Polly's next chapter - 'I'M ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES'

Losing her job at Today FM shocked the beloved broadcaster, but she's excited to be moving into podcasts... and a new home

- Sophie Neville

After a difficult few years, Polly Gillespie had cautiously hoped 2023 might be a little more A settled. But with the shock closure of Today FM, the talk radio station on which Polly hosted a popular evening show, she was once again plunged into unemployment and uncertainty. Losing her job was a blow she really didn't see coming.

"It felt like being hit on the side of the head with a baseball bat," says the legendary Kiwi broadcaster, who was made redundant from her More FM job two years earlier. "It was shocking because there was no warning. No warning at all."

Although she was stunned by the closure less than a year after its much-hyped launch, the seasoned radio star is surprisingly sanguine as she sits down to chat with Woman's Day at our exclusive photo shoot. After more than 30 years in the business, she's learned to approach life with "zero expectations".

"Nothing is sure any more - nothing is concrete. I didn't want to lose my job and I had no idea it was coming, but to be honest, I was too busy to be angry or upset. I had other stuff going on."

The "other stuff" Polly is referring to is the recent sale of her rambling 110-year-old villa in Wellington's Island Bay. It was a huge decision to say goodbye to the home where she and former husband and radio co-host Grant Kereama raised their children Tom, 28, Katherine, 27, and McGregor, 24. But with her mortgage payments almost doubling and the cost-of-living crisis beginning to bite, the time had come for a fresh start.