Change Of Tune

CHART-TOPPER NATALIE BASSINGTHWAIGHTE OPENS UP TO PAUL EWART ABOUT MEDITATION, MINDFULNESS, MAKING A RELATIONSHIP WORK, AND THE HEALTH WAKE-UP CALL THAT CHANGED HER LIFE

- Paul Ewart

Actress, singer, TV star and entrepreneur: Natalie Bassingthwaighte (or ‘Nat Bass’ for short) has worn many hats during her enviable career. And though she’s undoubtedly a high achiever, not so long ago this relentless schedule had the media personality feeling “out of control” and dangerously close to a breakdown. Thankfully she heeded the signs and took the opportunity to implement some major health and wellness changes in her and her family’s lives.

“It was about a year ago that I started to feel it,” the 43-year-old tells Good Health & Wellbeing. “I was so frazzled and overwhelmed that my head was about to explode… I just couldn’t quite keep up with the pace of my life. I felt broken. I realised that if I didn’t stop to breathe it would get even worse.”

Juggling often “three or five jobs at once” along with the demands of raising two young children left the former X Factor judge ready to snap.

“The turning point was at a function when I ended up chatting to a woman in the media industry who has always inspired me,” says Natalie. “I asked her how things were going and she confided that she was finding it tough. I asked about her son and she said, ‘He hates me. I’m always working, I never see him.’ It shook me. I didn’t want the same thing to happen with me and my kids. The next day I woke up and knew I couldn’t keep doing what I was doing. I knew I needed to be present. It was a revelation.”

A staple on screens and in the charts for the past 15 years, Nat began her rise to fame after she nabbed the role of home-wrecking Izzy Hoyland on