‘Crippling’: Ricki-Lee opens up on condition that left her bedridden
Between Australian Idol, hosting a radio show and her music career, Ricki-Lee Coulter’s life is exhausting. However, her life forever changed almost a year ago when she had surgery for the debilitating disease she grappled with for years.
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There was a time when Ricki-Lee Coulter couldn’t get out of bed. Couldn’t get to the shops or go for a run without being in such crippling pain she thought she’d have to call an ambulance.
Today, almost a year after surgery for her debilitating endometriosis – a diagnosis she fought for years to get – she is pain free.
She’s also the happiest she’s ever been. The Australian Idol host is rested and ready for another big season of the hit Seven show. She’s still reeling from the success of putting out a new record, On My Own, her way – using her own record label – and she’s madly in love with her husband and manager Richard Harrison, the man who makes her laugh every single day.
It’s a pretty sweet life for the 39-year-old Sydney singer – and far from how she felt this time last year.
“It is life changing,” Coulter says.
“Going for a run, I’d be sometimes laying on the ground thinking I’m gonna have to call an ambulance because something is going on that’s really crippling, and it’s terrifying. Or you’d be at the shops literally standing there against a shelf and not moving because you can’t, you’re in that much pain – it’s those kinds of things that you’re like, this isn’t normal.
“We shouldn’t just be made to feel like that’s a normal thing.”
It was in April last year that Coulter had a laparoscopy and excision surgery to remove the endometriosis, so it’s early days – but this is the best she’s felt in years.
“It’s an interesting thing because I did toss up whether or not to talk about it because I just didn’t want to be like ‘oh poor me’ because there’s so many people that have it worse than me,” she says.
“And then I thought … anyone that has endometriosis knows how long it takes sometimes to even just get a diagnosis or even for a doctor to actually even acknowledge what you’re saying and feeling.
“And to not feel like you’re being gaslit or made to feel like you’re crazy … and having all of the pain that you have and feel like you’re not being believed.
“It’s really sad and when I see people that struggle with it – and it can be debilitating – I think of all the stuff I’ve been up to over the last year or two, and I’m also dealing with this chronic unbearable pain and I’m having to slap on a smile and be like ‘everything is fine, guys’. I still have to go on stage and still have to do my job even when I can’t move because I’m in so much pain.
“But I’m so glad that I finally found the doctor that finally listened to me after 10 years and I finally got to have the surgery.
“I’ve had so many conversations with people over the years and there were times where I was made to feel like I was crazy.
“It was so wild – but then to finally come across the doctor that said, ‘You’ve tried absolutely everything and nothing’s worked – we need to get you in for this surgery’ and I was like, ‘Yes, where have you been, thank you, God.’
“I’ve been campaigning for and advocating for this for myself for years, and the research that I’d been doing … it was so great to finally do it and finally be on that path and then when I had the surgery it just changed everything.
“That was in April so it’s still early days and you never know, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done and I’m so happy.
“That constant pain is no longer a thing, which is incredible – and life-changing.”
Coulter says 2024 was relentless, in all the best ways, and taking time away with Harrison in New York was just what the doctor ordered after working non-stop for 12 months.
“Literally I had a few days off over Christmas and then was straight back into it really early January 2023 and I feel like it’s only now that I’ve been able to come up to the surface and take a breath, so it’s been relentless and non-stop but I’ve loved every second of it and I am happy,” she says.
“I mean, it’s been an incredible year.
“I feel like I’ve ticked off so many things (in 2024) that I’ve been either working really hard towards for a really long time or that I just never thought would happen.
“And I’m constantly pinching myself at how amazing everything has been but it hasn’t been without obviously an incredible amount of hard work and dedication.
“Dreaming big and having that ambition and having that idea but then actually executing it is a whole other thing. So it’s really cool to have finished off the year with the number one national drive radio show, I had a number one album, Australian Idol is one of the biggest shows on TV and I get to be a part of it, I’ve been able to play incredible shows all around Australia … it’s just been awesome, it really has.”
The highs, lows and workloads for radio, TV and music were constant – but if Coulter ever needed a circuit-breaker, there’s one thing that always helps.
“Crying is a wonderful thing,” she laughs.
“I have a big cry once every few months and it’s like a pressure valve being opened.
“It’s such a release and such a relief, but I think I have a really amazing support system around me and my husband is incredible and understands me and what I need so deeply and he’s such a big supporter and can see when I’m on the edge of glory if you know what I mean, and it takes a little bit of that weight off my shoulders every now and then.
“We get to work together and do all of this amazing stuff together and every now and then I just need to have a big sleep or a day of doing nothing, or jump on a plane and go to see my family or just hang out with my friends, even if it’s for a day or an afternoon or dinner or whatever it is – you just have to always be aware and try fitting wherever you can the things that are gonna fill your cup – things that are good for the soul.”
But that’s not always easy.
The pair run their record label with just the two of them, when big labels would have a cast of hundreds. But that makes the success of doing it their way all the sweeter.
“That’s a lot, and it doesn’t really leave a lot of time when there’s so much to do and so many deadlines approaching and so many things that you’ve got to get crossed off and ticked off and make sure get done,” Coulter says.
“It’s late nights, it’s early mornings – your mind is always going, always switched on.
“So you kind of sideline the fun that the two of you can just have but you both know that you’re in it together and that it’s not going to be like that forever and this is just a period of time where it’s all work and no fun and that’s okay – because we’re together and we’re both exhausted.
“We’re both pulling our hair out, we’ve both got a thousand more grey hairs every day – but we’re both in it together.
“A question that people ask is how do you do at working together – but I feel like being in it together is what gets you through because with what my last year was like, I can’t imagine if he wasn’t in it with me.
“If he had a totally different job and he was going off to work and going somewhere else every day, we would be living completely separate lives and I don’t know when we would see each other.”
As a co-host of Idol with Scott Tweedie, Coulter says singer hopefuls come on to the stage every day – but having the drive to turn talent into a career is a whole other ball game.
“You can tell when someone has that,” she explains.
“Our industry is such an odd one because being an artist you’re naturally quite sensitive and that’s what makes you a great artist, that you’re in tune with your emotions and you can connect with your emotions and deliver a song and write lyrics and make and create music that speaks to people so deeply on an emotional level, whatever emotion that is.
“But then that’s really hard because you’re sensitive, and then also naturally a lot of creative people are kind of lazy,” she laughs.
“So that weeds out a lot of people too – if you’re a lazy person, the person with the work ethic … he’s always gonna do better than you.
“All of these things I think separate artists and singers and songwriters and musicians and creatives and producers in the industry.
“It’s kind of like (actor) Liam Neeson in (film) Taken – he’s got a very specific set of skills, and I think it’s like that with an artist.
“You have to have the perfect balance of all of these things – like having your emotions in check but being emotional enough to write great music. Being ambitious and driven and having a hard work ethic is a huge part of it and then there’s personality and all of these things that make an artist.
“And I think it’s what you see with auditions – when you see people coming through Idol, it’s like someone might have a great voice to be a huge talent, but they’re lazy or you can see that they’re just like, ‘Oh, whatever happens, happens’ – and they don’t really have much of a work ethic or a drive.
“The voice isn’t always the be all and end all.”
Coulter says the new season of Idol auditions had her constantly surprised.
“I was surprised every single day,” she admits.
“There were people that I was like – this person can barely speak, like what hope do you have? Like this person is about to go into the room and talk the way they’ve been talking to me and to the judges – they’re gonna get eaten alive, there’s no way this person is surviving this process.
“And then they open their mouth and sing – and you’re like, ‘Holy shit what is that?’
“I was blown away so frequently on audition days that I ran out of words that described the shock and surprise that I was constantly feeling.
“That’s what makes me also so excited about the live shows because the auditions were amazing – they’re incredible – and I can’t wait for Australia to see everyone that walks through those doors.
“I’m a big proud stage mum to all of them.”
And then there’s radio with Nova mates Joel Creasey and Tim Blackwell, which Coulter loves every second of.
“It’s just fun,” she says.
“I get to go and sit in a room and talk with two of my friends and just laugh about stupid shit for two hours every day and call it a job – like, it’s ridiculous.
“I laugh every single day.”
Coulter’s 2025 is already scheduled until July. Then she’d like to have a clear head to do some more writing – and doing nothing is also a glorious way to pass the time when she can manage it.
“I love doing nothing,” she says.
“There’s always a suitcase on the floor that’s getting ready to go somewhere, so it’s so nice to be at home and do nothing.
“To some people that’s their worst nightmare – but to me doing nothing and just being at home and having, you know, the whole Sunday in bed watching UFC all day … that’s it for me.”
Like fellow radio host and Idol judge Kyle Sandilands, Coulter says juggling the two worlds is hard but worth it – and nothing to whinge about.
“I’m so grateful that I get to do them and I’m not gonna be doing all of these things forever, so while they’re here and while I get to do them and while people love these things that I’m doing in music and radio and on TV – I’m going to embrace it and go for it and have fun with it.
“Yes it’s tiring doing it all at once but, oh well, I’ll sleep later.
“I love all of the things that I get to do so why would I piss and moan and whinge about it?
“I get to chat with my friends on the radio for a couple of hours talking about silly things and laugh, I get to make music and play shows and travel around the country and play to thousands and thousands and thousands of people – and I get to be on the show that changed my life and be a part of changing someone else’s life and be in millions of people’s lounge rooms.
“We get to make this show that makes millions of people smile and be entertained – and I get to do it wearing a pretty dress and uncomfortable Spanx and uncomfortable heels, but it’s all fun and I love it.
“And in 30 years when I look back and I’m retired and sitting in an armchair somewhere looking out at the sunset with a Champagne in one hand and pizza in the other, I’ll be really happy with how hard I’ve worked and all the great things I got to do.” â–
Originally published as ‘Crippling’: Ricki-Lee opens up on condition that left her bedridden
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