Phoebe Hooke’s marriage to Rabbitohs’ star Sam Burgess is in a different league
PHOEBE Hooke’s life has been a fame whirlwind since marrying Rabbitoh Sam Burgess and entering the ranks of rugby league royalty.
NSW
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MEETING the in-laws for the first time is nerve-racking enough. Spare a thought, then, for Phoebe Hooke, whose first dinner with the Burgess clan involved giving a speech to four enormous, semi-naked men.
On the eve of a game, Phoebe’s then boyfriend, rugby league player Sam Burgess, cooked spaghetti bolognaise for his three brothers, Thomas and George, 24, Luke, 29, and his mother, Julie.
Before a meal like that, guests are invited to say grace or make a little speech.
That night, the honour fell to Phoebe. “I was already really nervous about (the speech) because these huge men are staring at you.
“When we went to eat, the boys got sweaty, so they all took their shirts off.
“So to add to everything, I am sitting between George and Thomas, who have their shirts off, then all of a sudden Thomas leans over and says, ‘Are you going to eat that?’ Then he starts tucking into my meal.”
The dinner must have gone well because Phoebe Hooke is now Phoebe Burgess. It was a whirlwind romance — she and Sam met in 2014, were engaged a year later, and married in her parents’ backyard last December.
Dining with enormous, ravenous men is just one of the things Phoebe Burgess has had to get used to. But this 27-year-old has made the transformation from celebrity writer to one
of the first ladies of rugby league with grace and ease.
In her first interview, she opened up to The Saturday Telegraph’s BW Magazine about her wedding, her plans for the future and her “unbelievably normal” life with Sam.
As Phoebe has discovered, there are many perks and pitfalls to being a rugby league wag — paparazzi and the intricacies of rugby league defence strategies — but most distressing for this magazine writer-turned-celebrity has been worrying about her husband’s safety at every game.
In March, Rabbitohs’ star Sam Burgess was stretchered off the Sydney Cricket Ground in a neck brace. The experience was frightening for him, but perhaps even more so for Phoebe and Julie, who were watching it in the stand.
Phoebe admits watching Sam play such a physical game has always been difficult — “it’s probably not as hard for me as it is for Julie, who has all her boys out there” — but that day, she went into shock.
“It was ladies day so all the girls were having a couple of champagnes, but I didn’t have one because I had a funny feeling and I thought, ‘No, I don’t want to drink in case something happens,’ and I never really thought that before. But then something did happen.
“The first thing I did was call my mum, just to hear her voice. I needed someone telling me what the commentators were saying. I could see his legs were moving, but I knew I needed to get down there and be next to him and tell him he was OK.
“That was a big fright, so I am a bit of a nervous wreck on game day now. I sit there for the whole 80 minutes wide-eyed, shoulders up and by the end of it I feel like I have been for a run because my whole body is so tense.”
Phoebe has embraced rugby league to the point where she has become a bit of an expert. “When we get home and I am relaxed, I give Sam my breakdown. I pick holes in defence, I say where was he when that was happening, why wasn’t he looking for the left-hand off-load?”
One of the steepest trajectories for the new rugby league wife is learning to deal with fame. As a celebrity writer for the now-closed Cleo magazine, Phoebe learned a little about this strange, flashbulb-infested world, but it’s an even steeper learning curve now she is on the other side.
It hit home when the pair tied the knot in December at Phoebe’s family farm in Bowral, in what was meant to be an understated affair.
“Reality set in when a pap was in camouflage and popped up out of the bushes at 5pm, right when I was about to walk down the aisle,” she recalls.
“What happened next is such a good metaphor for what Sam is like. He was standing there and was so smiley and happy but when he saw the pap, he went cold and into work mode. Then he turned around and saw Digby (son of Phoebe’s older sister Jemima) run down the aisle. My friend said his face just went completely warm. When he needs to protect his family, he does, but he is also a big softie.”
What Phoebe expected to be a low-key family gathering — aside from the presence of South Sydney Rabbitohs owner and Hollywood actor Russell Crowe — turned into a media circus, with interest from press from right around the world.
“We pitched a tent in a paddock on my parents’ backyard and got married there,” she says. “My mum and sister did all the decorations; we didn’t have a wedding planner — we did it all ourselves.”
She admits she is still coming to terms with the attention.
“We just giggle about it and treat it all as a bit of fun. Sam and I were walking along Bondi Beach the other day and there were a pack of photographers around us and I was genuinely thinking, ‘This is so exciting. Who is around here? There must be a celebrity,’ and Sam said, ‘Come on, babe, let’s go home. They are here for us’.”
More familiar with the media attention is Burgess’s father Mitch Hooke who was at the helm of the Minerals Council of Australia which ran the campaign against Kevin Rudd’s failed mining tax.
“My dad is quite relaxed about it all,” she said.
“He is used to public life. He has been involved in many high-profile public policy debates, particularly during his time at the Minerals Council, so he has left me with a good head on my shoulders.
“And my parents know I am with Sam in this, which is really all that matters. He is so grounded, fiercely protective of his family and has the greatest sense of humour in dealing with the media, which is a reality of his job and therefore of our life together.”
The Burgesses want to keep as much of their personal lives out of the spotlight as they can, which means never selling interviews.
“The real stuff is what we have at home and we are so unbelievably normal. The only thing not normal about Sam is his meal sizes.”
Away from red carpet events and the football field, the 27-year-olds enjoy mucking around together. “We do things like play Ready Steady Cook. Sam is an amazing cook. His dad Mark taught him when he was younger. That was something they bonded over.
“We watch Friday Night Lights over our home-cooked meal and play ping-pong and hang out with our family.
“We love to wrestle at home and we play … we are big kids.”
While Phoebe is completely invested in her husband’s career, it’s clear she has no plans to trade on her husband’s fame.
“I am extremely proud and will always be so proud of being Sam’s wife; it is one of my favourite things about myself. But it is nice for people to know me as Phoebe Burgess, not just Sam’s wife … There is a lot more to me,” she says.
“I did a lot before I met Sam and I will do a lot after I met Sam, with Sam as my partner.”
She is doing some work for Channel 9, writing and guest editing for The Sunday Telegraph’s online relaunch of Body and Soul and working with a friend’s business, Fluidform Pilates.
“What I am focusing on at the moment is a project with a girlfriend of mine who owns a Pilates business called Fluidform. We’ve come together and created a line of pilates apparel for her clientele as well as taking her business on to a digital platform, which will hopefully become an online destination for all things pilates.”
While she has the looks of a WAG, she is anything but. Burgess admits while she enjoyed the BW Magazine shoot, she won’t be making a habit of chasing the spotlight.
“I’m only doing this because it’s something special to show the grandkids one day … and to prove I used to fit into samples,” she laughs.
As for plans to start a family, Burgess says for the time being they are content being uncle and aunt to Sam’s eldest brother Luke’s daughter Grace and her older sister Jemima’s children, Digby and Sibella.
“I am surrounded by inspirational, amazing women who are the strongest people I’ve ever met and I’m also surrounded by inspirational men and a lot of them are parents,” she says.
“I think it would be an amazing club to be a part of, if and when that happens.
“Sam loves kids. He loves their innocence. He plays like a child with them. We sit around and it is always Sam who is holding or playing with a child. He’ll be a natural dad for sure.”
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