Embracing The Moment

For Tv Star, Radio Host and Author Kate Ritchie, Turning 40 Means Taking Stock and Getting Things Done. Ahead of the Milestone Birthday, She Reflects on Life in the Spotlight, Motherhood and Multi-tasking. 
 

- Trudie Mcconnochie

Turning 40 can mark a turning point in life, prompting reflection on all the chapters completed and all the blank pages yet to fill. Kate Ritchie, who portrayed wholesome schoolgirl-turned mum Sally Fletcher on Home and Away for two decades, is on the verge of that milestone – and while she’s fairly relaxed about the event, other people are already finding it somewhat alarming.

“A lot of people who I chat to, especially people who are older than me, when I tell them I’m turning 40 they look at me and think, ‘oh my goodness, if Sally Fletcher is 40, how old does that make me?! Only a minute ago you were a small child on the television, now you’re a 40-year-old woman,’” says Kate, laughing good-naturedly as she reflects on her August birthday.

“I feel good about it,” she continues. “I’ve never been one to hide my age or worry about it. But I’m also a human being who reflects on 40 years and wonders if she’s done all the things she was meant to do. But I’m not going to give myself a hard time about that, I’m just going to write a to-do list.”

When you consider all that Kate has already achieved in her less-than ordinary life, you can understand why she’s embracing the milestone rather than viewing it as cause for lament. There’s the award-winning radio gig she presents on Nova alongside Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold, which recently rated number one across the country in the coveted drive-time slot. There’s the swag of Logies she won during her 20 years as a Summer Bay favourite. Her happy marriage to former rugby league player Stuart Webb and motherhood to three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Mae. The success of her first children’s book