‘I was taken by surprise myself’: Karla Grant opens up about dating controversial ex-MAFS star

In her first interview since news of her relationship with a former MAFS reality star broke, esteemed journalist Karla Grant reveals the truth behind their romance – and how they got together.

Growing up in Adelaide, aspiring journalist Karla Grant wanted to challenge the injustices she saw in her neighbourhood and champion First Nations stories.

But finding television role models proved challenging for the proud Western Arrernte woman. “There were very few Aboriginal people on screen, especially in news or current affairs,” Grants tells Stellar.

“You just didn’t see Black journalists on screen, or women.”

Among Grant’s first inspirations were Jana Wendt, Liz Hayes and Tracy Grimshaw. Then came Rhoda Roberts, who in 1989 hosted the first Indigenous current affairs show in prime time, SBS’s First In Line.

“When I saw her,” Grant says, “then it was like, ‘Well, I really want to be like her.’”

In 2003, Grant became the creator, executive producer and host of Living Black, a program she says was designed to “highlight the issues of First Nations people and give them a voice that they don’t otherwise have in the media”.

Since its premiere 22 years ago, Living Black has become the nation’s longest running Indigenous current affairs series.

Karla Grant has opened up about her career and personal life in a new interview with Stellar. Picture: Jedd Cooney for Stellar

NAIDOC Week – the annual celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – kicks off today, and tomorrow, Grant’s wide-ranging interview with tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley will air.

But celebrities, politicians and sporting stars aside, Grant says she is equally at ease with difficult stories like her interview with the family of Kumanjayi White, a 24-year-old man with disabilities who died after being restrained by police at an Alice Springs supermarket in May.

“When we still have people dying in custody, when we still have kids being taken away from their families, when we still have kids in detention, we need to get those stories out there,” she insists.

‘I was taken by surprise!’ Karla Grant has opened up about her new relationship. Picture: Jedd Cooney for Stellar

Listen to a new episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below:

On the lighter side, her date nights have also made the news of late.

“I was taken by surprise myself,” she admits to Stellar about her romance with reality-show star Nasser Sultan, 58.

“Even though we’re very different – I’m a serious, Walkley Award-winning journalist, and he’s from Married At First Sight, so we couldn’t be more worlds apart – we just have a lot of things in common.

“We love travelling, we love going to the movies, we love theatre. There’s a lot of things that we have in common that probably people on the outside don’t really appreciate.”

Grant says she and Sultan – known for his eccentric behaviour on the 2018 season of MAFS – met four years ago at an event, became friends, then gradually evolved their connection.

“I am a Married At First Sight viewer. My daughter [Lowanna] and I, along with my son, John, watch it every year,” she says, laughing.

“So of course I was well aware of who Nasser was when he approached me.

“Then, we just keep on running into each other at different movie screenings and events and would have a chat.

“He kept on asking me out, but I was always so busy with work and travel. Finally, I said ‘yes’.”

Karla Grant, right, has spoken for the first time about dating former MAFS star Nasser Sultan. Picture: Matrix

‘I’m excited about the year to come!’ Picture: Matrix

Stepping out with Sultan and having just celebrated both her 60th birthday and 30 years at SBS, Grant says, “I’m excited about the year to come. Life couldn’t be better. When I was younger and someone said they were 60, it was like, ‘Oh, they’re so old’. I don’t feel that way at all.”

The energy from a youthful spirit and an active lifestyle is needed, she reasons, to keep fighting for First Nations visibility, another key tenet of NAIDOC Week.

Listen to a new episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below:

After the ‘no’ vote on the 2023 referendum to establish an Indigenous voice to Parliament prevailed, “I didn’t even feel welcome in my own country after that,” Grant admits. “It really is shameful. This country needs to do better.”

Likewise, she was appalled by the treatment of her ex-husband, Stan Grant, in the lead-up to his 2023 resignation from the ABC.

“The filthy, racist remarks online that he faced on Twitter and in social media really did affect the family,” she says quietly of her and children Lowanna, John and Dylan.

“One of the boys, he got threats as well. It was a pretty awful time.

“I hope no one ever has to go through that sort of thing ever again. Stan and all of us as First Nations journalists are only there telling the truth. We’re truth seekers.”

Living Black airs at 8.30pm on Mondays on NITV and at 3pm Tuesdays on SBS. See the full shoot with Karla Grant in today’s Stellar, inside The Sunday Telepgrah (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria), The Sunday Mail (Queensland) and Sunday Mail (SA).

For more from Stellar, click here.

Originally published as ‘I was taken by surprise myself’: Karla Grant opens up about dating controversial ex-MAFS star