Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew has candidly shared the challenges her family has faced and how a transformative move to the countryside turned their lives around.
While guest-editing the July issue of Australian Women's Weekly, Bartholomew revealed why she and her husband Neil decided to leave city life behind and settle in regional New South Wales.
The decision was fueled not only by a desire to give their children, Molly (6) and Tom (4), the best possible upbringing but also to improve their own health and wellbeing.
The couple made the choice during a difficult period, as both were battling serious health issues. The beloved Channel Seven star disclosed her chronic myeloid leukaemia diagnosis live on Sunrise in 2024. After managing the rare blood and bone marrow cancer with medication, she announced last year that she had reached molecular remission.
“We didn’t just come to the country to give our kids the best life possible, we wanted to do the same for ourselves,” Bartholomew said. “The reality was that we were getting crushed in the city. Originally from Lithgow, Neil was done with the urban rat-race and wanted to return to the west. He was so sick with chronic fatigue that parenting wasn’t even possible. It was the toughest time we have ever faced as a family. Something had to shift.”
Bartholomew was asked to guest-edit the special July issue, which focuses on rural and regional Australia. While celebrating the extraordinary women who live, work, and raise their families in the bush, she also reflected on how a chance discovery changed the course of her family’s life.
“On a driving holiday, we happened upon the tiny town of Carcoar,” Bartholomew said. “There was a Brigadoon quality to it, a figurative mist parting to reveal a quaint little town hidden in the hills. We had found our new home.”
Since then, Bartholomew has documented the family’s journey, including the massive renovation of a heritage guesthouse—a project she admits “is not for the fainthearted.”
Despite the challenges, she says the move has been worthwhile, with both her and Neil’s health dramatically improving. “With constant diligence, Neil’s chronic fatigue is all but cured,” she said. “My own health battles are also behind us. After revealing to The Weekly for Mother’s Day last year that my chronic myeloid leukaemia was in molecular remission, I am now happy to report it is completely out of my system.”
While Bartholomew still travels to Sydney for her role on Sunrise, the family’s life is now firmly rooted in the country. “We no longer live in the city. Sure, I go back and forth for work at Sunrise on Channel Seven, but the kids always stay put in the country in the care of my husband, Neil. I relish that time to myself in the big smoke doing a job I absolutely adore while the kids are thriving in their new rural routine. After school, Neil takes them to feed our cows, collect firewood or dangle their feet in the river at the back of our house. It’s a Possum Magic childhood.”
For the special edition, Bartholomew said she wanted to highlight women who choose to build their lives in regional Australia while acknowledging the realities of living outside the city. “We plan to give this country life a very good crack, and we are certainly not the only ones. I wanted these pages to be beautiful and vibrant but I didn’t want to ignore the challenges of living in the country. I travel back to my hometown of Whyalla in South Australia where the red sands of the outback meet the turquoise Spencer Gulf. I have relished this opportunity to showcase all the wonderful things I love about country life.”
