9 minute read
Sally Ridge’s joy
Sally has found love again with Scott (far right, at Kiwi artist Shane Cotton’s exhibition at Gow Langsford Gallery).
into a pink trinket box and laughs in horror. “Oh, that’s quite out there, isn’t it?! I don’t know what made me think of making these things,” says Taurangaborn Sally, who grew up collecting buttons, stamps and erasers, and loved making handmade cards.
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“I don’t think we do enough crafts any more.”
However, a passion for art still drives her.
Last month, she and son Astin launched a small side business together called Essentials NZ (fi nd it on Instagram @essentialsnz), where the pair import and sell high-end art pieces sourced globally from an array of established international artists. Think glow-in-thedark gnomes and designer decorative fi re extinguishers from the Netherlands. “I’m so into art and Astin has created a really good website,” she enthuses. “He loves art and respects what artists create, but he’s more intellectual than creative himself, and is enjoying his fi rst year doing a business and law degree at Auckland University.”
Before they had even launched their business however, the pair unwittingly found themselves in trouble with the police.
“It’s one of those funnybut-not-funny stories,” admits Sally. “Four months ago, we brought in these ‘designer dynamite’ pieces by a French artist. But they got held up at the airport and the bomb squad got brought in. It was really bad. The police rang Adam, saying, ‘There’s a suspicious package for A. Parore’ and he said, ‘Oh, that’s my son.’
“The police then rang us and weren’t happy. We fi nally got the pieces two weeks ago. The artist we are working with never imagined there’d be such a problem!”
For someone who used to regularly fi nd herself in the headlines – more often than not reading inaccuracies about her personal life – she says it’s been a breath of fresh air to have spent the last few years going “under the radar a bit”.
So, is she nervous about being on a magazine cover again for the fi rst time in over 10 years?
“No, other than people are probably going to say, “I’ve really kept out of the . They’ll take something
‘I feel like a person. time has “I didn’t consider leaving marched on, the kids have New Zealand, but it does tarnish you as a person. People do believe the rumours grown up but I’m that they read. And they say people forget, but they don’t. “It’s what you get from so happy’ being in the public eye, I suppose. But the Weekly doesn’t write nasty stuff , so it’s quite refreshing!” During her self-imposed media break, Sally poured herself into her work as a real estate agent for Bayleys – “I’m still shy but I think doing real estate has brought me out of my shell” – and focused solely on what matters most to her... her four beautiful children. These days, with sons Astin and Boston spending time with their girlfriends, it’s mostly just Sally and youngest daughter Mclane at home. The teenager is in Year 11 at school and has just started learning to drive. “All the kids are so strong-willed, enthusiastic and motivated,” tells Sally.
Our cover girl 20 years ago. “People are probably going to say, ‘She’s sooo old now!’”
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“They’re such good kids but they’re also so, so diff erent. When Jaime moved away to America, it was actually quite a shock to my system to be apart from her. I didn’t think she’d stay over there at fi rst, but now she’s got a full life there and loves it.
“Boston is 25 and has been working with his dad [former league star Matthew Ridge] for several years at his carwash sites, Carfē, and is now the managing director. He’s doing super-well and is the most focused, hardworking kid I’ve ever met. But if you want to have nice things in life, you’ve got to work bloody hard to get them.”
Between running her diff erent businesses, putting her house on the market and cooing daily over her grandson on the phone, Sally has enough to keep her busy – but she’s also dipped her toes into the dating pool again.
“I do have a partner, Scott, and he’s lovely. He’s very close to all the kids – they adore him and jokingly call him ‘Fitty Cent’.”
The couple met a few years ago through Sally’s friend Cathy, but a romance didn’t blossom until a year later.
“I wasn’t interested in him at all initially and I don’t think he was interested in me either!” she tells.
“And then whenever Cathy came up to Auckland, she’d say, ‘I’m going to have a drink with Scott, do you want to come?’ So I got to know him for ages, and we built a really nice friendship before things evolved and we got together.
“That’s one thing I have learnt with age – it’s important to be really good mates fi rst and foremost. Scott’s also the opposite of who I am, but maybe that’s what I needed in my life?
“I feel like time has marched on, the kids have grown up but I’m so happy at the moment.”
When she’s missing cuddles with grandson Porter, Sally’s got curly mate Valli to hug.
Quick fi re
What’s the last TV series
you’ve binge-watched? The entire series of The Crown – my partner and I would watch six episodes in a row! It was so good. I became addicted like a royal family drug addict, whereas previously I had zero interest in them. I also love to watch Selling Sunset. The houses on that show are just outrageous and we don’t have anything like them in New Zealand. I love to see what they do interior-wise.
My life philosophy is…
“Two wrongs don’t make a right” – I say that to the kids all the time.
What was your fi rst gift to
your new grandson? Well, I practically live at (baby clothing store) Nature Baby now, so I sent him a number of things from there. I’d like to buy him a nice piece of art when he’s older, as that’s what I have given all of my children.
Did you grow up with the Weekly in your home?
Gosh, yes. My mum Sue, who is 74, was a reader as was my nana, who loved the celebrity news as much as the younger generation. She passed away aged 99 and a half.
She doesn’t want to compete pregnant again. It’ll be double the fun having mum at home!
Serena wants daughter Olympia to have a sibling.
GOODBYE TO A GREAT
Serena’s thrown a curveball in her quest for another baby
It was a wistful Serena Williams who announced last week she was stepping away from the career that made her not just a star but an inspiration to women all over the world.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles winner revealed she has been trying for another child for the past year – a sibling for her four-year-old daughter Olympia.
“I defi nitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete,” the 40-year-old champion wrote last week. “I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.”
The star, who also won gold at the 2012 Olympics, shared, “Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labour of expanding our family.
“A lot of people don’t realise that I was two months pregnant when I won the Australian Open in 2017. But I’m turning 41 this month and something’s got to give.”
Serena hasn’t won a Grand Slam since 2017.
“I had my chances after coming back from giving birth,” she says. “I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a Grand Slam fi nal. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. These days, if I have to choose between building my tennis resumé and building my family, I choose the latter.”
The sports legend, who married billionaire Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2017, has yet to put a fi rm date on her retirement and hopes to compete in the US Open in New York this month.
Kevin and Britney were married for two years.
Sons reject Britney
Britney Spears has slammed her ex-husband Kevin Federline for announcing their teenage sons don’t want any contact with her.
Kevin, 44, recently gave an interview in which he said, “The boys have decided they are not seeing her right now. It’s been a few months since they’ve seen her. They made the decision not to go to her wedding.”
The former back-up dancer, who shares Sean, 16, and Jayden, 15, with Britney, 40, also said he’d had a diffi cult time explaining why newly married Britney posted nearly nude shots of herself online.
“It’s tough. I can’t imagine how it feels to be a teenager having to go to high school,” he said.
Sean and Jayden were noticeably absent from Britney’s wedding to personal trainer Sam Asghari, 28, in June, but the Toxic singer has fought back, saying it was “hurtful” that Kevin had decided to publicly discuss private family matters and that everyone knows raising teenage boys “is never easy”.
The X-Files star Gillian Anderson has played her fair share of trailblazers. Now, she says, she’d like to try something more chilling.
The 53-year-old actress impressed fans with her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Crown.
“Women interest me. I enjoy playing real-life women,” Gillian confessed recently. “But the pressure and expectation is greater. I might take a break for a while and play some psychopaths.”
That chance might come sooner than expected. Gillian’s former Sex Education co-star Ncuti Gatwa, 29, is the new Doctor Who and he stated recently that he’d love to do battle in the beloved sci-fi series with Gillian playing the villain.
It would be a risk, but mum-ofthree Gillian says her career has been built on taking chances.
“I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in my lane, fi guratively and literally,” she confesses.
