ANH DO: Two of my great passions are people and painting.
In this series, I get to enjoy both.
I meet extraordinary Australians, explore their stories...
I'm putting my hand up and saying,
"I want to do something. I want to be part of the solution."
See, I'm now crying, now talking about crying! What's happened to me?
..and paint their portraits.
It's theirs to keep, so I hope they like it.
(GASPS) Oh! (LAUGHS)
Wow! (GASPS)
Oh, my God! Holy mackerel!
That looks me! It's beautiful.
Mate, that's incredible.
You look gorgeous. That is absolutely amazing.
Welcome to Anh's Brush With Fame.
Carrie Bickmore has always been involved in the world of news.
Starting out in radio,
she came to national attention behind the Rove Live news desk...
Good evening. I'm Carrie Bickmore.
In Adelaide...
..before joining Network Ten's The 7PM Project from the very start.
Her warmth in front of the camera has made her a Logies favourite.
And Carrie founded the Beanies 4 Brain Cancer charity
after losing her husband to cancer.
Carrie has managed a stellar career through personal highs and lows.
I want to find out how.
CARRIE: I'm really nervous, actually.
I've never sat as someone studied my face
and drew me.
So, yeah, it'll be a very new experience.
It'll be interesting to see how Anh sees me.
I often see myself as probably 10, 15 years younger than I actually am.
So I'm sure there's going to be a lot of wrinkle and things
that I'm like, "Oh, they really are there."
I'm intrigued. I don't know.
I'm in his hands to see what he comes up with.
Carrie is such a dynamic and loved commentator on world events.
She's not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.
She's honest, both in front of and behind the camera.
And she's not afraid of a laugh.
I'm drawn to her charisma and warmth
and that's what I'll be trying to get on here today.
Carrie! Hey. Hello! How are you?
Thank you so much for coming on the show.
No worries. What an incredible space.
Oh, thank you very much.
That's your seat. That's my spot.
Yes.
I've been wanting to get you on for so long.
Awww. Yeah.
It's really great to have you here. I'm really nervous.
(LAUGHS) I'm used to being the other side.
I'm not good at being interviewed. I'm better at being the interviewer.
Can I take my shoes off? Off? Sure.
Can I take them off? Take them off.
I feel like they're not...
..conducive for a good chat, the shoes.
So, generally on The Project,
are you often shoeless?
I'm often in sneakers. I've worn my slippers many times.
Yes. Yeah.
I usually look very dressed up from the upstairs bit
and then downstairs I've got trakkies or gym gear or something.
That's great to know.
Let's go right back to your childhood.
You were born in Adelaide. Yeah.
And only child for a while.
Yeah. I was born in Adelaide.
I've lived in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne,
so I feel like I've almost covered every state in Australia
so far throughout my life, but I was born in Adelaide.
I lived there for about three or four years
and my mum and dad split up when I was about three,
and then when I was about five my mum decided to pack up
and take me to America for a year.
She did an exchange teaching thing where she...
..we went and lived in someone's house in America
and she taught theirs at their school
and they came and lived in our house
and that teacher taught my mum's class.
It was just my mum and I,
travelling America on our own.
I look back now and think my mum would have been
a few years younger than I am now, and the courage it must have taken
to go to a whole new country with a five-year-old, knowing no-one.
It was an incredible year together.
I think for my mum especially it was one of her favourite years
because it was just her and I. Mm.
And it was a really... Yeah, it was a really special time.
That's a dream, isn't it? Yeah.
One on one. I know.
As a parent now I appreciate how special that would have been.
Like, it's not often you get time just with one child
to just be with them.
We came back from America
and my mum fell in love with our next door neighbour
who was my... who became my stepdad.
She always said she fell in love with him watching him iron
through the kitchen.
She came from our house to their house.
We could see the kitchen window
and he always cooked and cleaned and ironed,
and she was like, "Oh, my God, who is this man?
"I need him in my life."
So is that the secret to... desirability?
Listen up, guys. Learn to iron.
So she fell in love with him and he had two daughters.
They were moving to Perth and Mum said, "I'm coming with you."
And so Mum and I went over
and started the family with them in Perth.
My stepdad, he was there.
You know, the one busting my balls when I would complain
about doing the dishes and... you know.
And he was very much a part of my childhood and raising me.
But I always knew that that he, you know,
is a different relationship he had with my stepsisters
than he had with me.
But I felt 100% loved and I never felt like he treated me
as his stepdaughter.
He treated me as his daughter and the relationship
that he and my mum had was just magical.
And did you have much contact with your father after the break-up?
Yeah. So I'm really, really close to my dad.
You know, my dad and I, we just... Yeah.
I can't imagine life without my dad.
He's... He's... Yeah. He worked in radio.
He gets the work that I do.
There's so much unspoken stuff, support there,
because I just know he understands
and he'll just say the right thing at the right time
and I'm very fortunate that it was very amicable between my family,
and I've met a lot of people, you know, as I've gotten older
who are the result of parents who broke up and it wasn't amicable
and I feel very fortunate that it was.
When you were younger you developed a passion for dancing.
Yeah.
I danced all of my childhood pretty much, and I loved dancing.
I still love dancing.
But I look back now and realise I was never very good.
It was a passion
but it wasn't something I was gifted at in any way.
And I remember in Year 10 we had a careers adviser come in to school
and she said, "What do you like doing?"
And I said, "I like dancing and talking."
And she said, "Well, you'll never make a career out of being a dancer,
"so why don't you become a journalist?"
And I remember thinking, "How do you know?
"You've never seen me dance. I could be quite the dancer."
Yep. But she must have known
that I was never going to be a successful dancer.
And so I took that advice and then when... I enrolled to do journalism
and then while I was at uni
there was a radio station called 92.9 in Perth
which was part of the network that my dad worked for.
And I wanted to do work experience there but I didn't want them to know
that my dad was who my dad was, 'cause then I thought,
"Oh, they'll just give me the job because of him."
And then I didn't want them to be like,
"Oh, that's the girl that got the job because of her dad."
So I applied to do it without telling them my last name
because I didn't want them to know who I was. (LAUGHS)
Cool.
And then I did the couple of weeks work experience,
and I said, "Do you mind if I keep coming
"a couple of mornings a week during your breakfast shift,
"you know, 5:00 in the morning and just watching what you guys do?"
And they were like, "No worries. Feel free."
And so for about six months I used to go in for free
a couple of mornings a week before I'd go to do uni.
I was quite obsessed with it and I really wanted to learn.
And then one day on a Saturday morning I was in there
and the newsreader who was doing the shift... her shift got sick.
She was vomiting and I rang the boss and I said, you know,
"She's really sick."
You know, "You might need to bring someone else in."
He said, "Oh, you can do it. You can read the news."
I was like, "Oh, no, I can't do it. I'm just the work experience kid."
Like, "You've been there for six months now. You can do it."
And I said, "But I can't read a bulletin."
He said, "I've been listening to you practise and you'll be fine.
"Have a go."
And I remember still to this day
the first moment I pressed the on air mic on
and read this news bulletin.
I don't think I breathed for the full two minutes
and then it finished. I was like, "Oh, my God!"
And then on the Monday they offered me a full-time job.
And... yeah, I worked there for several years.
In 2001, Carrie moved from Perth to Melbourne
to work on a new radio station called Nova.
Her partner Greg, a sports reporter, followed.
As they began their new lives together,
they were confronted with devastating news.
When did they diagnose Greg with his illness?
They diagnosed him...
It was about a year after we'd moved to Melbourne,
so I think I was still 21 or 22 and he was about 25,
and, yeah, he had a seizure at home and then, you know,
one thing led to another and...
..yeah, and then they diagnosed him with the brain tumour
and it was just...
I mean, in your 20s that is the last thing you can ever, like...
I just didn't really even know anyone that had had cancer.
I didn't know anything about brain cancer.
Neither did he.
And it was just...
It just completely threw everything we knew, everything we had planned,
everything we thought, it just...
..threw everything on its head.
It was just... it was the start of, yeah,
an incredibly, incredibly hard journey. Yeah.
And you got married after the diagnosis.
Oh, yeah. So we got married when I was 25.
I look back at our wedding now and it was a real mix of love
and just a celebration of life.
Yep. It was... yeah, it was...
It was a great day.
Did Greg have a sense that maybe he wouldn't be around for much longer?
Um...
We didn't speak a lot about it... about what might happen.
We were about hope and positivity and, you know, I think...
..sometimes...
..you can be defined by diagnosis and that's the wrong way to go
because I think, you know, treatments change,
science changes along the way.
And what you're told one day can be completely different,
you know, the next week.
One of the things we chose to do was have our son Ollie.
Yes.
Yeah. I think it's probably the greatest thing we ever did together.
Yeah.
He's a very... he's a gorgeous boy
and he's so much like him in so many ways.
Yep.
Even his, you know...
It sounds so weird but often I see him in the shower,
the back of his body, and he's just like...
..his frame is just a miniature... a miniature version of Greg.
They're very, very similar and...
It was a really... it was a great...
It was a great thing for both of us to have... to have him
and have that focus.
Yeah.
Greg's battle with cancer came to an end in December, 2010.
He passed away surrounded by family and friends.
Carrie's television career began on Rove Live in 2006.
(LAUGHTER) That's what's making news this week.
Back to you, Rove.
In 2009, she joined a brand-new show on Channel 10
called the 7PM Project.
Welcome to the 7PM Project.
We're going to be here every day, taking you through the day's events.
I've read that Dave Hughes, after filming the first episode,
he said something like, "OK, there's my career gone."
What did he say? He said... he said exactly that.
I think The Project finished
and then he just leant back in his chair.
He goes, "Well, that's my career done."
And I remember I was just so happy to be sitting in that chair.
I was thinking, "If that's Dave Hughes saying that,
"I've got no hope.
"Dave Hughes is Dave Hughes."
And I think it was almost a blessing because then I had no expectation.
I was just happy every day that we got to still be on air.
You're the only sort of constant. The guy keeps changing.
What's going on there?
We need to put a chick in there.
Often people say, "Oh, you're still there?"
You know, everyone else has sort of gone on to other things.
And I look at them and I think, "Are you suggesting that's a negative?"
Because in my mind, one, I'm incredibly loyal
and love working for a long period of time with a program
or, you know, a group or a network.
It may not be the perfect job
for all those people that have come and gone,
but for me, the mix of chat and news and comedy and laughter
and, you know, all of that
is perfect for, you know, for me and my skillset.
People often ask, you know, "Who's the coolest person you've met?
"What's the greatest interview you've done?"
And while I have had, you know,
the pleasure of meeting some really awesome, cool people,
I think sometimes the stories of the, you know, everyday Aussie
who's in an extraordinary situation
or going through something incredibly tough
that often resonates with me.
When you're delivering heartbreaking news, is it hard to stay composed?
Yeah, I think...
..as people would know with me, I often don't stay composed.
I know people think I cry a lot.
I don't try and cry a lot.
I think I just...
I just really feel a lot of the stories.
And I, you know, I don't know if that's because of the stuff
I've been through or something, but I find it hard sometimes.
I never quite know when it will happen.
It happens with some stories and others it doesn't happen
when it could have happened
because they're absolutely, you know, tragic stories.
I just sometimes feel that I'm just overwhelmed
with either hopelessness.
Often it's hopelessness with the story of the Syrian crisis.
Seeing children in any way like that for me, I...
The world can be cruel place.
You know, I remember that time.
A lot of people, you know, emailing and afterwards saying,
"I had that exact reaction when I saw it."
You can't look at those photos
and not feel rocked to the core, you know.
I've noticed as I get a bit older, I get more emotional.
I'll blame it on age, then.
Are you saying I'm getting older?
(BOTH LAUGH)
I cry during this show when guests share amazing stories.
I cry when I'm happy now.
But you know what? I'm OK with that.
I'd rather that than hold it all in. Yeah, definitely.
I'm crying now talking about crying. What's happened to me?
Carrie's always achieved what she has set her mind to.
And she's done it with a sense of loyalty, integrity and compassion.
It's really important that I capture her natural charm and energy.
And I usually don't paint open mouthed smiles,
but Carrie smiles a lot, and if I get it wrong
it just won't be Carrie Bickmore.
In 2015, Carrie's warmth endeared her to the Australian public
and she won a gold Logie.
Unbeknownst to Carrie,
that's when the seeds of her Beanies 4 Brain Cancer charity were sown.
I remember thinking, you know...
..I'd really love to say or do something that represents Greg
and he used to wear beanies all the time in Melbourne.
But maybe I could, you know, put on a beanie
and that will sort of have a piece of him there
and so I just found this random beanie and I had it all there,
and I... almost up until the moment that they announced it,
I almost decided I wasn't going to do it.
I find... I get really, really, really nervous public speaking.
Which I know sounds ridiculous given the job that I do.
But speaking to a small audience it's very different
speaking to a large number of people with all eyes on you
and I get really, really anxious and get quite panicky
and I thought, "I'm not gonna be able to do this."
And so I put the beanie back under the table
and thought, you know, I won't.
And then I thought, "No, Carrie, just do it."
(AUDIENCE CHEERING) And...
I want to ask anybody that's on TV tomorrow
to whack on a beanie.
I want to get the nation talking about brain cancer.
It receives next to no funding which is ludicrous
because without funding more people are going to die.
And as I just said, eight out of ten people who are diagnosed
will die from this disease.
(CHEERING)
I certainly hadn't anticipated what would happen
in the days and weeks and months following that.
My main aim is awareness. It wasn't to raise money at that stage.
And then in the weeks...
How did it feel when the next day people... loads of people...?
I think I was in a bit of shock.
Everywhere I went there were people wearing beanies
and seeing all the other news presenters, you know,
some of whom are my good friends on other networks wearing it.
And I just thought, "Wow, you know, that's just..."
You know, and I thought Greg would have just been like,
"What the hell?"
You know. He would have loved it. He would've absolutely loved it.
But yeah. I have to say it blew me away.
I think the generosity and the number of people
that came to me and said, you know, emailed or...
..and they still do to this day, or phoned or, you know,
sent messages on social media saying, "I have brain cancer.
"Thank you for raising awareness."
"My mum died of brain cancer."
"My brother's got brain cancer. "I lost my child."
I kinda just wish that he could have seen all these messages from people
to have realised how many people were going through a similar thing
and that he wasn't alone at the time, we weren't alone.
We just didn't realise, you know?
Stirred to do something to raise money and awareness
for brain cancer,
Carrie had an ambitious idea
and enlisted the help of her contacts.
I came up with this crazy idea of organising a music festival
because predominantly brain cancer affects people under 40.
I wanted to do something young and I thought, music.
And so I went over to Michael Gudinski's house.
I swear he thought I was going to say to him,
"I want to bring out a music single."
I'm sure that's what he thought I was gonna say to him that day.
And I sat down and I said to him,
"I know that Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith
"and Taylor Swift are all coming into the country
"in the coming months.
"I want to do a music festival where people come
"and it's an intimate thing with only 1,000, 1,500 people
"and they get to see some incredible artists up close.
"And it's for people that have survived brain cancer,
"who are going through it, for their families,
"for anyone that wants to come.
"We'll serve food and we'll serve drink."
And he looked at me and he was like, "You know that's a big ask."
Getting those... They're the three biggest artists in the world.
And what he didn't know is I knew there was no way
I was going to get those three artists,
but I thought in my head, "If I say all three,
"then if he could get me one, he'd feel like he'd... you know."
Brilliant. Brilliant. Knowing that there is no way...
Knowing I probably couldn't even get one.
And he said, "Let me see what I can do for you."
And then we kept in touch over the coming months
and I just kept emailing and going, "How are you going with it?"
He's like, "Leave it with me. I'm working on it, I'm working on it."
And so we started planning for this concert,
not actually knowing if we had anyone to perform at it.
Wow. And then with about...
..oh, I reckon it was about six or seven weeks to go,
he texted me and he said,
"I've confirmed Ed Sheeran for you," and I was like, "Oh, my God!"
It ended up being one of the most incredible days of my life.
We've now raised over $4.2 million. Wow!
You know, we've been granting the money, you know, as we go as well,
and I've had the chance to meet several scientists
who are doing incredible work in this.
And for me that's probably, you know, some of the proudest days,
when I go, "OK, here's $250,000. You know, change the world."
You know, and I know it's such a drop in the ocean to what they need.
You know, they need millions of dollars more than that.
But to be able to see them go, "OK, you know, I'm gonna go now
"and work on trying to find a cure."
And they're doing incredible work.
They're at the forefront of some incredible, incredible developments,
and I feel like with more money raised and more awareness, you know,
they can increase the survival rate.
You know, the survival rate hasn't changed in 30 years,
and we've seen with other cancers when money is poured into it,
that survival rate can increase.
Like, it's proof that you can save lives when you invest,
and that's what I'm hoping we can achieve with brain cancer.
Amidst all of Carrie's campaigning and her work on The Project,
she found love again with Chris Walker, a television producer,
and they had a baby, a sister for Carrie's first son Ollie.
I never thought that I would necessarily have any more kids
and I had a really, really...
..I had a really traumatic birth with Ollie,
and so I had a huge fear about birth, about giving birth,
and I think I thought I would've been OK
if I never had any more kids after that.
I just felt so blessed to have Ollie.
And with Evie it was a really different experience.
I mean, it wasn't fun.
No-one is ever gonna advocate that birth is fun.
But it was, yeah, it just wasn't traumatic in that way
and I'm just so glad that I've had her, and I'm so glad...
I see Ollie and her together
and it literally makes my heart sing.
Like, they are...
For him to think that he might not have gotten to have
a brother or sister, and they're like two peas in a pod.
And because he's so much older than her, he's just so protective
and so...
You know, and I feel like she's gonna have that for life,
this big brother who is gonna just, you know,
swing in every time she needs it.
And when she was first born I'd hear him upstairs
through the monitor
the things he said.
"I love you so much, Evie. You are just the best.
"I'm gonna be your big brother
"and I'm gonna look after you for the rest of your life."
And I'd sit there in bed and we'd just sit there together going,
"Oh, my God."
And he never knew that we could hear him saying those things,
but it was just, yeah, it was really precious.
So what's life about, Carrie?
That's a deep question. Um...
What's life about?
I don't know. I never stop to think.
I don't often stop to think.
Which is a very bad quality.
I'm a doer and I'm always moving forward.
And the older I'm getting, I'm realising if I don't stop,
I'm gonna miss moments.
I'm gonna miss interactions, I'm gonna miss my kids, you know...
It makes me sad. I already look at Ollie and I think, "Nine?
"Like, how are you nine? I just had you."
And there's so many things I want to do and achieve and, you know...
But I do need to learn to be present and just stop,
because constantly moving forward is gonna mean I miss moments.
I'm nearly done, Carrie. OK.
I'm just gonna need 20 minutes to finish off.
I forgot the painting bit. I thought we were just chatting.
So take a break. Take a break. OK. (CHUCKLES)
It was good.
I feel like I've been on a roller-coaster ride a little bit.
It was a lot more intense and in-depth than I sort of imagined,
but I think once we started talking,
there's all this stuff that came out and...
Anh's incredible, and every now and then in the middle of speaking
I was watching him and going,
"I can't believe he's painting right now."
But it was really fascinating from my side to watch him work.
You know, whatever he does I'm sure will be amazing,
but I certainly have no expectation.
Carrie is such an easy person to chat with.
She's brought herself and her son through a really difficult time
and created a wonderful new life...
..all while maintaining an authenticity that I really admire.
This has been a difficult portrait,
but I think I've got a little bit of likeness.
So let's see what she thinks.
Alright, Carrie.
I'm all done.
I'm nervous.
I've never painted someone with an open-toothed smile.
Oh!
But that's just how you smile. And you smile a lot.
And I really wanted the painting to have a happy disposition,
because despite everything you've been through,
you have such a joyous energy.
Awww.
So I want you to close your eyes. OK.
And I...
Don't open them until I tell you to. OK.
I feel like I'm my daughter when I play hide-and-seek.
Keep them closed!
Alright, Carrie. Go for it.
Oh, wow!
Oh, Anh, that's gorgeous.
Oh, you're gonna make me cry again!
Oh, you're amazing.
Oh! So you like it?
Oh, my God. It's awesome!
I feel like you've captured partly blonde, partly brunette hair.
Yeah, I just went...
It's like, you know I'm never gonna be one thing for long,
so you've just captured both. Yes.
And then accidentally a little bit of red popped in.
And I just left it.
Sometimes accidents happen and you just leave them.
Anh, thank you so much. Thank you.
More than anything, it was just a pleasure to chat to you,
so thanks for being so kind.
Thanks very much for coming on the show, Carrie.
Oh, it was amazing.
He's done such an incredible job.
He spoke about that he doesn't often paint people with a smile
and he painted me with a smile, which...
Yeah, I do smile a lot.
People tell me I smile all the time, so I guess that's fitting.
But you know, I don't always feel so sunny on the inside.
So it's nice to see, though,
that even though sometimes I'm having those days,
to him he could see a sense of happiness and a sunniness
which is really lovely.
Carrie has made so many positive contributions
to the national conversation.
I'm very glad she shared her story with me today.
Next time,
he was hunted by Saddam Hussein's regime
and fled to Australia as a refugee.
All of a sudden, I am an escapee and I'm a traitor
and the punishment will be execution.
Dr Munjed Al Muderis's story is incredible
and I've got to capture him on the canvas.
Wow! (LAUGHS)
Thank you very much. That's great.
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation