Forty years after she opened women’s eyes to sex, careers and a naked Jack Thompson, a television drama has made Ita Buttrose famous for a new generation. Jordan Baker talks to Ita about love, motherhood and her amazing career.
Australia’s queen of etiquette faced a quandary of her own one morning many years ago, when she opened her 17-year-old son’s bedroom door to find a girl sleeping in his bed.
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As founder of Cleo, she knew more than most about sex, but as a mother and one-time Australian Women’s Weekly editor, she was squeamish.
“I said to my daughter, ‘What do I say?’ ” Ita remembers. “She said, ‘How about good morning?’ “
Pity the poor girl who emerged to a cheery good morning from Ita Buttrose, publishing pioneer, businesswoman and one of the country’s most recognisable faces.
“Ben probably didn’t tell her who his mother was,” says Ita, laughing. “Anyway, etiquette prevailed. It’s not what happened in my day, but it’s not my day anymore. It’s a different day.”
This ability to adapt to a changing world and, in some cases, drive that change, has been central to Ita’s extraordinary career.
From running the country’s biggest-selling magazine to leading the fight against AIDS, she has been a feature of Australian public life for more than 40 years.
In recent years, many thought her star had faded, but they underestimated Ita Buttrose.
At age 69, she is having a revival. For this, Ita can thank the ABC TV series Paper Giants, which charted her role in the launch of Cleo and introduced her to a new generation of women.
The response has been “phenomenal”, Ita says. “They didn’t realise what it was like or how much we achieved.
“What Paper Giants did was establish what it was like being a woman in the 1970s and share what it was like when women’s liberation came along, and how we all thought, ‘Wow, this is fantastic’. We started to encourage women to challenge the status quo.”
On the day of our interview, she warmly welcomes me into her lounge room, decorated with a white leather lounge and piles of novels.
Soon, we are laughing over anecdotes about her early days in journalism.
Ita makes tea as I ask her views on young women’s skimpy outfits (“I think the girls yearn for glamour”), cosmetic surgery (she denies having any, but doesn’t judge those who do) and women’s reluctance to self-promote (“I’ve had to encourage women more than blokes”).
Her children, Kate and Ben, are an architect and an academic respectively, and her grandchildren occupy any spare time.
As for love, Ita says she has not been in a relationship since her second marriage ended when she was 40, so she is used to and happy with life as a single woman.
“I don’t feel sorry for myself in any way,” she says. “You can’t just go out on the street and lasso a bloke. If it’s not meant to be, I accept it’s not meant to be. I’ve had two husbands and loved them both. Maybe that’s all fate had in store for me.
“I think it’s highly unlikely [I’ll meet someone]. It’s not number one on my list. Can you imagine if I went out looking on RSVP? They’d think it was a joke. But you never say never. Life takes you by surprise all the time.”
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While there have been so many achievements, Ita doesn’t hesitate when asked her proudest.
“My kids,” she says. “I can look at them now and see how well they have turned out, and I’m pretty proud of them. Can you be in the public eye and raise children successfully? Yes, you can. I am proof of this.
“If your career is that important to you, it won’t suffer. You shouldn’t sacrifice motherhood for your job.”
Read more of this story in the September issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
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Video: Paper Giants – the birth of CLEO
