New Zealand Woman’s Weekly Issue 47, 2022

She’s hailed as the Queen of Country, but Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles earlier this month. “I guess I’m a rock star now,” Dolly 76, said after accepting the honour. She then went on to don a black leather rock-chick ensemble to perform an electric guitar number she wrote especially for the occasion. Other artists inducted on the night included Pat Benatar, Eminem, Duran Duran and Lionel Richie. Give Me a Reason hitmaker Pink was a special guest, and Gwen Stefani was pictured arriving channelling her early No Doubt days in a printed shirt and sleeveless denim vest. Lenny Kravitz, Brandi Carlile, Janet Jackson, Olivia Rodrigo and Sheryl Crow were all in attendance, and Alice Cooper rocked the red carpet with his wife Sheryl…

As I write this, I hear the familiar “ping” of my inbox. It’s an email from Weekly editor Marilynn McLachlan. “I’ve just got back from swimming with turtles!” she happily reports from her beachside cabana. She’s currently on a well-deserved break in beautiful Rarotonga, but she will be back again before you know it! As we discover on page six, this week’s cover star Matt Chisholm is also taking time to reset. We catch up with the television presenter and his gorgeous family at their Central Otago home, where he opens up about his turbulent year, mental health and life on the farm as he looks to the future. I think we can all take some tips from Marilynn and Matt – hitting pause on whatever your “normal” is to take a…

As the year comes to a close, seasoned TV presenter-turned-farmer Matt Chisholm is taking inventory and sums up his 2022 as “one hell of a roller-coaster ride”. Earlier this month, Matt revealed on social media that he had been let go from his co-hosting role on TVNZ’s popular reality show Celebrity Treasure Island just hours before the show’s hotly anticipated finale went to air. The revelation was a bombshell for fans, and also for Matt and his wife Ellen when they first found out several months earlier. It was in July that Matt got a call informing him of the news just a week before he, Ellen and their three children, Bede, six, Finn, four, and daughter Bree, 13 months, moved into their modern farmhouse in Chatto Creek, Central Otago, which took years…

Cher has gone public with her latest beau – and fans won’t be surprised to learn there’s a 40-year age gap. The If I Could Turn Back Time singer, 76, has shared a snap, together with a heart emoji, of her new toyboy, music producer Alexander Edwards. The hitmaker also revealed that Alexander, 36, whom she met at Paris Fashion Week last month, treats her “like a queen”. Hitting back at trolls, who immediately disapproved of the couple’s wide age gap, the singer said, “I’m not defending us. Haters are gonna hate… doesn’t matter. We’re happy and not bothering anyone.” Alexander is best known for his previous relationship with model and TV personality Amber Rose, with whom he shares three-year-old son Slash Electric Alexander Edwards. In August, Amber accused him of cheating on her with…

Despite his spectacular fall from grace, Prince Andrew has always held out hope that one day he’d be able to resume royal duties. Now it’s been revealed his older brother, the King, has told him in no uncertain terms that he won’t be allowed to return to public life and the news left the disgraced Duke of York in tears. Andrew, 62, was so bereft after the one-on-one meeting that those around him were worried about his wellbeing. “He cannot comprehend there is no place for him in public life,” says an insider. “He has a support system, but he’s in bad shape. He’s finding it hard to process the reality of how life will be from now on.” Andrew was stripped of his titles and royal patronages, and had to step down as…

It’s previously copped flack for presenting fiction as fact. But the fifth series of The Crown is now being blasted for telling “a pack of lies” about the royal family, with one expert describing it as “malevolence masquerading as quality drama”. Royal biographer Robert Hardman is one of many people incensed at the liberties the Netflix show has taken, describing it as “10 hours of cruel conjecture and fabrication, artfully wrapped around a skeleton of real events”. And two former British Prime Ministers – Sir John Major and Sir Tony Blair – have even spoken out against scenes that they say depict blatant lies, and they should know, they were there in real life. After a massive backlash against the controversial show, Netflix has finally put a “fiction warning” on the home page…