Natalie Barr on Sunrise: ‘I’ve never seen any catfights’

Sunrise co-host Natalie Barr has denied rumours of behind the scenes drama at the Seven breakfast show, as she reveals why she ‘never wanted’ the high-profile role.

As she marks three years as Sunrise co-host, Natalie Barr joins Stellar’s podcast Something To Talk About to look back on her slow and steady rise at the show where she’s worked for nearly a quarter century, and reflects on her initial misgivings about taking the job – a decision she calls her “sliding doors moment”.

She also opens up about establishing an on-air rapport with Matt Shirvington after the departure of David Koch, tuning out the white noise of social media when anchoring live TV, navigating reports about her alleged “hatred” of female colleagues, and how she and her husband have (not quite) adjusted to life as empty-nesters: “We were bawling our eyes out. I think we were mourning the period of our lives that is gone forever”.

Natalie Barr has opened up about her road to the top job at Sunrise. Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar

On whether, after 21 years with Sunrise and as she marks three years as a co-host this week, Barr still feels – as former co-host David Koch told Something To Talk About last year – a bit of imposter syndrome in the job:

“I know what he means and I think it’s healthy. You’ve got to sit there a little bit on edge, and that kind of drives you. I can’t believe it’s three years this weekend; it took me about a year to feel comfortable in that seat, even though I’d sat on the sidelines and been part of the team for so many years and watched two co-hosts do it. Now I feel I kind of own it, but only to a certain degree. If you’re overconfident, it will slap you down, and I’ve experienced that. I’ll walk away from an interview and think, OK, they got you there. I shouldn’t have asked that question. They answered it and you didn’t come back with the right comeback. Don’t be too big for your boots here.”

Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar

Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar

On how she and Matt Shirvington have adjusted to the changed dynamic on air since he took over from Koch as her co-host on the Seven Network show last June:

“It has been surprisingly great. I mean, we were nervous. This was probably one of the biggest gambles in Australian television. We had the longest host of an Australian breakfast TV program leaving, and we had to make it work. But at the same time, Shirvo had been doing Fridays for over a year, so I knew him really well. When we started full-time, we went head-on into it with big news stories in those first few weeks. I think the first day Shirvo started was the Hunter Valley bus crash, so we were dealing with a massive, horrible

news story that was breaking as we went to air; that was his introduction to hosting Sunrise. The gamble paid off. He’s a great guy. We never feel unsure. We never feel left out to dry. We never feel like there’s dead air. That’s what it’s like with Shirvo.”

Listen to the full interview with Natalie Barr on Something To Talk About:

On often taking the lead when conducting hard-news interviews, thus up-ending the historic gender dynamic in TV news – which long saw male co-hosts occupy that role – and how some headlines and social media can at times misrepresent the tone of those interviews:

“Often it’s reported that I’ve sort of gone hard on a politician and asked a hard question. A few friends of mine have said this [and then added], ‘And then I went into the article and realised all you said or asked was: Why are you doing that?’ I’ve asked it in a really clear, concise, maybe blunt way … And that’s me ‘attacking’ someone. I can’t help how it’s reported. I think people at home are sick of people sort of beating around the bush; [they] want basic questions answered. That’s my job. Yes, it’s on TV and we wear make-up and we get to wear great clothes. That’s the fun part of it. But I’m a journalist. I love that part of it more than anything. That’s when I’m on a high in that studio. Sometimes the politicians seem to go on about other stuff. My job is to cut through that. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

On speculation that, when Melissa Doyle exited the show in 2013 and Samantha Armytage replaced her as co-host, Barr felt she had been overlooked, and if she ever bought into the perception she was “always the bridesmaid, never the bride”:

“No. And the amount of times I’ve been asked that and I feel people don’t believe me … I remember going for dinner with the boss of the show and Sam, right after she announced it, having a glass of wine and saying ‘Cheers, you’re the best person for this job and I honestly believe that.’ And then doing an interview with a newspaper in an airport, like standing next to Sam, and them grilling me about why didn’t I put my hand up for the job? Hand on heart, I didn’t think I could do the job then. It’s weird the way no-one believes you when you say things like that, because you can’t say it often enough. [Even] when Sam left, I was hesitant;

I don’t know whether it’s something in my DNA that [meant] I had trouble putting my hand up when the boss called me and said, ‘Do you want it?’ We were sort of talking around the issue and he stopped me and said, ‘You sound like you don’t want this job. You sound like you’re talking yourself out of it.’ Something struck me and I got cold sweats and he said, ‘It’s OK. I’ve had jobs like this where I’ve been nervous and second-guessing myself. You can still do the job.’ And I thought, maybe it’s OK. Maybe I can do it. But I had to be talked into it even then. I don’t know whether it’s a woman thing. I know it’s a me thing, but that’s honestly how I felt. It still took me roughly a year to feel comfortable in that job.”

‘I had trouble putting my hand up.’ Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar

On not getting distracted when conducting on-air interviews, despite knowing clips might be taken out of context for clickbait headlines:

“Is it annoying sometimes? Yeah. Is it the worst thing in the world? No. People are dealing with worse stuff than someone maybe misconstruing something. I can complain to my husband and maybe rant to him, then I’ll hang up and go on with my day. If it’s something completely incorrect? We asked for a correction with a front page of a photo of Mel Doyle and I, saying we’d been to a function and didn’t talk to each other because we hated each other. Mel and I were texting each other, laughing about it. We were talking to each other – they just didn’t get a photo of it. We asked for a correction because both of us were hurt. That’s the only thing I can think of. The rest of it is like, well, people just scroll to the end of the page and in a few hours it’s off the website. And, really, people are dealing with worse things.”

On how she has navigated the constant speculation of behind-the-scenes tension between her and Sunrise colleagues, including those reports of supposed “hatred” between herself and Doyle:

“My view is to mainly ignore it. I find that if you give that sort of stuff air, and start complaining about it, especially publicly … I mean, 99 per cent of the population don’t care. So then other people pick it up as a story and then even more people see it. It’s not worth giving it airtime. I basically got along with everyone. Whatever a catfight is, I can’t remember any in the Sunrise office.”

On whether she ever feels nervous or anxious when going live to air:

“I don’t really get nervous. I get an excited feeling, and [it’s] the same whether I’m interviewing the prime minister or a politician; [whether it’s] on so-called really important topics that affect lots of Australians, or you’re talking to someone who’s had something in their life really affect them and they live in a normal house in a normal suburb – that’s just as important as talking to the prime minister. You’ve got to give them exactly the same time and effort and respect as anyone on that show. For that four minutes, you’ve got to hone in; they’re the only person in the world to you. The minute you think this should be an easy one, that’s a huge mistake. You’ve got to go in thinking, I’ve got to really try here. That’s how I do it.”

On her first memories of when she started on Sunrise in 2002:

“I almost said no to this job when I had an 18-month-old baby who was keeping me up at night. I had worked my way to a pretty senior level in the newsroom, and I remember getting a call from the boss at the time of this fledgling show [with] Mel and Kochie, and he said, ‘We want to add a newsreader.’ I’d been on the road reporting for the 6pm news for about eight years and I said, ‘It sounds great. What’s the show called again?’ I know it sounds ridiculous, but no-one had heard of it. I remember the conversation so clearly. I remember sitting on the back steps of our house thinking, OK, thanks, and hanging up and calling my husband, relaying it and discussing whether it would be a good idea to throw in my reporting job for this unknown apparent opportunity. And something made me do it. I guess it was a good move. That was a sliding doors moment. My whole life changed.”

On whether moving from newsreader to full-time co-host has brought new freedoms, such as taking more risks with her fashion choices, as she did for this cover shoot with Stellar:

“This shoot was probably the most unusual I’ve ever done. I walked up to the photographer and said, ‘Can you just tell me exactly what to do? Because I don’t know what I’m doing.’

He just looked at me and said, ‘What are you talking about?’ But that’s not [TV presenters’] natural stance. We’re not models. Just because you’re in front of a camera doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing. But walking in and getting one of the best stylists in the country to have picked all these amazing clothes and putting them on you, having the best hair and make-up team and having amazing photos taken of you … It’s a part of the job that’s fun and lighthearted. You can be a serious journalist and on Monday morning be grilling politicians, and you can love clothes. You’re allowed to do that. I think years ago you would have been laughed at.”

On the increased viability and career longevity for women in media like Barr – who is 55 – and whether she feels like she is in her “slay era”:

“I don’t know whether I’d term it that. But I do feel confident, to be honest. And that’s unusual for me, because I’m the apologist. Maybe it was 12 years of Catholic school. We were not taught to own ourselves. But I do feel confident in myself and even saying that … part of me thinks, oh, is that bragging? But I feel good.”

On how she and her husband, film editor Andrew Thompson, are coping with being empty-nesters now their sons Lachlan, 22, and Hunter, 18, have moved out of home:

“I’m not feeling the new chapter yet. The first one left several years ago and he’s at uni in Melbourne, and the second one left a few weeks ago. He went to uni in Canberra. We packed up the car, drove him down, said goodbye and drove back bawling our eyes out. I think we were mourning the period of our lives that is now gone forever because it’s their childhood. You say all the right things: ‘You have all this freedom, you can do what you want, it’s a new beginning for you.’ But I don’t feel that yet. I honestly just feel sad. That’s the honest truth.”

See the full shoot with Natalie Barr inside Stelalr. And listen to the full interview with her on Something To Talk About below:

Originally published as Natalie Barr on Sunrise: ‘I’ve never seen any catfights’