SHE’S STILL GOLDEN

CELEB UPDATE

Though she’s a bit “creaky” now, Betty’s still all White!

THE ACTRESS IS LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO 98!

Still golden Betty’s birthday bash

It’s a very happy 98th birthday to the legendary Betty White! The Golden Girls star is doing “really well” and will celebrate her big day on January 17 surrounded by her closest friends at a wee shindig.

“She still likes to drink, laugh and tell stories,” says a pal.

“It will be at her home with longtime friends and stepchildren. She’s still close with them and their children. They’ll order food in and have fun.” The star, who first rose to fame on US game shows and a self-titled talk show before joining the cast of The Mary Tyler Moore Show , adores her birthdays and spent the day last year eating cake and playing poker.

Betty, who has been single since the passing of her third husband Allen Ludden in 1981 – “once you’ve had the best, who needs the rest?” she once said – has a large group of friends, and spends her time either socialising, reading or completing a crossword.

“It’s all about your mental attitude,” she says. “So many of us start dreading age, [but]

New Zealand Woman’s Weekly make the most of it –it’s better than the alternative!” While the actress is a little slower than she used to be, she has no major health problems, the pal tells.

“She says she’s a little ‘creaky’. Walking is a bit of an issue and she uses a walker at home, but she’s okay. And she’s still quick with a one-liner.”

Betty’s also continuing to work and appear in public, albeit sporadically – she lent her voice to last year’s Toy Story 4 and accepted a lifetime achievement award at the 70th Emmy Awards in 2018 where she received a prolonged standing ovation from the audience.

Indeed, while her family would like her to retire to her beach house in Carmel, California, Betty refuses. “Hollywood is in her blood. She likes to be close to the action, even at her age.” And just what’s her secret to a long life? Fast food and alcohol, according to her Hot in Cleveland co-star Wendie Malick (69).

“She lives on hot dogs and vodka,” she laughs. #

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There aren’t many people who would go to their boss with the sole intention of talking themselves out of a job. But that’s exactly what Katie McGlynn did when she asked the producers of Coronation Street to kill her off. The result was her recent cervical cancer storyline, where viewers saw Katie’s character Sinead Osbourne die following a year-long battle with the illness in some of the bravest and most heartbreaking scenes the Street has ever shot.

“When they first told me about the story, they weren’t sure if it was going to be terminal,” Katie (26) tells.

“But I said, ‘I think she should die.’ I said that knowing it would mean I didn’t have a job. But I wanted to show real life. There’s not always a fairytale ending and people do die. Some TV shows fear the sad ending, but I wanted to make it as real as possible.”

Which it absolutely was. The unnerving time jumps, edgy camera work and focus on Sinead’s breathing made those final scenes extremely intense to watch, and Katie says she’s proud to have been f ll CELEB UPDATE 20 New Zealand Woman’s Weekly a part of it all. But, um, what about her mortgage? “I’ve got savings, I’m not completely daft,” she la hs. “It’s a bit scar to not have a b, but I’m okay for now.” The truth is, Katie started getting itchy feet a couple of years ago, frustrated that Sinead was plodding along wit any major drama. She a ed a meeting with -producer Kate Oates talk through her issatisfaction and h intention to quit. “I’d ust turned 24 and was on this big show, but I wasn’t doing much,” she says candidly. “I felt a bit lost. I’d come from a lot of drama at my previous job on Waterloo Road, where ‘KILL ME OFF’ Katie’s Coro sacrifice WHY THE ACTRESS INSISTED ON SINEAD’S HEARTBREAKING ENDING

I was getting big, challenging storylines left, right and centre. I went to Coro, and pinched myself that I was there, but the character took a while to develop to make her the quirky girl she became.

“I didn’t feel Sinead was reaching her full potential, and unless something really bad happened to her I didn’t think there was anywhere for her to go. She was too sweet, her life was very normal and I wasn’t sure what to do.”

It was during that meeting Katie was told producers were in the early stages of planning a cancer plot and asked her to consider staying on to do it. “I was very open with her [Kate] about feeling lost and not knowing if I should still be there. And that’s when she put this storyline to me and I thought, ‘Well, I can’t leave now.’

“I said, ‘Yes please, let me do it!’ And I said that I wanted Sinead to die.

“Selfishly, I wanted a big story but I also wanted it to get women going for their smears, because it felt like the Jade Goody effect had gone.”

Reality star Jade died of

cervical cancer in 2009 and the publicity around that tragedy saw an upsurge in the number of women attending routine smear tests. But the impact was short-lived and by last year the number of screenings had reached an all-time low.

While Sinead’s story played out, GPs reported that those figures started to climb again.

“I was really shocked, touched and humbled by the reaction,” Katie says. “I’m so proud that we’ve raised awareness. We invested a lot of time in it and the research team was amazing. We wanted to make sure we got it right.”

The intense plot also gave Katie’s confidence in her acting abilities a boost, after the quieter years of playing Sinead allowed self-doubt to creep in. “I’ve been so out of practice for four years, I didn’t know if I could still do the serious scenes. It’s given me my confidence back again.”

In some welcome relief after such a draining storyline, Katie spent the festive period playing Tinker Bell in panto Peter Pan . But she is the latest in a long line of Coro stars to leave

‘I wanted to get women going for their smears because it felt like the Jade Goody effect had gone’

the Street − Kym Marsh (43), Lucy Fallon (24) and Beverley Callard (62) are just a few others who have also quit − amid rumours of major unrest and low morale, mainly due to increased working hours since new producer Iain MacLeod arrived in 2018. “It’s a coincidence,” Katie insists. “My storyline was written so far in advance so it’s been more sporadic rather than everyone suddenly deciding [to leave] all at once. “People want to try other opportunities, it’s not that they’re fed up of working there. It’s actually a really lovely place to work. “The Street always goes on, no matter what. Coro has nothing to worry about.” The recent move to six episodes a week in the UK (with reports this could soon increase to seven) has undoubtedly placed more pressure on the cast and crew, and the jury is definitely still out as far as the viewers are concerned regarding whether it’s overkill. Would Katie have preferred it back at a more manageable three or four episodes a week? “Probably, yes. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s a chore for the audience, but it is a big commitment. And upping it makes everyone have to work even harder to get the episodes out, as well as people at home working harder to keep up. “But I guess that’s the way the media is going now. With Netflix and dramas, you can watch a box set in a week. Coro is trying to chase that and I don’t blame them.” Rochdale-born Katie is the youngest of five siblings and first started drama classes at the age of seven in a bid to combat chronic shyness. “My mum wanted to help me overcome that and make some friends. I joined Carol Godby’s [theatre school in Bury] and that was it.” She got her first job at 16 on Jimmy McGovern’s Moving On and then won the part of the troubled Jodie ‘Scout’ Allen on Waterloo Road, where she stayed until Coronation Street came calling in 2013.

Clockwise rom le t: Katie’s first big role was as Scout on Waterloo Road ; Katie’s mum Ruth helped her to overcome shyness with acting classes; and she joined Coro in 2013.

“I did my A levels while I was filming Waterloo Road, and it was just a case of doing the exam then getting into a cab to go and film. “My parents have always supported me,” she continues. “They knew I was passionate and that I had a fire in my belly for this career. It was about helping me get there.” Katie admits she was an awkward, self-conscious teen but has grown much more comfortable in her skin with age. She tries not to let social media trolling get to her, preferring to deflect it with humour. “Someone posted on one of my pictures, ‘Are you pregnant?’ And I replied, ‘No, I’m just fat.‘ That’s how I deal with it, I flip it. There will always be bitter people who want to ruin other people’s lives. “Me 10 years ago was a completely different person. Becoming a young woman in today’s society is hard. I’d love to tell that girl to stop worrying about what other people thought, stop comparing yourself. It’s about having confidence and faith in yourself.” That said, she’s currently working with Ultimate Performance in Manchester, after gaining about 6kg during the filming of Sinead’s final months. “I wanted them to crack the whip with the nutrition side of things,” Katie tells. “I just didn’t feel like myself and I wanted to get back to me... It’s about finding balance without getting obsessed. “I think everyone feels a certain pressure with social media. We all see those edited and gym-honed bodies. Yes, I’m in the spotlight, but I think any young woman is under that same pressure today.” Katie’s been single since splitting with boyfriend Benji Roberts at the start of the year

Katie’s split from Benji (below) was done quietly. Since Sinead’s storyline, she’s kept herself busy with assistance from the team at Ultimate Performance, who are helping her get back in shape.

and says she’s quite happy being on her own.

“To be honest, I’ve not had time for any of that. I’m so laid-back, I don’t go searching for it. I know some women feel like they’re on a clock, but I’m not bothered. I live on my own and I love having my own space. “I’m actually really good on my own, and I think that might be my problem. I enjoy my own company too much and I also have really high standards, so if anyone wants to come into my life, everything has to be ticked off. It all has to click and if I have even one doubt then I don’t really want to waste my time.” As for the future, there are some top-secret talks going on for projects this year and Katie has been back on the audition trail as she lines up post-Coro work. Her schedule is unlikely to include reality TV, though, despite having been offered the opportunity.

“Never say never. I’ve been offered a lot of the dating ones, but it’s not my comfort

zone. And at this time in my life I want to focus on acting, that’s what I know.

“It’s scary, but in a good way. I’ve never once doubted it or worried about what I’ve done. I love not knowing what’s going to happen next week.

“I’d like to think I left at the right time. I tried to choose a good time to leave and hopefully the stars have aligned.” Katie adds, “I think Coro has been such a big part of my life and I’ll never forget it, but now I want to draw a line under it and see what else is out there.” # Beth Niel

Slip, slop, slapping isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when discussing all things pig. But then King Curtis wasn’t any old hog. The large white is one of several boars that longtime friends –twins Catherine and Emma Sharpin and Annabel Askin –have exhibited since their compeitition debut at Christchurch’s A&P Show in 2017. King Curtis was, as the three women put it, just “porker”. Unfortunately, he also needed bucket-loads of sunscreen to stop his light-coloured flanks from sunburn. “It blew our budget,” says Catherine with a laugh. Lesson learned and the three women, who go by the syndicate name The Pork Pullers, are now looking to show only Berkshires, a rare breed of English domestic swine finding renewed favour among the culinary cognoscenti. The trio all grew up on farms around Lowcliffe in mid-Canterbury. Their foray into hog handling followed an approach from the Boar Breeders Association (BBA), which was keen to get more females weekly PEOPLE THEY’RE YOUR STORIES

involved in competitions. They didn’t need much convincing. The Pork Pullers was born and their first purchases, Boaratt, a five-month-old Berkshire, and Optimus Swine, a 130kg black and white saddleback, not only took the show ring by surprise, but Boaratt won them their very first ribbon. The following year Liam Squealer, Hugh Grunt and King Curtis entered the circuit. Liam was trucked up to the Royal Hawke’s Bay Show and stunned veteran competitors after “trotting away with first, second and third placings in the purebred section”, says 28-year-old Emma, a senior sales rep for a rural retailer and the group’s HR, or hog relations manager. Their success has continued with Stephen Porkings and Piggy Smalls, two purebred Berkshires they raised from weaners, bought for $200. Porkings, a 100kg boar, won every round he was eligible for at the 2019 Christchurch show in November and was crowned 2019 Supreme Champion. From all accounts, raising the beasts is a combination of hilarity and hard work. Tells Annabel, 31, “The first

Below, from left: Annabel, Emma and Catherine look after their charges from farm to plate!

THE TRIO ARE BRINGING HOME THE BACON ... ER, RIBBONS Our Babes are win HOGGING THE SPOTLIGHT

year we used my parents’ dairy farm to raise them. The old man said no when we asked, but sometimes it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than consent! “Our parents thought we were nuts having our weekly meetings in the pig pen, drinking wine and eating bacon and egg pie.” Annabel, a clinical exercise physiologist, is The Pork Pullers’ CEO –and the squeamish should look away now –or chief execution officer. She is, however, well aware of the swines’ mental health needs. She explains, “Pigs need to be kept in twos or more as they are very social and intelligent animals,

and can get depressed if they’re in solitary confinement. We make sure the pig pen has a shelter hut, fresh water and plenty of space to move around and play. We often lead them to creeks or mud holes on hot days so they can bathe and cool off.” Animal nutrition area manager Catherine is the syndicate’s PA, or pig analyst, responsible for keeping their charges in tip-top condition. “We use a customised feeding and exercise training regime, similar to that of a high-performance athlete,” she boasts. “Their dietary regime includes a blend of protein and starch, so no household scraps! And to get the correct percentage of lean muscle to fat ratio, we use a combination of anaerobic and strengthbased training.” Prior to show day, the pigs are meticulously groomed –washed, exfoliated, oiled, buffed and talcumed. The next job, says Emma, is getting themselves ready. “We want to look classy and sophisticated, as the boys wear suit jackets and ties. Our vibe has been country chic each year, so we try and interpret this into our outfit choices.” They’ve also become known for their pre and post-judge partying, spurred along by a not-so-sneaky espresso martini or Pimms. “We have been the only girl syndicate in the show scene until last year and it hasn’t been easy to work our way to the top,” admits Emma. “We wanted to show other rural girls that it was something they could get involved with and have a laugh along the way. It’s a huge annual event on the social calendar –a bit like family Christmas, no-one ever wants to miss out.” And speaking of Christmas, while the first of their show pigs was passed on to other breeders, several have ended up in the freezer, including Piggy Smalls, who was last month’s Christmas ham. # Julie Jacobson

Below: Top hog Stephen Porkings pokes his tongue at his rivals. Bottom: The girls are hot to trotter in their show attire.

THEY’RE YOUR STORIES weekly PEOPLE

DIANE’S SEARCH TO FIND HER MUM’S LONG-LOST PAINTINGS

A DAME GOOD LEGACY

Louise’s art & soul

If you were passing through the former Farmers car park in downtown Auckland back in the mid 1980s, there’s a chance you may have come across an elderly lady working feverishly on giant colourful canvases. The unlikely venue had become a makeshift studio for one of Aotearoa’s most prolific modern artists, Dame Louise Henderson, as she created her monumental series, The Twelve Months. The dame was in her 80s when she embarked on the ambitious project that depicted impressions of life in New Zealand over a calendar year on a dozen towering canvases, a scale so colossal daughter Diane McKegg (86) recalls the challenges it posed for her trailblazing mum. “She would ask anyone who was passing to help her turn the work upside down as they were almost twice her height. “She had to because they were huge paintings. It [the car park] was an ideal place to do it because there was plenty of room for her to work on them, but on the other hand she couldn’t manage them on her own. “It was an enormous challenge. I remember she was very satisfied when they were finished,” Diane says, adding Louise was 85 when she completed the series in 1987. Now, more than three decades later, 10 of the 12 paintings are on display at Auckland Art Gallery where the exhibition Louise Henderson: From Life is celebrating seven decades of the late artist’s work. It includes her early watercolours featuring the Canterbury landscape, still-life compositions, females depicted in cubism and lush bush scenes. There’s an added delight for Diane, with one of the missing artworks, owned by a private collector, rediscovered at an Auckland secondary school midway through December last year. “You know that they’ve found April, don’t you?” an exuberant Diane tells. “It was at Mount Albert Grammar. It ended up there because the person who

owns it couldn’t hang it in his house. He was an old boy of Mount Albert Grammar. “It was really such a relief because there are 12 months in the year. We know that one (August) was cut down and therefore is no longer the same size as the others, however we could not find April. It became a kind of crusade really because it did exist and it was really very satisfying to find it again,” she smiles. New Zealand art curator Julia Waite says calls for the completed series to be kept together in a public collection back in the day went unheeded, with the paintings dispersed throughout the country. After an extensive search for the lost month, and with most of the paintings reunited for the exhibition, Julia was surprised to learn a colleague had spied it hanging in a school hallway. “A few weeks after the exhibition opened, no-one came forward to say they had the work and I began to worry that April may never be found,” she says. “I’ve viewed the inting and it’s interesting erpretation of autumn month th small shards colour fluttering wn like autumn aves, and a owded sky dark storm uds.” Buoyed by the iscovery, Diane ys she can’t lp but feel roud wandering rough the ecially curated llection that emonstrates e breadth of er mother’s pressive

Auckland Art Gallery’s show celebrating seven decades of Louise’s work includes paintings from her Twelve Months series. artistic journey. “I think it’s a beautiful exhibition. It covers all the different periods of her work, is well documented and beautifully hung.” Surrounded with an equally stunning selection of Louise’s paintings on the walls of her Auckland home, Diane says it wasn’t until her teenage years that she started to appreciate her mum’s talent. “Like most children, to me she was just my mother. It wasn’t until we got to Auckland in 1949 and she had the freedom to paint as she was no longer working full time, that I started to become aware of this. “My mother could be in her studio all day without coming out of it. She always used to say, ‘There’s so much to do.’ She was never short of ideas.” With painting a way of life for her French-born mother, who taught art to secondary school and tertiary students and was an expert embroiderer, Diane recalls Louise’s attempts to get her only daughter to follow in her footsteps. “She used to take me to drawing classes on the weekend but I wasn’t in the least bit interested,” she tells. “I have three daughters and they are all talented in different ways, but none of them paint.” Diane, who grew up speaking French at home, says her mum was pleased to be recognised for her services to art when she was awarded a damehood in 1993 at the age of 90. With the opportunity to celebrate her mother’s work 25 years after her death, Diane speaks authoritatively about the captivating canvases that adorn her walls, telling the Weekly how much they mean to her. “They are a great responsibility but also a source of great joy. I am always delighted when they are exhibited and I have the opportunity to share them. “My mother said you don’t own paintings, paintings are there for everyone to enjoy, so I don’t particularly possess them.” # Lynley Ward