Kate Ritchie’s career turning point: ‘My world was changing’

The radio host, actor and Jockey ambassador has opened up about the conversation that helped change the course of her life.

For more than 20 years, from the age of just eight years old, Kate Ritchie’s career fortunes were tied up in long-running soap, Home And Away.

These days, her CV is pretty diverse: she’s an award-winning radio host, actor, author and an ambassador for Jockey Underwear.

Speaking to news.com.au for the launch of the brand’s new autumn/winter 2020 bra campaign – it’s never been more clear she’s come a long way from those early days in the industry.

RELATED: How Kate Ritchie pulled off career masterstroke

Even posing in the Jockey Underwear campaigns was a “big step” away from the public image Ritchie held for years.

“I didn’t grow as the bikini-clad teenager in Summer Bay – in fact, I played an incredibly conservative, almost daggy character, which is maybe why people connect with me so well. We’ve all been in the same shoes!” she told news.com.au.

“It wasn’t something I’d done much of at all, and I think that’s been part of the process for me. Now I often make decisions based on what my 80-year-old self would tell my 40-year-old self … Although, actually, I’m 41 now. But I just think it’s a good way of seeing the world.”

Kate Ritchie stars in Jockey's AW20 campaign.

She’s been an ambassador for the brand since 2017.

Just under 12 years ago, Ritchie appeared on our television screens as Sally Fletcher for the last time.

The announcement in 2007 that she was quitting Summer Bay shocked fans of the show, but for the actress, there were “a lot of things at play” that led her to make the call.

“It was coming up to 20 years (of the show), it was around my 30th birthday … there just seemed to be a lot of change in the air,” Ritchie told news.com.au.

“I knew I was going to leave at some point, so why not then when my world was changing?”

The actress explained that she’d sat down with the show’s long-time executive producer John Holmes – for whom she’d first auditioned – and told him what she was thinking.

“He knew me well enough that for me to get to that point, to say ‘I think it’s time’, he knew I’d never be suggesting that as some kind of bargaining tool or game plan.”

Ritchie (centre) with Tempany Deckert (left) and Isla Fisher (right) in Home And Away. Picture: Channel 7

Ritchie had initially planned to take some time off (“maybe give people a rest from me”), but was soon offered Nova’s breakfast co-hosting role alongside Merrick Watts and Tim “Rosso” Ross, and just months later, won her second Gold Logie.

“Everything about my departure (from Home And Away) was, personally and professionally, perfect. It was this feeling of being so lost in so many ways but being so excited … It was that one time in my life where I really learned to trust my gut about things,” she said.

The Kate, Tim and Marty show: Tim Blackwell, Kate Ritchie and Marty Sheargold at the 2018 ACRAs. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

That mentality helped Richie first make the decision to partner with Jockey in 2017.

“(Jockey) is basically about celebrating women in all their glory, their strength of body and strength of mind, in all our shapes and sizes – and it’s kind of a ‘bravo’ to whatever it is you want to say ‘bravo’ about. It’s just a really nice, positive thing to be involved in,” she explained.

“And the messaging has always been really pro-women. I think as I’ve matured, I’ve got an appreciation that my body is different now, the focus is different, and that fits with what they’re trying to say. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, what kind of skin you’re in – it’s all worth applauding.”

The brand has launched its new bra collection for Autumn/Winter 2020.

When she’s not working with Jockey, Ritchie is one-third of Nova’s award-winning radio team, Kate, Tim and Marty.

But even after seven years on the show, she admits she still feels the pull of acting.

“I’ve never denied the fact that I think my heart will always be somewhere floating around a film set, but that’s because I’m emotionally attached to that world as well,” she said.

“But how can I fault a job that allows me to work from home in the morning, do all these other things I want to do, spend time with my daughter, and rock into the office at 2 o’clock?

“I’ve learned to trust that things will happen when they’re meant to, even if at the time you’re not quite sure why they’re happening.

“With the way things are balanced at the moment, being able to go in (to Nova) and manage all the other things in my life, I think the next acting gig I take on has to be really worth it.

“I don’t want to rock the boat when everything’s smooth sailing at the moment.”