MasterChef star Julie Goodwin can now add doting grandmother to her already impressive resume, after the birth of baby Delilah in January.
“Oh my god – it’s beautiful,” the 51-year-old star tells Woman’s Day of bonding with her nine-month-old granddaughter, the child of her middle son, Tom.
“And we have been so lucky. During this last lockdown we have all been living in the same house,” she says.
“It’s just been divine to wake up for her every day. They’re moving out in a few weeks and I’m going to miss them.”
Julie Goodwin has shared her joy at becoming a grandmother.
(Instagram)The doting star admits she can’t get enough of the latest addition to her family, which also includes husband of 26 years Michael and her other sons, Joe and Paddy.
“I don’t think you can spoil a little baby, if you’re talking about time and attention and singing songs and loving them and kissing them all over the face,” she says happily.
And Julie confesses it’s a novelty having a girl after three boys of her own.
“I would love whatever I got, but it’s fun buying little pink things,” she says.
But the pandemic has had its downsides for the reality star too, with her cooking school business Julie’s Place on NSW’s Central Coast struggling thanks to lockdowns.
“If COVID kept coming in waves, I don’t know if us, or any small hospitality business, could weather that.
“But for the moment, we’ll be re-opening and fingers crossed we’ll build that momentum back up,” says the reality star.
“We are taking bookings for Christmas events and functions, and as of January, we’ll start back up with the classes. It’s been a huge challenge.
Julie has been open about her own experiences.
(Instagram)“You tell a business that relies on human traffic that you can’t have human traffic and, well, there’s no income.”
Julie says her own experiences of financial hardship helped make her more empathetic towards the participants in her latest TV project, SBS documentary Could You Survive On the Breadline?
“Having lived from pay cheque to pay cheque myself, I understood that that’s not an easy way to be,” she says of immersing herself in the lives of struggling Australians.
“I went into it with a compassionate viewpoint, but to actually walk a mile in their shoes – it was so much more brutal than I realised.”
Julie says mental health problems often go hand-in-hand with money issues, and the star has been open about her own battle with depression, after spending five weeks in a mental health unit last year.
Happily, the culinary queen tells Woman’s Day she’s now “doing well” – but it’s not without effort.
“I have to do certain things to keep myself on an even keel – exercise, plenty of sleep, I see a psychologist and I’m on medication,” she says.
“There are a lot more better days than bad days now. It’s been a much slower process than what I want.
“I’m a very impatient person and I kind of thought ‘OK, I’ve ticked everything.
“Now I should be 100 per cent.’ But unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.”
Beside her all the way though, she says, has been her family.
“They’re steadfast, they rock!” she gushes. “They’re amazing.”
And now she’s looking to the future.
Julie has big plans for her Masterchef return.
(Instagram)“Life’s an adventure,” says the star, who has announced her next stop on it will be a return to MasterChef in 2022 on the upcoming Foodies Vs Favourites season.
And her grand plans don’t end there!
“I do hope I get more grandkids,” she says.
“But Delilah’s such an enormous blessing, that if she’s the only grandchild I ever have, that will be what it is.”
