Patti Newton reveals she was hurt by pap photos suggesting she had found love again

When pap photos lobbed of Patti Newton coupled with headlines she had found love again, the showbiz legend tried to laugh it off. But behind the scenes, the widow of national treasure Bert was deeply hurt.

When pap photos lobbed of Patti Newton coupled with headlines she had found love again, she did what she has always done.

She put on her showbiz brave face and tried to laugh it off.

But behind the scenes Newton, 80, was deeply hurt.

Grieving the loss of her husband, national treasure Bert Newton, is just as painful four years on.

She keeps busy, throwing herself into theatre productions like Mary Poppins and Grease which helped make her feel “worthwhile.”

And she knows how lucky she is having her daughter Lauren and six grandchildren close by having dinner with them all most nights.

She still has her gaggle of girlfriends, ballet troupe dancers from when they were all teenagers working at Channel 9 studios all those years ago.

But not a day, hour or minute, goes by that she doesn’t wish for another moment with her Bert, or ‘Alb’ as she called him.

Not a day goes by that Patti Newton doesn’t wish for another moment with her beloved Bert. Picture: Fiona Hamilton Photography

Each day she wakes up and says good morning to ‘Alb’, even though she tells herself it’s silly. Before going to bed she can’t help but call out goodnight.

Just before he died Patti promised Bert she wouldn’t fall into “a mangled heap” and wallow and she vows to keep it.

But some days are harder than others. Like the 51st anniversary they would have shared earlier this month. Or when cruel headlines suggest she has moved on with another man.

Speaking to Page 13 this week, Newton says she found her one and true love and there will never be another.

“I don’t want anyone to think that I’ve moved on, because … you know … I’m completely devastated still,” she said,

“There will only ever be Bert for me. No one could ever replace him. I sort of feel if you’ve had the best, why would you want a second best.”

Patti says she found her one true love in Bert. Picture Andrew Tauber

She has been used to paparazzi following her for decades, they know her movements and around Camberwell’s Burke St where she goes shopping. So when a retail assistant from Doncaster she has long known sidled up to say hello, she warned him the cameras were lurking.

“I said, oh, look, the paps are across the road don’t do anything wrong, will you? Don’t pick your nose or anything because they’ll take a photo. He put his arm around me and said, ‘oh, I love this’.

“He’s as camp as a row of tents. We walked down the street and he put his arm around me and said, ‘don’t worry, I’ve got you girl’, it was just silly.”

“I mean, if I’m going to start a new romance at 80, I think, give me a break.”

“But it did hurt.”

Newton says she cherishes the memories she had with Bert, often the ones not in front of the camera, like how he would give his Logies away to people who needed a lift or who were sick.

“Peter Ford always tells the story of he wanted to send a card off to a friend of his who had AIDS that was in the Alfred hospital.

“When he took the card in, he realised that Bert hadn’t signed it and he was disappointed. “But when he got there, there was quite a buzz in the room and thought what’s going on.

Patti Newton with her grandsons Monty and Alby Newton Welsh. Picture: Tony Gough

“The guy said, you’re not going to believe this but Bert Newton’s been in here all day and he’s gone around to every AIDS patient and had a chat with them and told them jokes and told them things about his career and Graham (Kennedy) and Don (Lane) and it’s been wonderful and to top it off, he actually gave me a Gold Logie and said that I could keep it as long as I didn’t tell my wife because she’d killed me.”

Patti started making up a room for her husband in their home downstairs so he could be comfortable after having surgery to have his leg amputated.

She was putting all his Logies up, he is not called the Logies King for nothing having received about 36 of them throughout his long career.

“I looked and I only had about 17. I thought I know where the rest have gone. He’s given them all away to people that were sick or needed help.”

Having had hip replacement surgery earlier this year she is now sleeping in the room downstairs Bert never made home to see.

“So I’m still in it and I’ve got a bust of his head and I always say good morning to him and good night Alb. I do have a lot of time to spend on my own and while I keep myself busy I think you’ve also got to have downtime where you actually get sad.

“There were times when he spent too much money … but now I think good on him. If he had a good time, now’s the time to reward him.

“Because he made so many people happy.”