Inside Sonia Kruger’s low-key relationship with partner Craig McPherson and daughter Maggie

Sonia Kruger has given a glimpse inside her laid-back family life – and shares how it suddenly became less “awkward”.

Sonia Kruger admits her home life with partner Craig McPherson has been “awkward” for a few years.

During the eight years the host worked at Channel 9, enemy lines were drawn in the house she shares with McPherson – who is the news boss at network rival Seven. But now that’s changed.

“It’s really nice to be barracking for the same team again because it can get awkward,” she told news.com.au’s Not Here To Make Friends podcast about making the jump this year back to the Seven Network as the host of Big Brother. “Like when you say, ‘Yay! My team won!’ But to be on the same side again is a good thing.”

LISTEN TO THE FULL CHAT IN THE PODCAST BELOW

Sonia with Craig in 2011 … the pair keep their private life out of the headlines.

The pair – who got together after Kruger ended her first marriage to British banker James Davies in 2007 – has been together for twelve years and share daughter Maggie, 5, who was born in 2015 after a long struggle with IVF.

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While working with your partner might sound a little too close for comfort, Kruger said they’re based at different locations in Sydney and work in different departments of the network. And while McPherson has “a very serious job”, he surprised her when he started watching the revamped series of Big Brother.

“I watch him while he watches Big Brother just to get his reaction because he’s kind of not really the target audience,” she said. “But he’s really been into it. That’s the worst thing – I’ve seen him chuckle to himself.”

Sonia with daughter Maggie, 5.

Sonia also told the podcast a recent run-in she had with a pap while taking her daughter to daycare.

Kruger said they don’t have rules about keeping their work and home lives separate. And while they spend their days working in TV, it has crept into every part of their life – and every room of their $6.5 million Mosman home on Sydney’s northern beaches.

“We’re doing a bit of a reno at home and there was talk about not putting a TV in the living room because people often think they’re a bit of an eye sore or whatever – someone told us to have a nice piece of art instead. I said, ‘No, if there’s a room without a TV in it, it doesn’t get used!’ If there’s a TV, we’re going into that room!”

The renovation will see a fourth level added to the property, which currently features five bedrooms and four bathrooms.

Just one of many TVs in the Kruger household.

Sonia keeps a relaxed life away from the TV cameras.

While Kruger’s job places her firmly in the spotlight, the mum-of-one keeps her private life out of the headlines. But that doesn’t stop paparazzi from trying their best to catch a glimpse. She told the podcast about an uncomfortable run-in she had with a pap photographer this week while taking her daughter to daycare.

“I got up this morning and went to drive Maggie to her daycare centre and I noticed there was a car following me. And it was a paparazzi. I thought, ‘This is not cool’. I don’t wanna drop her at school and have him take pictures,” she told the podcast.

“So I just doubled back around and went home. And I had a lot of other work related commitments to do today so there was a car booked to take me to all these places. And I still had to get Maggie to school. So as I came out and got her into the car, this pap turns up behind a tree and starts taking pictures – and then follows us to the daycare centre.”

Kruger joked to the podcast she was already anticipating the headlines about the lavish-looking school drop off.

“ … Pictures of my child being ‘chauffeur driven’ to daycare,” she laughed.

Listen to the full chat on the Not Here To Make Friends podcast.

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