From society girl to grandmother, the Weekly's former crafts editor shares her fabulous family news and why she never gives up on love. Photo / Michael Rooke
She may have been the Weekly's crafts editor a decade ago, but don't expect Sally Ridge to be bedazzling baby onesies just yet for her precious new grandson Porter.
Her trusty hot-glue gun has been sitting idle of late while the 52-year-old juggles life as a busy real estate agent, interior designer and devoted mum.
As she sits down to reminisce over her popular former column for the magazine's upcoming 90th birthday – the only interview and photoshoot she has done in a number of years – Sally is clearly smitten with the new little man in her life, who is affectionately known as Portie-pants.
He's her first grandchild after eldest daughter Jaime and husband Tommy Bates welcomed their new baby into the world in March at their Los Angeles home base. Sadly, due to Covid restrictions, Sally wasn't able to be at the birth as she had hoped.
"I just couldn't wait to meet him! But I finally got there when he was six weeks old and stayed for a month," smiles the former TV star.
"Yeah, he's pretty cute. I totally love him to bits. Saying goodbye was hard, but I'd like to get back there and see him every quarter, and thankfully they're coming back for baby's first Christmas this year.
"I'm so close to Jaime, so I see and talk to them every day via FaceTime. Jaime [who turns 29 this month] is such a great mum… she's so relaxed, probably much like me, actually. And Tommy is an amazing dad too. They're such a cute family."
Sally will be known to Porter as "Gigi", a name that her son-in-law came up with. "I didn't want to be called Grandma, so Gigi is what I am now and it works for me."
When the Weekly visits at her stylish home in Auckland's Herne Bay – a former mouse-ridden boarding house which viewers saw her renovate on reality show The Ridges – Sally has her phone out, laughing over some of the creations she came up with each week for this magazine.
An art college graduate, Sally had been a TV presenter on shows like Home Front and Changing Rooms, before inspiring readers with her creative talents in a craft column from 2010 to 2012.
Her youngest two children with former Black Cap Adam Parore – Astin, now 19, and Mclane, almost 16 – often featured in photos when they were little, helping mum when she made crafts for kids.
"It was really cool fun doing it," she reflects. "A lot of people recreated what I made and sent photos to show me. I loved getting their feedback."
She can't remember having any fails, nor did she struggle to come up with new craft ideas each week.
"Half the time I was inspired by using up all the crap that the kids used to leave around the house like dice, marbles, Lego and beads! I could buy a vase from a two-dollar shop, then glue all those little bits and pieces on and make it look cool.
"My most popular craft was when I did an arty map of New Zealand, again just placing inexpensive stuff on it from a junk drawer like beads and pegs. So many people replicated it."
Sally stumbles upon a column featuring a small egg carton that she turned into a pink trinket box and laughs in horror. "Oh, that's quite out there, isn't it?! I don't know what made me think of making these things," says Tauranga-born Sally, who grew up collecting buttons, stamps and erasers, and loved making handmade cards.
"I don't think we do enough crafts anymore."
However, a passion for art still drives her.
Last month, she and son Astin launched a small side business together called Essentials NZ (find it on Instagram @essentialsnz), where the pair import and sell high-end art pieces sourced globally from an array of established international artists. Think glow-in-the-dark gnomes and designer decorative fire extinguishers from the Netherlands.
"I'm so into art and Astin has created a really good website," she enthuses. "He loves art and respects what artists create, but he's more intellectual than creative himself, and is enjoying his first year doing a business and law degree at Auckland University."
Before they had even launched their business however, the pair unwittingly found themselves in trouble with the police.
"It's one of those funny-but-not-funny stories," admits Sally. "Four months ago, we brought in these 'designer dynamite' pieces by a French artist. But they got held up at the airport and the bomb squad got brought in. It was really bad. The police rang Adam, saying, 'There's a suspicious package for A. Parore' and he said, 'Oh, that's my son.'
"The police then rang us and weren't happy. We finally got the pieces two weeks ago. The artist we are working with never imagined there'd be such a problem!"
For someone who used to regularly find herself in the headlines – more often than not reading inaccuracies about her personal life – she says it's been a breath of fresh air to have spent the last few years going "under the radar a bit".
So, is she nervous about being on a magazine cover again for the first time in over 10 years?
"No, other than people are probably going to say, 'Oh, gosh look at her, she's sooo old now!' Can I remind people I've had the stress of raising four kids!" she laughs.
"I've really kept out of the limelight as the media can be quite nasty. Certain media and columnists just write really nasty or sensational stuff. They'll take something and turn it into 100 times bigger – and they don't really care about the consequences that I have to go through as a person.
"I didn't consider leaving New Zealand, but it does tarnish you as a person. People do believe the rumours that they read. And they say people forget, but they don't.
"It's what you get from being in the public eye, I suppose. But the Weekly doesn't write nasty stuff, so it's quite refreshing!"
During her self-imposed media break, Sally poured herself into her work as a real estate agent for Bayleys – "I'm still shy but I think doing real estate has brought me out of my shell" – and focused solely on what matters most to her... her four beautiful children.
These days, with sons Astin and Boston spending time with their girlfriends, it's mostly just Sally and youngest daughter Mclane at home. The teenager is in Year 11 at school and has just started learning to drive.
"All the kids are so strong-willed, enthusiastic and motivated," tells Sally. "They're such good kids but they're also so, so different.When Jaime moved away to America, it was actually quite a shock to my system to be apart from her. I didn't think she'd stay over there at first, but now she's got a full life there and loves it.
"Boston is 25 and has been working with his dad [former league star Matthew Ridge] for several years at his carwash sites, Carfē, and is now the managing director. He's doing super-well and is the most focused, hard-working kid I've ever met. But if you want to have nice things in life, you've got to work bloody hard to get them."
Between running her different businesses, putting her house on the market and cooing daily over her grandson on the phone, Sally has enough to keep her busy – but she's also dipped her toes into the dating pool again.
"I do have a partner, Scott, and he's lovely. He's very close to all the kids – they adore him and jokingly call him 'Fitty Cent'."
The couple met a few years ago through Sally's friend Cathy, but a romance didn't blossom until a year later.
"I wasn't interested in him at all initially and I don't think he was interested in me either!" she tells.
"And then whenever Cathy came up to Auckland, she'd say, 'I'm going to have a drink with Scott, do you want to come?' So I got to know him for ages, and we built a really nice friendship before things evolved and we got together.
"That's one thing I have learnt with age – it's important to be really good mates first and foremost. Scott's also the opposite of who I am, but maybe that's what I needed in my life?
"I feel like time has marched on, the kids have grown up but I'm so happy at the moment."