Getting down with Dr Chris Brown
BONDI Vet and television host Dr Chris Brown talks candidly about being single, his sex symbol status and how he keeps buff.
BONDI Vet and television host Dr Chris Brown talks candidly about being single, his sex symbol status and how he keeps buff.
Dr Chris Brown saunters into the studio for our shoot fashionably late wearing a slouchy T-shirt, crumpled chinos and thongs.
He’s got a duffle bag in one hand and an empty cereal bowl in the other. He’d clearly been in a rush to get out the door.
“He only flew in from Tasmania yesterday,” I’m told.
“And he flies to the Gold Coast tomorrow.”
Such is the life of the Newcastle-born star.
With Bondi Vet now in its eighth year, The Living Room in its fifth and the second series of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! only just finished on Network Ten, it’s not surprising to learn that the 37-year-old rarely stops.
No matter how pressed for time Chris is, though, training is always a priority: “I need to exercise to feel normal. It gives me energy rather than takes it away. It’s more about feeling good than staying in shape.”
When he’s at home in Sydney he tries to work out five days a week, doing a mix of functional training at his local gym, surfing and swimming.
As far as diet is concerned, Chris doesn’t have one.
“If anything, I’ve pulled back my sugar intake but it’s nothing major. I just try to eat more savoury than sweet,” he says.
“I eat heaps of carbohydrates and plenty of protein but my weakness is chocolate.”
Always being on the move means Chris can’t be a fussy eater, anyway; it can also throw a spanner in the works when it comes to him keeping active.
“It’s so hard when you’re travelling and Africa is probably the hardest because we’re in the middle of nowhere and you can’t run,” he says.
“They have this saying over there that only food runs, which basically means that if you’re out jogging, you’ll become dinner for the big cats.”
But he claims to be pretty nifty at creating makeshift workouts: “I’ll hang ropes from the trees to climb and use bits of metal as weights – the monkeys think it’s hilarious.”
THE VET STRIPPED BARE
THE cheeky chimps in Africa aren’t the only ones that think Chris is a good source of amusement.
“For my mates, taking the mickey out of me is their favourite sport, especially about the celebrity and sex symbol stuff. They can’t get enough of it,” he says.
“But I’m happy I can provide them with that entertainment because I agree, there’s plenty to laugh about.”
At the top of the list of Chris’ chuckle-inducing antics was the Tarzan and Jane-inspired ad for the recent season of I’m A Celebrity. In it, Julia Morris played a tyrannical jungle queen and Chris her shirtless, chest-beating serf.
“Before that, I’d never felt any pressure to be buff,” Chris admits.
“But our producer called me and hinted that if I wasn’t doing much in the way of training, I might want to start.
“I swim in my boardies so I don’t mind getting my kit off, but when you’ve got your kit off and you’re wearing a loin cloth while swinging through tress, that’s something for you to be ready for.”
One thing the usually good-humoured Chris does mind is the pesky paparazzi.
“I definitely don’t like that part of it,” he says.
“Going for a swim at the beach is my happiest time and it frustrates me when there’s a camera there. I’m never doing anything that’s gossip-worthy anyway, which I’m sure disappoints the photographer. I realise it’s part and parcel of what I do but I do miss my privacy.”
THE DATING JUNGLE
CHRIS is also notoriously private about his personal life.
“It’s called a private life for a reason,” he says.
“What you have with a girlfriend is between the two of you and it feels more special when it’s private.”
He’d like to get married “eventually” but doesn’t feel any pressure – except a little from his mum – to start a family, despite being three years away from 40.
“When the time is right, the time is right,” he says.
“I don’t worry about my age. I think about the 25-year-old me and he wasn’t very worldly.”
And the whole notion of Chris being a sex symbol? He shifts uncomfortably in his seat and then eventually laughs.
“It isn’t a title I play up to or feel pressure to maintain,” he says.
ANIMAL INSTINCT
HE spent his time off from filming I’m A Celebrity working with local African vets at an orphanage for rhinos: “That’s where my true passion is and I have to remind my dad of that, especially when I’m flying through trees wearing a loin cloth.”
Chris doesn’t reflect on how lucky he’s been too often but that doesn’t mean he takes any of it for granted – especially his recent African adventure.
“My favourite moment of the day was when I got the 10-second count in for I’m A Celebrity,” he says.
“I’d look around, standing in a massive treehouse in the middle of Africa and think, how did this happen? How did I get here? You can’t help but see the hilarity in that.”
THE QUICK 15
1. RUNNING OR WEIGHTS?
Neither. I focus on balance using lighter weights.
2. BURPEES OR CHIN-UPS?
Chin-ups.
3. SURFING OR STAND-UP PADDLE BOARDING?
I love surfing.
4. FAVOURITE SONG AT PRESENT?
Do You Remember by Jarryd James.
5. CHOCOLATE OR CHEESE?
Chocolate.
6. COFFEE OR TEA?
Green tea.
7. BIG NIGHT OUT OR QUIET NIGHT IN?
A balance.
8. ANIMALS OR HUMANS?
Animals. But I don’t only socialise with animals.
9. GUILTY PLEASURE?
Sleeping in.
10. FOOD INDULGENCE?
Peanut butter with chocolate.
11. COOKING OR EATING OUT?
Cooking.
12. SIGNATURE DISH?
Chicken breast stuffed with ricotta.
13. ULTIMATE DINNER DATE?
Nelson Mandela, so I could apologise for the time I met him at uni and totally stuffed it.
14. NEXT HOLIDAY?
Greenland.
15. RELATIONSHIP STATUS?
Single.
3 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT CHRIS BROWN
He’s a keen photographer. Check out his Instagram for proof: @drchrisbrown
He had two kangaroos, a koala and a penguin as pets when he was a kid.
If he hadn’t been a vet, he would have been a pilot.
Originally published as Getting down with Dr Chris Brown
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