'I was extremely unwell!' Weatherman Steve Jacobs' ex-wife Rosie reveals her 'health situation most people don't know about' that led to her dramatic makeover
Rosie Jacobs, the ex-wife of former Today show weatherman Steve Jacobs, has revealed she has been undergoing a secret health battle.
Rosie, 41, told News.com.au that she decided to trim her brunette locks after she contracted dengue fever while living in Vanuatu with her family.
'When I was living in Vanuatu, I unfortunately contracted dengue fever, which is something that is similar to malaria. It's a mosquito-born virus that's really common in tropical environments,' she began.
Revealed! Rose Jacobs, the ex-wife of former Today show weatherman Steve Jacobs, has revealed the private health battle behind her drastic makeover which saw her swap her brunette locks (left, in February 2015) for a short, Pixie cut (right, in May 2020)
'The reason I cut my hair initially was that I actually had a health situation which most people don't know about,' the mother-of-two explained.
Rose explained it was much easier to maintain shorter locks and feel comfortable amid Vanuatu's soaring temperatures.
'I was extremely unwell for a period of time,' she said.
New look: Rose, 41, told news.com.au that she decided to trim her brunette locks after she contracted dengue fever while living in Vanuatu with her family
The former Channel 10 star relocated from Sydney to Vanuatu in 2017 with her then-husband Steve, in a 'last-ditch' attempt to work on their marriage.
It comes just days after Rosie announced that she had landed a corporate hosting gig with Adviser Ratings, a company that helps people find qualified financial advice.
She shared a photo to Instagram of herself presenting the Together Australia web series, and told her followers she was 'beyond delighted' to be in front of the camera again after a long hiatus.
'When I was living in Vanuatu, I unfortunately contracted dengue fever, which is something that is similar to malaria. It's a mosquito-born virus that's really common in tropical environments,' she said
Rosie looks very different these days compared to just a few years ago when she was married to Steve, the affable 53-year-old weatherman who worked for Nine's Today show from 2005 to 2019.
While she cut her hair short a while ago, her decision to change colour appears to be a fairly recent one.
Rosie started her career as a television producer, but is perhaps best known for hosting a variety of shows on Nine, 10, Foxtel and The Weather Channel.
However, she has largely stayed away from the spotlight since being made redundant from Ten Eyewitness News (now 10 News First) in 2014.
Their story: Steve and Rosie, who share custody of daughters Isabella and Francesca, married in 2010, three years after meeting on set of the Today show - where he was a star weather presenter and she was a behind-the-scenes producer. Pictured on December 5, 2015
To some, reality TV has been a means of escape during these strange times.
Australians love the genre and it has dominated the major network schedules and the ratings in the two decades since Popstars and the first season of Big Brother.
But the distraction this kind of TV offers has been threatened as we've come to realise that nothing is (yet) immune to COVID-19, including television production.
The eighth season of The Bachelor, currently airing on Network Ten, will soon start showing dates conducted over Zoom after filming was halted earlier in the year due to the coronavirus.
The Masked Singer has been very popular in its second season.(Supplied: IMdb)
Similarly, the upcoming finale of The Masked Singer has been thrown into disarray by an on-set outbreak, while earlier in the year, Masterchef — one of the more warm-and-fuzzy reality shows — instituted a no-hugging policy.
Of course, reality TV doesn't always depict something resembling real life.
Yes, we go on dates, but we don't usually don kitten masks and sing competitively.
Still, the genre's popularity prompts deeper questions about what reality TV offers us when reality itself, during a time of social distancing, is so weird.
These shows are popular … and communal
While some reality TV shows have seen an uptick in audience during the various periods of lockdown and isolation this year, others have not.
Masterchef saw a big resurgence, possibly because of its feel-good nature but also thanks to some strong rebranding in the form of new judges like Melissa Leong, according to TV Tonight editor David Knox.
"Other shows, including Australian Ninja Warrior, Farmer Wants A Wife [and] The Voice, have also performed well," Knox says.
"But other reality shows such as My Kitchen Rules, House Rules, The Bachelor [and] Bachelor in Paradise are down compared to recent seasons.
Melissa Leong made her first appearance as a Masterchef judge this year.(Supplied: Network Ten)
Still, Google search data shows there is significant interest around many titles, particularly Masterchef and The Bachelor, and these shows will often trend on social media platforms around the airing of episodes.
Dr Lauren Rosewarne, a senior lecturer in the school of social and political sciences at the University of Melbourne, has a theory about this:
"Reality television — particularly Australian-made reality TV — likely gives people who are socially isolated some sense of social contact, albeit vicarious, with a bunch of familiar-seeming and notably familiar-sounding people who are able to join us in our homes regularly," she said.
"Unlike streamed content, where we're all watching it at different times, broadcast reality television enables a real-time community to happen, with viewers able to participate in an online discussion about the show in real-time."
This is the case for some long-time fans
That includes Sydneysider Bethany Nevile, 30, whose devotion to The Bachelor has extended to coordinating an office sweep.
"There's a relatability and a community to it that is different to scripted formats," she says.
… including strangers on Twitter.
Though she says that watching people fall in love and buy houses feels like "a weird sort of otherworld" in the current circumstances, she does feel like the genre offers an "unwinding" that is important right now.
"Everyone had the chance to talk about something other than the news cycle, which is based all around coronavirus," says Phoebe, 25, also from Sydney, who asked that her last name not be used.
Drama or scripted shows don't offer that same escape, she says.
"That's why I find it super relaxing."
That factor likely helps with the building of community, Dr Rosewarne says, because you can tweet or scroll Instagram while watching, knowing many others — including the host of the show — will be doing the same.
Still, others have grown tired of the genre
Let's remember an important fact: reality TV is not reality.
These are highly produced and carefully edited shows. They use real interactions to build drama and a narrative arc and to shape characters.
The method stretches back to some of the earliest reality shows, like US series The Osbournes, an early hit for Network Ten that pioneered a format later adopted by Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
"That's the family, but for every 500 minutes of footage that we shoot, we use one minute," Jeff Stilson, a former comedy writer who worked as a co-executive producer on the show, told the ABC back in 2002.
The Osbournes, which was a hit in the early 2000s, helped forge a new reality TV model.(Supplied)
The ways in which contestants are represented, and the focus on interpersonal drama and tension — not to mention the exclusion of non-heterosexual identities — have alienated some fans.
"While they talk about their backgrounds, it's more about the actual master chef — you see them cook," says Rebecca Kleeberg, 47, from the Morning Peninsula.
Ms Kleeberg was a devoted Big Brother fan from its first season. She joined an online forum and even won a TV through a Big Brother competition.
But aside from Masterchef, she has largely drifted away from the genre, describing herself as "burned out".
She thinks it has morphed from providing a view of human interaction into darkly pitting contestants against one another in a series of games or challenges.
Survivor is a longtime favourite among reality TV fans.(Supplied: Network Ten)
"Also, they seemed to stack the [Big Brother] houses with models and the people that looked like they were aspiring to be celebrities of sorts," she says.
She contrasts it with Reggie Bird, the fish and chip shop owner from season two: "[The contestants now] are thinking of their media status afterwards."
A lot has changed since Sara-Marie's bum dance
Remember that?
Sara-Marie Fedele appeared on the first season of Big Brother in 2001.(Discogs)
Dr Rosewarne says audiences have become experts — they know the tropes and the means of manipulation, keeping producers on their toes.
Most importantly, social media has not just built a community around these shows but engendered a kind of accountability.
"This has seen demands from audiences for greater diversity, more sensitive portrayals, heightened concerns regarding mental health of participants … producers have to pay attention to these demands because of the public way these concerns are aired," she says.
While Ms Kleeberg will be sticking to scripted comedy to alleviate the stress of lockdown, Ms Nevile is excited about the prospect of a COVID-19 storyline on The Bachelor — of the tangents of real life and reality TV colliding.
"It's an extreme version of something familiar," she says, as if defining the genre itself.
"It's going to be one of the first times on TV that we see what we are all experiencing shown back to us."
DJ Erick Morillo, who was best known for the 1993 house anthem I Like to Move It, has been found dead in his home in Florida.
Key points:
Morillo was due to front court this week on a rape charge, which he had denied
His hit I Like to Move It featured in the Madagascar film franchise
The 1993 release peaked at number six on the Australian charts
Miami Beach police officers found the 49-year-old's body after responding to a 911 call.
The cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Morillo was a three-time Best International DJ winner, and his hit song I Like to Move It featured prominently in the Madagascar animated film franchise.
The song, released under the pseudonym Reel 2 Real, reached number six on the Australian charts.
Morillo was due in court this week over a rape allegation, which he had denied.
He had been freed on a $US25,000 bond, and his next hearing was scheduled for Friday.
He had been accused of raping a woman while she slept at his house after a party.
Investigators said they identified Morillo's DNA from a rape kit.
Erick Morillo, a veteran DJ who broke into the mainstream with the 1990s hit 'I Like to Move It,' was found dead Tuesday, Miami Beach police told Local 10 in Miami.
Morillo, who was 49, was facing charges of sexual assault and was scheduled for a court hearing on Friday.
Officers told the news outlet that they received a 911 call at 10.42am, and that detectives are on scene and in the preliminary stages of the investigation.
Erick Morillo's album Move It. (Strictly Rhythm Records)
Morillo was arrested in August after being accused of sexual battery on a woman in an incident that took place at his home in December. Morillo denied the accusations, however after an examination tested positive for his DNA, he turned himself in to authorities, accompanied by his lawyer.
Morillo was born in New York in 1971 but spent most of his pre-teen years in Colombia before returning to the U.S. with his family and settling in New Jersey.
He began DJing as a teenager and teamed up with Latin musician El General, with whom he collaborated on the 1991 single 'Muevelo.' The song, a mixture of house music and reggae, became a hit, and Morillo began a busy schedule of remixes and DJing.
He began releasing singles under the pseudonym Reel 2 Real — the second of which was 1993's 'I Like to Move It.' The song became a global smash and led to the hit album, Move It, all of which made Morillo one of the most successful DJs of the era.
However, he became disillusioned with success and worked to establish himself as a DJ, producer and musician separate from Reel 2 Real. He began releasing projects under his own name and collaborating with widely respected DJ "Little" Louis Vega under the name Lil Mo' Ying Yang. He joined forces with several other DJs, including Junior Sanchez, to form the Double Platinum management company in 1997, and also his own label, Subliminal Records. He worked extensively under the Subliminal name in the following years, releasing several singles (including the club hit 'Fun' under the name Da Mob) and started a popular club night under the name in New York in 1999. He continued to work extensively across the globe as a DJ, receiving multiple DJ awards, working many MTV shows and events, founding the annual Crobar party in Miami as well as the Subliminal Sessions in Ibiza. In 2012, a street in Union City, New Jersey, where he had lived in his youth, was dedicated Erick Morillo Way.
Erick Morillo performs on stage during Wavefront Music Festival at Montrose Beach on June 30, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (Redferns via Getty Images)
However, in 2013 he announced he was taking some time off after he missed a show and behaved erratically at another, and recent unconfirmed reports spoke of substance abuse. However, he continued to DJ and release singles and remixes, with his productivity only beginning to tail off last year.
Thirty-five years since Neighbours first aired on TV screens, the company that makes the iconic drama warns it may be under threat.
Key points:
The Government has suspended quotas requiring commercial TV networks to air certain amounts of locally produced drama, children's shows and documentaries
Local producers warn the quota pause will kill businesses and jobs
But the TV networks say the quota rules are outdated and want them changed for good
"I think in the free-to-air environment Neighbours could most certainly be at risk if the quotas [for Australian content] were to change," Fremantle Media chief executive Chris Oliver-Taylor says.
When coronavirus restrictions halted the production of most Australian TV shows, the sector was plunged into a crisis.
Commercial broadcasters — which were already losing advertising revenue and ratings — called for a lifeline.
The Federal Government responded, suspending quotas that required certain amounts of locally produced drama, children's shows and documentaries be aired.
While the current rules still state 55 per cent of content shown must be Australian, there is no certainty the sub-quotas on dramas and children's shows will be reintroduced.
These sub-quotas are now on hold for the rest of the year, with the option to extend that suspension through 2021.
As the Federal Government carries out a review of the sector, the commercial networks argue the quota rules are outdated and need to permanently change.
But local production companies warn the sub-quota suspension could destroy their businesses and see the end of many cherished Australian shows.
Ombudsman warns thousands of jobs at risk
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell says 86 per cent of screen production is done by small companies.
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell says thousands of small businesses will be at risk if the local content quotas are not reinstated.
She warns if the quota pause goes on for too long many of them will face financial ruin.
The wider economic loss could also be severe.
According to a 2016 report by Screen Australia citing Deloitte Access Economics, the film and television production and distribution sector contributed $5.8 billion to the economy and about 46,000 full-time jobs.
David Gurney is the director and executive producer of Blue Rocket Productions, an award-winning children's animation studio in Tasmania.
David Gurney is the director and executive producer of Blue Rocket Productions, an award-winning children's animation studio in Tasmania. He says local jobs are at risk because of the quota pause.(ABC News: Drew Hill)
The company has produced well-known children's television shows such as Dumbotz.
Mr Gurney says the quota suspension has meant he's had to cancel an upcoming production, and the company can't develop new shows until a decision is made.
"We can't say what's coming up next year or the year after — it really all is hanging in the balance until this is sorted out."
Production pipeline dries up
Mr Gurney says in 2003, when the United Kingdom suspended quotas on children's programming, much of the children's production industry went bankrupt.
The impact was so severe the government was eventually forced to reintroduce the quotas.
He says even if Australian quotas get reinstated, it will take time to get back up and running. And in the meantime, local jobs will be at risk.
"We might have 30 families hanging off one of our productions and so when that comes to a halt, the spin-off effect is not just for Blue Rocket, but actually a much broader part of the community here.
"All those people are likely to lose their jobs if there are no quotas and there's no obligation for the broadcasters or the streaming services to meet any Australian content quota."
Suzanne Ryan is the founder of SLR Productions, which makes children's shows such as Lexi and Lottie — Trusty Twin Detectives, and Berry Bees.
She says she's produced 19 children's productions in the 20 years she has run her business, 16 of which have been for the free-to-air networks.
But, like the others, she says the quota change has forced her to put some productions on hold.
"We are in production now but we don't know if we will have any productions next year. And until we know that we can't keep anyone employed after our current productions finish."
SLR Productions founder Suzanne Ryan says the quota change has forced her to put some productions on hold.(ABC News: Geoff Kemp)
TV networks say quotas are outdated
But the TV networks argue the quotas are outdated and don't reflect the changing media landscape and falling advertising revenue.
"That's when most of the rules that we're currently living with were dreamt up — at a time when we had three commercial television stations, we had no internet and no pay TV."
Free TV CEO Bridget Fair says TV advertising revenue is falling and the quotas are outdated.(ABC News: Geoff Kemp)
Ms Fair, who runs the lobby group for free-to-air broadcasters, argues it's not realistic to expect businesses to continue to operate as if the pandemic has not happened by reinstating quotas.
She points to TV advertising revenue plummeting. In 2019 alone, revenues dropped 5.1 per cent from $3.6 billion to $3.4 billion.
Over the first half of this year, TV advertising revenue fell 22 per cent.
Ms Fair also points out audiences watching children's programming on television have plummeted.
Analysis of OzTAM data by Free TV demonstrates the extent of the decline. In 2010, only 23 per cent of the highest-rating "C and P programs" attracted an average of less than 10,000 children aged 0–13 years.
By 2019, the average child audience had shrunk to 1,000. Many C and P shows screened to fewer than 1,000 children on commercial free-to-air television.
But Mr Gurney says that's a misleading figure because it all depends on when and where the networks air certain content.
"The free-to-air broadcasters have moved the children's programming from their main channels and put them on their digital channels with no real marketing push behind them," he says.
He says by screening less locally produced children's content, the broadcasters "have no connection with that market — they're cutting their own throats".
"Within a decade they'll be having kids growing up who don't even know who they are — they'll have no identification with the broadcasters at all."
Calls for streaming services to face quotas
The situation is further complicated by the fact video-streaming giants such as Netflix, Stan, Disney+ and Amazon Prime don't face local content quotas.
Netflix is among a number of video streaming giants that say they don't want local content quotas imposed on them.(ABC)
Netflix has publicly argued it shouldn't have to. It says mandated quotas can breed mediocre shows.
But the local film and TV industry says there needs to be a level playing field between TV broadcasters and streaming services.
"We want Netflix, Amazon … Disney Plus to commission Australian content [and] to want to," Fremantle Media's Mr Oliver-Taylor says.
"It's with those sorts of quotas that we will see a strong production."
Ms Ryan says while funding in Australia is currently challenged, demand for children's content in the international market is growing.
"As new streaming services enter the Australian market, new family audiences are subscribing to these services and are looking for accessible and cost-effective entertainment for their children," she says.
In that context, she argues, it makes sense to have streaming services face the same local content quota obligations as the television networks do.
Future of the industry rests with the Government
In the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government provided a $400 million support package for the industry to attract foreign films and to support the industry in making those films.
The Government's options paper, released in mid-April, presented a number of pathways to future regulation and support for the film and TV industries in Australia.
Communications and Arts Minister Paul Fletcher (left) with Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The Government has provided $400 million to attract foreign films to Australia for production.(ABC News: Nick Haggarty)
Federal Communications and Arts Minister Paul Fletcher will make a decision on restoring quotas later this year.
The timing, his spokeswoman says, will depend on how quickly the screen sector can restore production and output.
"Work continues within Government on these issues," the Minister's spokeswoman told ABC News.
She says the Government has already put $50 million towards helping local film and television producers recommence filming productions halted due to the challenges in accessing insurance coverage for COVID-19.
And the $400 million funding package would "inject an estimated $3 billion in foreign expenditure into the domestic economy, create a strong pipeline of work for Australia's screen sector and create 8,000 jobs for Australians each year".
Australia falling behind other countries, expert warns
But Screen Producers Australia chief executive Matthew Deaner says Australia is falling behind comparable economies in support for its local production sector.
"Countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Canada and France are all outperforming Australia," he argues.
"Such a drastic and destructive measure [to freeze sub-quotas] has not been taken anywhere else.
"Other governments, such as the UK, [are] instead adopting time-limited, case-by-case consideration."
Mr Oliver-Taylor says local producers largely rely on support from Screen Australia, state government funding and tax offsets.
Fremantle Media CEO Chris Oliver-Taylor wants quotas on dramas, warning that without them future shows will be in jeopardy.(ABC News: Patrick Stone)
He says the Federal Government needs to put domestic players on the same footing as international ones, so local stories by local storytellers can be made.
"If there's no incentive financially for those networks to commission — to make content reasonably cheaper — then those networks will look to acquire content from overseas at a cheaper price point," Mr Oliver-Taylor says.
It's clear that it's not just economics that matters to those who want the return of quotas.
Many point to the massive cultural benefit of telling uniquely Australian stories to the rest of the world.
The 1986 film Crocodile Dundee turned Australian actor Paul Hogan into an international star.(Supplied: IMDB, Paramount)
Ms Carnell fears without strong local content quotas, there will be less reason to make culturally significant films like Crocodile Dundee.
"Those are the sorts of things we want to see on our screens and we won't see them unless solid quotas are in place."
The Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace is a sublime place. In spring and summer, the terraced grounds are a perfect riot of flowers while the shaded tree-covered walkway offers deliciously cool respite from the sun for ambling visitors.
It is easy to understand why this garden, dating back to 1908, was one of Diana, Princess of Wales’ favourite places at Kensington Palace.
“In the mornings, she would go out for a jog and would stop by the garden and have a chat with (the head gardener) and the gardeners,” the palace’s current head gardener said. “She would have a bit of a joke with them and was really friendly and warm.”
In 2017, the garden was transformed into an all-white spectacle in honour of the late royal’s memory to mark the 20th anniversary of her death. Then on August 30 of that year, Prince William, Prince Harry and Kate Duchess of Cambridge visited the garden.
Appropriately, it was raining, the grey weather matching the sombre mood of the anniversary which marked two decades since the fatal day that Diana had flown from Sardinia to Paris with beau Dodi Al Fayed. (It was just after midnight on August 31, 1997 that the Princess, Dodi, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, and driver Henri Paul would leave the Ritz Hotel. Five minutes later, the Mercedes they were travelling in would slam into the 13th pillar in the Pont d’Alma tunnel ultimately claiming all of their lives except for Reese-Jones.)
On that day in London two decades later, the trio, clutching umbrellas, were shown around the revamped garden that now included some of the Princess’ favourite blooms including lilies and white roses.
At the time, the shots of the trio, reflective and subdued, seemed entirely in line with the mournful mood of the occasion. In many of the images, the younger prince stands a little apart from his brother and sister-in-law; gone is the camaraderie and easy warmth that usually defined the threesome’s bond, still, given the day, that did not rouse any suspicion.
Now, looking back pretty much exactly three years later, it is hard not to wonder if the photos actually contain clues about another sad story that was already playing out behind the palace gates.
By August 2017, Harry had been dating Suits star Meghan Markle for over a year. Earlier that month, they had travelled to Botswana together for the second time, this time to mark her 36th birthday. There, according to the recently released biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Finding Freedom, they had discussed their future together.
According to Freedom, by the time of William, Kate and Harry’s Sunken Garden visit, Harry had already “started to tell most of his inner circle” that he planned to propose; had done some “diamond scouting” in May while in Botswana; and the couple had gone “so far as to bring the Palace into the conversation, consulting with the Prince’s aides about the best time for a ceremony”.
Clearly, marriage to Meghan was not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’.
While it would be months before Meghan would quit her TV role in 2017 and trade her home in Toronto to move into the small cottage that Harry lived in on the grounds of Kensington Palace, storm clouds were already reportedly brewing.
As things progressed at breakneck speed for the loved-up couple, one of Harry’s longest relationships was allegedly fracturing behind the scenes.
In Finding Freedom authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claim that William, at some unspecified point in time, had sat his brother down to talk to him about the pace with which Harry’s romance was moving.
“Don’t feel like you need to rush this,” William told Harry, according to sources. “Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.”
It was the last two words in that sentence – “this girl” – that reportedly left Harry deeply upset, the younger prince allegedly seeing the phrase as being leaden with snobbery and condescension.
“Harry was pissed off,” Freedom quotes a source saying. “Pissed off that his brother would ask such a thing. Some felt it was an over-reaction. But then, this totally sums them up as people – William, the calm and rational one, and Harry, who can’t help but take things far too personally.”
Further straining the bonds between William and Harry, allegedly, was a clash over the service planned for July 1, 2017, which would have been Diana’s 56th birthday.
On that day, her sons, Kate, Diana’s sisters Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale, and her brother Earl Charles Spencer were joined by Justin Welby the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Princess’ final resting place at her childhood home Althorp for a rededication ceremony.
The Daily Mail has previously reported that Meghan had flown in from Canada to join Harry and his family but did not ultimately attend.
“At the time, it was explained that her presence was not considered ‘appropriate,’” The Mail has reported. “An upset Harry told Meghan of his family’s ‘warnings’ and a very definite sense of ‘us against the world’ became entrenched.”
In early March this year, as Meghan prepared to farewell life as a senior member of the royal family, she told Freedom’s Omid Scobie, “It didn’t have to be this way.”
And she’s absolutely right.
Inherent to the tragedy of Harry and Meghan is that things just should not have turned out like this.
Meghan’s transition from civilian life where her day-to-day was wholly governed by her desires, whims and wants to subsuming herself wholesale to become part of a 1000-year-old institution was always going to be tough. Nobody, no matter how polished, how intelligent, how confident or how committed to their new life could ever really be truly prepared for what lay ahead.
Meghan’s royal journey, like that of every Windsor bride throughout history, was always going to be rocky; there were always going to be obstacles and stumbling blocks.
However, her tenure as a senior member of the royal family should never have been so short. Rarely, if ever, has the royal family been presented with a ‘recruit’ with so much zeal and vim; so driven by a desire to help; so able to connect with vast swathes of the population previously indifferent to the monarchy and so, seemingly, ready for the glare of public life.
What is so frustrating is that when William, Harry and Kate left the cloistered, private world of Kensington Palace’s inner sanctum to visit the Sunken Garden in 2017 that no one was essentially troubleshooting the already simmering issues that would later reach boiling point.
That no one had the presence of mind or the gumption to make the two brothers sit down and iron out their differences, rather than letting hurts deepen. That no one, fountain pen in hand, was at that moment behind a desk in the palace somewhere – as far as we know – carefully plotting to ensure the smoothest possible entry for Meghan into the strange waters of royal life.
Next year on July 1, the day that would have been Diana’s 60th birthday, William and Harry will be reunited in London to unveil a long-awaited statue commemorating their mother’s life and profound humanitarian legacy.
The eyes of Fleet Street and the world will be on them. Here’s hoping that on that summer’s day, in the garden of the palace where Diana lived her entire adult life, some very different images will emerge – of two brothers, bonded by grief and bonded by love. In fact, to see William and Harry with their arms around one another again would actually be the most fitting tribute to the princess’s life.
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
Sheeran shared the news on Instagram on September 1.
"Ello! A quick message from me as I have some personal news that I wanted to share with you… Last week, with the help of an amazing delivery team, Cherry gave birth to our beautiful and healthy daughter — Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran," he wrote. "We are completely in love with her. Both mum and baby are doing amazing and we are on cloud nine over here. We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Lots of love and I'll see you when it's time to come back, Ed x."
Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn are parents. (Instagram)
Rumours of Seaborn's pregnancy were circulating three weeks ago.
"Ed and Cherry are over the moon. They're very excited, but have kept things very low key," a source told The Sun.
The couple reportedly kept the pregnancy tightly under wraps while they spent lockdown in their Suffolk home in the UK.
"Lockdown was a perfect excuse not to be seen out and about too much, but things are getting closer and the excitement has been building so they have started telling friends and family," said the source. "They're just making the last of the preparations at home, and the baby is expected later this [UK] summer.
"It's a really happy time and their families are all totally delighted for them and cannot wait to meet the new arrival."
Cherry Seaborn and Ed Sheeran. (Instagram)
Sheeran announced that he and Seaborn were engaged in January 2018. They tied the knot soon after.
The two have known each other since they were children, but they didn't start dating until Sheeran invited her to Taylor Swift's Fourth of July part in 2015, the singer told People Magazine.
Seaborn, 28, is a talented hockey player, and many of Sheeran's love songs were written about her including 'Perfect' and 'Hearts Don't Break Around Here'.
Celebrity babies 2020: Every celebrity baby born this year
