Sonia Kruger, the hostess with the mostest, is up for another TV WEEK Gold Logie this year. However, when she reflects on winning the award in 2023, she recalls the moment as bittersweet.
“I wish my dad could have been alive to see that happen,” Sonia, 59, tells TV WEEK. “He loved the world of television. In our family he was the star, the entertainer – he had this huge circle of friends and he made everyone laugh. When he got sick, Bert Newton sent me a message saying: ‘Tell your dad that I hope he gets better soon.’ I remember reading it to Dad in the hospital and he was just blown away by it.”
Sonia’s father, Adrian, died in 2015 after a long battle with his health, and with “a glint in his eye until the very end”. Sonia has embodied his free spirit and applies that ethos to her day-to-day life.
“The thing about Dad is that he was very young at heart,” she says with a smile. “That’s why I joke and am perennially immature. We’re not here forever, so you might as well just enjoy life while you’re here.”
Sonia has hosted Big Brother Australia, Dancing With The Stars and The Voice, and enjoyed a successful career that’s lasted over 25 years – something she credits to some of the amazing mentors she’s had during that time.
“When I first started out, Peter Meakin [former News Director] was a great mentor to me,” Sonia gushes. “David Leckie [former commercial TV boss] was another. I’ve also had incredible executive producers that I’ve worked with, like Peter Beck and Karen Green from Dancing With The Stars and Chloe Baker on The Voice.
“I’ve been so lucky. Half the battle is finding like-minded people – and I’ve been able to work with people who have given me the freedom to be a little bit naughty and a little bit fearless.”
Her career has also given her flexibility to spend quality time with her daughter, Maggie, 10, who changed Sonia’s whole life when she was born in 2015.
“Having a kid changes absolutely everything,” Sonia explains. “You start to see the world through their eyes, and you want the world to be a better place for them. You want to maintain that innocence for as long as you can.”
Sonia’s daughter doesn’t comprehend her mother’s fame, simply thinking she’s the most popular woman in Sydney because people approach whenever they’re out and about.
“People will come up and talk to me in the street and Maggie thought I just knew all these people,” she says in disbelief. “I would have to explain I don’t really know that person, but maybe they watched The Voice or Dancing With The Stars.
“Now she understands that they want to come and have a chat. That says it all for me: the dream is to be the person people feel they can hang out with at a barbecue and be comfortable to have a laugh with – that’s my whole drive.”
Another person who has changed Sonia’s life for the better is her partner, Craig McPherson. Until recently, Craig was Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel Seven.
“He sees the real me,” she reveals. “Craig is this serious news and public affairs guy, and I’m this razzle-dazzle, fluffy, entertainment person. They’re very opposite things when you think about it – but it works.”
It’s her glamorous, fun, infectious energy that Australian viewers love seeing on their screens that makes Sonia an industry and fan favourite alike.
“The viewing public loves something that’s slightly flawed,” Sonia explains. “Anything too perfect is a little bit boring. So I bring the mistakes, and I think that’s what they like!”
And – bearing in mind the controversial Gold Logie acceptance speech that landed her in hot water in 2023 – what speech will she make if she wins this year? That awkward joke is a mistake she won’t make twice, she says.
“It couldn’t possibly get worse,” Sonia admits, referencing the speech in which people thought she was ‘dissing’ fellow nominee Hamish Blake.
“I think I might get Shaun Micallef to write it [this year]. He’s a genius. I think I need to outsource those jobs to other people”
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