare or maybe Hallmark that coined the phrase ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’? Regardless, they were onto something.”

The couple aren’t the only pair who rave about the benefits of sleeping in different rooms, with the living arrangement proving so popular, it’s since been dubbed a “sleep divorce”.

She said the reaction was ‘absolutely bananas’. Picture: Instagram/EdwinaBartholomew

In Australia, 200,000 people who are married or living with their partner sleep alone. Picture: Instagram/EdwinaBartholomew

One couple in the US spoke out last year, stating they were constantly “at each other’s throats”, that was until they stopped sleeping in the same bed together.

“Sleeping separately has totally improved our relationship,” Mara Doemland told the New York Post. “We’re both so much happier.

“Now, there’s more physical touch and closeness between us during the day because we’re not grumpy from trying to sleep together at night.”

A study on behalf of the Sleep Health Foundation in 2019 found approximately 200,000 Australians who were married or living with their partner slept alone.

The newest report also found that millennial and Gen Z couples, husbands and wives between the ages of 18 to 42, were the most willing to hit the hay apart, while Gen Xers, baby boomers and beyond were much more reluctant to hop on the uncommon boudoir bandwagon.

Originally published as Edwina Bartholomew ‘shamed’ for unusual sleeping arrangements