Benji Marshall has spent his life carving out a legacy as one of New Zealand’s most celebrated rugby league players.
His magic on the field was undeniable, but his most important role is the one he plays off it – as a husband and father.
“Being a dad is my greatest achievement and it’s something I take really seriously,” shares the sporting legend, who, together with his wife Zoe, has built a life filled with love and purpose as they raise their two kids.
“Parenting is the hardest job in the world and it’s such a big responsibility to try to get it right,” shares Benji, 40, who is now the head coach of his former Wests Tigers team.
“For me, the most important thing is raising our children to be good people.”
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“I don’t want my son to feel like he has to follow in my footsteps as a footy player – he can be whatever he wants. All we care about is that they’re good kids!”
EACH OTHER’S ROCK
After growing up not knowing his real father, and later losing the beloved man who raised him to cancer, Benji says being present for their kids, son Fox, seven, and daughter Ever, almost four,
is something he and Zoe prioritise.
He is there as often as he can for the everyday moments, picking the children up from school, cooking dinner and putting them to bed.
Meanwhile, author, podcaster and influencer Zoe, 40, loves the flexibility of her work, which means she can be with the children every morning and for all the important milestones.
Zoe smiles, “The children don’t really understand how lucky they are – not in the financial sense, but in how present we are. It’s not something either Benji or I had when we were growing up.”
With their beautiful Sydney home, two happy kids and fulfilling careers, life looks picture-perfect for the couple.
However, when they first met as 24-year-olds, both were experiencing deep trauma.
Benji was devastated after losing his dad and Zoe was still grieving the loss of her much-loved single mum Jan to breast cancer.
She was also fresh out of a frightening, abusive relationship.
Growing together from this “rock bottom” has only deepened their bond, shares Zoe.
“We champion each other on such a deep level and figure out how to support each other.”
During his illustrious league career, Benji made 346 appearances in the NRL and had 31 Test caps for New Zealand’s Kiwis.
He knows all about being part of a great team but says the squad he and Zoe have built during their 16 years together is the most important of all.
“What I love most about Zoe is she is always trying to better herself, our relationship and our life,” reveals Benji.
“She challenges me, which I don’t always like, but I want to be a better person, dad and partner because of Zoe.”
MANIFESTING A FUTURE
Former radio and TV host Zoe, creator of the award-winning podcast The Deep, is also passionate about helping others.
She’s just launched her first book, Ariise, which encourages people to incorporate the powerful technique of manifestation – or “co-creation”, as she prefers to call it – to unlock their potential.
It was during the punishing grief of losing her mum nearly 20 years ago that Zoe started to embrace the principles of co-creation, which she lives every day.
“It can be confronting work as it asks us to look honestly at our habits and the things that limit us, then get clear on our core values and beliefs,” shares Zoe.
“After that, we can start to take action to co-create a life we love alongside our higher self, God, the universe or whatever we like to call it.”
After working in media for many years, Zoe had some initial nerves about releasing the book, worried people would think she was “woo-woo”.
But she says, “Then I thought, ‘Bugger that!’ This is who I am and it’s worked for me for a long time. I stopped caring about what people think.”
In the book, Zoe shares some deeply personal reflections about her own challenges, including her fertility struggles and a breast cancer scare last June.
She recalls, “I was in the middle of writing the book when my doctor said a lump she had been monitoring in my breast needed to be removed. I immediately spiralled and started thinking of all the worst-case scenarios, especially after everything mum had been through.”
The lump was removed on Zoe’s 40th birthday, the same day she launched the Ariise personal-growth online platform that supports the book.
A week later, she received the all-clear, although the experience tested her belief systems.
Zoe reveals, “I realised doom-spiralling wasn’t going to change the diagnosis, but what I could control was my reaction to it. Once I was able to get the stress out of my mind and body, I leaned into gratitude and the support of Benji. He never projected his own fears onto me. He was so practical and compassionate.”
Although they’re complete opposites who “shouldn’t make sense”, Benji says he and Zoe “make perfect sense to each other”.
He concludes, “We’re each other’s rocks – our safe place.”
