Angela Bishop on the heartbreak of ongoing grief and the dark side of Hollywood

There’s something particularly exciting about meeting Angela Bishop. Bursting with Hollywood stories and anecdotes about the stars, there’s a buzz in the air when she enters any room. But on this particular day, the veteran entertainment reporter is sharing something a little different: her own story.

Within it is a fly-on-the-wall look at Hollywood’s elite, but Angela’s own narrative is one of humour, heartbreak and remarkable honesty. As she approaches 35 years at Network 10, including the 10th anniversary of Studio 10, which she co-hosts alongside Tristan McManus and Narelda Jacobs, Angela notes that “all the major milestones in my life have happened while I’ve been here”.

She lists among them the birth of her daughter Amelia and her 12-year marriage to husband Peter Baikie, who died in 2017. She still loves every minute of her job and time hasn’t changed much.

“I still have the mental age and attitude of someone in their late twenties – I just have more responsibility now,” Angela, 56, says with a laugh. “I love telling stories and being a workhorse. It suits me.”

Angela can still recall her first celebrity interview. She spent weeks looking for the perfect outfit to wear. As a young reporter, she wanted to make a good impression, as this was no ordinary interviewee – Angela was about to meet screen icon Audrey Hepburn, who was in Sydney as an ambassador for UNICEF.

“I was earning nothing at the time, but I spent most of my salary on a dress,” she explains. “It was pale pink with buttons, similar to a double-breasted blazer dress. I was nervous, but when I walked into the room, she shook my hand and said, ‘You look lovely.’ I was in heaven. She set the bar pretty high.”

Nowadays, Angela’s interviews – whether with everyday Aussies or the world’s most famous stars – are done with finesse and ease. She’s covered Hollywood for decades, mingling with the who’s who of entertainment. As in Tinseltown, the glamour of her job is backed by hard work and long hours. From a 5am start for the morning news and Studio 10, to late-night interviews and long-haul flights, there’s no routine schedule.

Angela, who received the Order of Australia Medal in 2021 for services to entertainment journalism, credits her parents – former politician Bronwyn Bishop and her beloved late father Alan, a former NSW district court judge – for her strong work ethic.

“They were so passionate and innovative about their work and I inherited a lot of that,” Angela says. “I’ve been able to learn from my experiences too, from Bert Newton on Good Morning Australia to being plucked by [production company] Working Dog to be on The Panel. I learnt so much about live television from those experiences. You never know what will happen.”

And in almost 35 years, anything does and will happen.

“I still say things that I don’t realise what they mean until later – I’ve probably blanked a lot of it out!” she says. “Peter was from New Zealand, where they refer to fish and chips as ‘F and C’. I was chatting on Studio 10 and used the term. Tristan [McManus] turned and said, ‘What did you just call me?!’ I quickly realised I’d just used a very rude term on national TV. But in our house, it’s chips and battered barramundi!”

Despite a schedule that’s rarely empty, Angela has ensured she remains grounded for herself and for Amelia. When Peter died from a rare form of cancer in November 2017, mother and daughter became a team, determined to help each another find a way forward.

“Grief is so hard to navigate – there’s no map,” she says. “Parenting is a huge responsibility and when I lost Peter I had no-one to bounce off anymore. We were often on the same page and now I don’t have that person to run things by. I’ve had wonderful extended family to help since I’ve been on my own, but it’s not quite the same.”

When work began to bleed into her life at home, Angela found hints of hope or resonance she hadn’t noticed before. From a heartbreaking interview with British actor Richard E. Grant about finding love after death in 2022 – “It was so profound and I took so much from him”, she says – to intimate moments with singer Delta Goodrem, who fought Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma when she was just 18, there was no shortage of inspiration.

But it was music icon Olivia Newton-John, who perhaps changed the course of her life long before she knew it would. In 2008, Angela joined Olivia on a trek through China to raise funds for her cancer wellness and research centre. On a bus, in between singalongs to Grease led by Sir Cliff Richard, Olivia spoke to Angela of her own illness and wellness journey. The Xanadu star died in 2022 after a long battle with breast cancer.

“Little did I know I would need that information in 2016 when Pete got diagnosed,” Angela says. “We started his wellness journey because of what Olivia told me that day.

“Then, when he passed, she sent her condolences along with a CD of songs she’d recorded for people who are grieving. She wrote a beautiful letter to Amelia on how to use music to find a way through grief. It had a huge impact on me.”

Angela acknowledges that while not all days are easy, she’s managed to let go of the pressure she – and many mothers – put on themselves.

“When you get to the end of the day, you can have everything done – just – or the entire house of cards has collapsed,” Angela says with a laugh. “On those days, you can’t beat yourself up. At all stages of life, we juggle. That’s what women do. It’s in our blood.”

With another laugh, Angela insists Amelia “couldn’t care less” about her career. Mum, however, looks forward to seeing who her daughter will become one day and knows how proud Peter would be of her. Having just celebrated her 16th birthday, Amelia is about to apply for her driver’s licence. It’s both a milestone and bittersweet reminder that pain doesn’t necessarily leave us.

“Peter was a mechanic, and was so looking forward to teaching her to drive – he would have been amazing,” Angela says tearfully. “Some days you miss them more than others. This is one of them.

“Amelia has a creative streak, but there’s no pressure at all [from her end]. I’m happy to see what inspires her, and support her any way I can.”

As for what lies ahead on her personal journey, Angela has projects in the pipeline, but no firm plan mapped out for work, grief, love or life.

“I don’t have a five-year plan, because I think you could miss opportunities coming sideways,” she says. “You have to consider things and trust your gut. You can always find the time, and I’ve always got little things cooking, so I’ll manage to make them happen. I believe if it’s meant to happen, it will. I’m amazed at what opportunities I’ve had so far, and I love the unpredictability of it all.”