Throughout Grant Denyer‘s career, he and his wife Chezzi have been the subject of countless news stories. From articles about their relationship to the births of their three children (Sailor, 11, Scout, seven, and Sunday, two) there has been no milestone left that hasn’t been reported on.
However, in addition to the good news, the Denyers have been plagued by fabricated media fodder with stories about addiction, breakdowns and marital woes, all of which have been unequivocally untrue.
From the comfort of their Bathurst home, the Denyers spoke with me (Anita Anabel) on the Mediaweek and Chattr podcast, The Entertainment Hotline. What transpired was a no holds barred, raw and honest chat.
“Being written about and spoken about is part of the deal that you make,” Grant said about his TV career. “The fact that people want to say good or negative things about you, you have no control over. So, I haven’t had too much of a problem with that but when it affects my family, it’s different.
“People saying mean things about me is okay because I signed up for this. I chose television as career. That’s part of the game. If it’s negative things about my wife that’s a bit of a different story. If it’s negative things about our family, then I draw a line at that.”
Chezzi agreed, saying that they’ve always wondered why people are “so interested in the story?”
“Because it’s so boring. We’re so boring. We are not drama filled, we are just run of the mill. We live in the country, people who see us down the street or at the kids’ school, they’re like, ‘I can’t believe this story has been written about that.'”
Grant and Chezzi’s It’s All True podcast began as platform for them to tell the truth
In order to combat the media fodder, Grant and Chezzi decided to create the It’s All True podcast, a platform in which they could tell their story “straight from the horse’s mouth”. Now in its seventh season, the series has taken on a new direction where the couple dives into topics that they not only find interesting, but in turn, helps them and the community of listeners that they have built.
“We talk about what’s happening in our lives at the moment,” Chezzi said. “Grant and I have been on this great journey of trying to be much better people, especially since we’ve become parents. We like learning new things.”
“We’re as flawed as anyone right next to us,” Grant said in agreement. “So, we’re like crash test dummies for alternative health systems.”
In terms of topics, the content has just “driven itself”.
“When you look back through the back catalogue of topics we talked about, it could be like, ADHD, PTSD, grief, trauma, crossed over loved ones, miscarriage, imposter syndrome, ghosts, mediums, hypnotism therapy; it all just started as a gag. But then one gag led to an honest reveal, which led to someone else sharing their story of what helped them and it’s kind of just naturally unfolded.”
Surprisingly, both admitted that they “fell through the cracks” when they were at school.
“This system is not created for every kid, and we fell through the cracks,” Grant said. “When we were students, we felt like we couldn’t cut it. We were lucky to make careers because academically, it just didn’t work with how our brains worked.
“We didn’t want our children to face that same challenge, so that’s why we’re pretty exhaustive in how thorough we are with our search for improving our kids’ lives.”
Grant with l-r Sunday, Chezzi, Scout and Sailor. Photo by Marianna Photography.
Grant Denyer has used the podcast as a means to show he is “flawed”
For Grant, showing a different side of himself has been paramount. High energy had always been his brand. He was the nation’s golden boy, “flawless”, always happy, energetic and larger-than-life. But in reality, it was somewhat of a facade, covering up deep childhood trauma of “feeling small” and “insignificant”.
“For my whole life, I’ve pretended to be flawless,” he admitted before adding: “I feel like I’ve been part of the problem and have been pretending to be perfect all of my career. So now it’s like, you don’t need to be that, because you’ll be living in a personal prison otherwise.”
Grant’s rise to fame began when he was the weatherman on Sunrise, a segment which came after the “doom and gloom” of the news.
“I felt a personal responsibility to lift people back up again,” he revealed, while adding he wanted to “give you something to laugh at.”
“And so, a lot of my schtick was being a dickhead on television, to just kind of make you feel better again.”
Following this, he was on Australia’s Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars, Family Feud, Celebrity Name Game, The Great Australian Spelling Bee, It Takes Two and even appeared on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. In some instances, he was appearing on up to three TV shows at once.
“You beg, borrow, steal to be the employee that everybody wants you to be, and to beat the person next to you that you’re in the race with. To get that next rung up the ladder, you say yes to 1000 things but before you know it, you’re personally unable to deliver any of them because it’s just too much personal toll. I was hard on the grind, I sacrificed a lot of friendships and family members, and dreams. And then I got there.”
Source: Nine.
In 2008, the Gold Logie winner broke his back in a race car accident and after his recovery, he “doubled down and went hard”.
“I thought, this is a gift. I can walk. I’ve got to squeeze every drop of juice out of this orange and I did not learn the lesson. And then bang, I got wiped out, absolutely wiped out.”
As successful as he is, Grant has realised that it wasn’t as “rewarding” as he once thought it was going to be.
“I’ve accumulated all the trophies. I went hard in my career. I ticked off all of the goals that I set out to achieve and then I got there and I was like, you know, what? It was actually not as rewarding as I thought it might have been.”
“I was trying to beat the Joneses. I was trying to beat the person next to me. I was trying to accumulate all the things that I thought were considered success, and so when you redefine what success is, I think you start to live a more enjoyable life.”
What’s next for Grant and Chezzi Denyer?
While Grant is currently taking a pause from TV and the couple are focused on raising their three daughters in the country, they do have a few projects on the go.
The powerhouse couple are currently writing a book based on It’s All True, they are planning a live podcast show and Grant is working on a new project called Grant Denyer’s Big Show, which is a live entertainment spectacular, with games and guests.
In the meantime, you can listen to It’s All True, on Nova Podcasts.
Listen to Nova Podcast’s It’s All True, where ever you get your podcasts.