HAYLEY Lewis talks to Melissa Field on being the odd one out in her close-knit, happy family.
>> I was born into a family of tall people with red hair and fair skin, who weren’t sporty.
Instead, as a baby, I was chubby and dark. I take after Mum’s side.
>> I was extremely competitive and driven.
I had to beat my two sisters at everything because they were older, taller and stronger.
>> One of my sisters has passed away.
(Lewis’ sister Toni suffered from post-natal depression and committed suicide 11 days after the birth of her child.) I come from a very close-knit, loving and happy family. You don’t expect something as devastating as that to happen to you.
>> Mum and Dad were always there for me.
They weren’t sports-mad parents, but they came to every swim meet. Dad worked two jobs to be able to afford to come to watch me at the Barcelona Olympics.
>> At 15 I won my first international races.
(Lewis won five gold medals at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.) Afterwards, I remember thinking, I just want to go home, go back to school and be normal.
>> As soon as I got home, the phone started ringing off the hook.
So many people and companies asked me to do ads, speak at engagements and offered me lots of money. But there was no way I’d do it; I was just a kid and way too shy.
>> Transitioning from a career in sport to real life can be hard.
But I knew I wanted to do something on my own, where no one could tell me what to do, so I started a swim school.
>> I married my childhood sweetheart.
I was 12 when I met Greg. I joined his swimming club. His dad once said to him, “You need to watch Hayley and do butterfly like her.” We started going out three years later. We’ve been together 21 years and married for 14. We’re lucky we had the same goals. We both wanted to have kids young and now have our beautiful boys, Jacob, 13, and Kai, 7.
>> I put on a lot of weight after I had Jacob, when I was 23.
People used to stop me in the street and ask, “Are you Hayley Lewis?” They couldn’t believe it was me. I weighed about 80kg. I wasn’t massive, but I was a lot heavier than when I was competing.
>> It was a battle that started when I was swimming, though.
I just really liked food. It was hard for me to keep off the weight, even as a child.
>> Being asked to be an ambassador for Jenny Craig was incredibly demoralising.
I knew I needed to lose weight, but it was embarrassing. It changed my life, though. I lost 20kg and have managed to keep it off.
>> TV wasn’t on my radar at all.
My manager was always keen for me to move into TV, but I’d joke that the only job I’d be interested in was hosting The Biggest Loser, because I genuinely was a fan of the show.
>> When I auditioned, I told myself, whatever happens, happens.
I had the swim school, so it wasn’t as though I had nothing else. I was interested because I’d had my own weight issues, and I’d swum for so long, I could relate to the challenges the contestants face. It wasn’t a huge leap for me. It wasn’t as if I was going for Australia’s Next Top Model.
>> My audition was bad.
I was up against experienced TV people. I was so nervous, I couldn’t say my lines properly. When I was offered the job, I said, “Really? Are you sure?”
>> When The Biggest Loser wraps up, I go home and work in my gift shop.
It’s my dream shop, Coming Up Roses. I opened it when the swim school closed down last year.
>> It’s such a lovely, happy place to work.
The swim school was rewarding, but stressful at the same time, because I was dealing with children’s safety. At the shop, the most stressful thing that can happen is the new wrapping paper not turning up.
>> Winning Commonwealth and Olympic medals feels like it happened to someone else.
I’m good at compartmentalising my life. I was a swimmer; now I’m a mum, a gift shop owner and a TV host on the side. Kids these days don’t even know I swam. I’m just Hayley from The Biggest Loser.
>> I don’t swim any more.
When I’m at the pool, I’m there to watch my boys swim. I spent years with my head in the chlorine, six hours a day, six days a week. Why would I go back there?
The Biggest Loser: Families airs Sundays at 6.30pm, and Wednesdays to Fridays at 7.30pm, on Network Ten.
>> I wish I had...
“More time to knit and sew. My life goes nonstop; sitting down with some crochet is my time to relax.”
>> I wish I hadn’t...
“Come across as aloof in interviews when I was younger. I was shy, and there was no media training back then.”
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