‘I’m confident in myself now’: Elyse Knowles on motherhood, modelling and finding a new life in Byron Bay
Elyse Knowles – former winner of The Block and an Instagram star – opens up about retreating from the public eye and shifting focus to raise her young family.
Stellar
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Since beginning her fashion career at the age of 10, Elyse Knowles has built up a hearty portfolio, including campaigns for Billabong, Seafolly and Calvin Klein.
She then became a brand unto herself after winning reality home renovation series The Block in 2017, alongside her long-term partner Josh Barker. But her priorities have shifted since having children (their first son, Sunny, arrived in 2021, followed by Zaii in May 2023, and daughter Java last December).
“I was very determined with my job in my younger years. I was very motivated, and I just wanted to keep climbing the ladder,” she tells Stellar.
“Then I got to a point where I wanted to step away, and put 90 per cent of my energy towards my family.”
In case you should think she’s taking it easy, though, Knowles, 32, would like to relate a typical scene from her household of three very young children.
“Here’s the epitome of a sh*t day,” she begins. “Java was sick. She slept for two hours and then she was up all night – I couldn’t get her back to sleep, so I was awake from midnight. I put her in the carrier at 4am and walked the streets.
“Then I walked the beach and watched the sunrise with her. Then we went to the bakery, and when it opened at 6am I got a croissant, walked some more, then went to the cafe at 7am for breakfast.”
By the time she and Java got home, she adds laughing, “it had been a four-hour walk. I say to Josh, ‘I would love to go to work and be alone [or] be talking to people and accomplishing tasks without anyone nagging at you, or just be able to do something 100 per cent.’
“That would be great, but that’s not what mumming is.”
That she has fiancé Barker, 35, to confide in has been a source of comfort. Since they met in 2013, the couple have starred on TV, launched their design company J&E Projects, and started their family.
“I think Josh and I work together as a great team,” Knowles says.
“We really tackle it together and make it fun along the way. You have your crazy days, don’t get me wrong, but most of it’s great.”
Relocating in 2019 from Melbourne to Byron Bay, on the New South Wales north coast, helped Knowles keep a healthy distance from glitzy red-carpets events, both physically and emotionally.
“When I lived in a different state, you cared about what you drove, you cared about wearing make-up as soon as you left the door, you cared about what you wore,” she tells Stellar.
“I’m confident in myself now; I don’t need make-up to hide. If I can keep my kids happy and healthy, I’m one happy lady.”
Along with the beaches, food scene and potential for A-lister sightings, Knowles points out that her new home base offers a sense of community – something she especially appreciated after the fallout from Cyclone Alfred in March, when she and Barker lost power for three days.
“We have a lot of oldies who live in our street, so Josh went around with the gas kettle and was giving everyone hot water,” she recalls.
“They were all loving having a cup of tea and just having good conversations, even though it was a wild couple of days. It was nice to bring it back to basics.”
Not so simple for Knowles has been her relationship with social media. Although the influencer has 781,000 followers on Instagram, she has also attracted trolls, famously after captioning a story image “Wallah” – a misspelling of the French word voilà – in December 2020.
Even now, she will still take anything from one week to three months off posting anything online.
“Sometimes I just want to escape and step back from it all,” she admits.
“You need to keep Instagram going for your business, so you’ve got to find a happy medium. But I’ve found that minimising posts and minimising stories makes people want to know more.”
As for a return to full-time modelling, Knowles remains cautious.
“I think I’m very fortunate to be able to select the jobs that I want to do, and I’ve worked hard to get to that place,” she says.
“I’m grateful for that. If I was to go back to flying around everywhere, I don’t think I could do it now. That point in my life is gone.
“But if the brand’s values align with mine and they understand my family life, then I’m very open to working.”
See the full shoot with Elyse Knowles inside Stellar tomorrow. For more from Stellar and the podcast Something To Talk About, click here.
Originally published as ‘I’m confident in myself now’: Elyse Knowles on motherhood, modelling and finding a new life in Byron Bay
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