Former Act MP Deborah Coddington. Photo / Esther Bunning
Former Act MP Deborah Coddington. Photo / Esther Bunning
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To mark the Herald on Sunday's 15th anniversary, we have gone back to some of our biggest newsmakers to find out where they are now.
She felt like she was known as the "hysterical bunny boiler".
Former ACT MP Deborah Coddington was the first person to make headlines in theHerald on Sunday on October 3, 2004 after business boss Roger Kerr pursued her through the grounds of parliament.
A Herald on Sunday reporter witnessed much of the saga - the tension between the two at Wellington's Backbencher bar and the MP's tears as she fled to security.
She was engaged to Colin Carruthers, QC, at the time. Coddington resigned not long after and moved to Martinborough where she lives with her husband.
"It was curtains for me. I felt as a woman I couldn't be taken seriously."
The former journalist and author of The New Zealand Paedophile and Sex Offender Index was embarrassed when reminded of the "storm-in-a-teacup Backbencher affair" — as it was labelled at the time.
"I don't want to be reminded of that pain, it was so embarrassing. I was a product of the time and seen as a hysterical bunny boiler. These days you would call it victim shaming."
Coddington was reluctant to elaborate about her relationship with Kerr — who died in 2011 aged 66 after a battle with cancer — saying they were "very good friends."
"I don't want to talk about Roger, it's disrespectful to his widow (former ACT president Catherine Isaac). I didn't speak to him before he died".
Roger Kerr. Photo / Mark Mitchell
After the story was published, Coddington felt alienated by her ACT colleagues.
"When you make the headlines members of your party will loathe you because the media attention is on you and nothing to do with policies or politics. They will want to take you out quietly and kill you and when they have finished, your children will want to kill you for humiliating them."
She has no regrets leaving her politics.
"I had new life ahead of me with Colin. I didn't think going back to parliament in a new marriage was a good idea. I am running a bookshop in Martinborough, I have written books and I have three beautiful granddaughters. It was the best decision I made."
Coddington in 2004. Photo / Simon Baker
Coddington with her husband Colin Carruthers in 2009.
At the time of the Kerr drama, Coddington was a columnist for the Herald on Sunday.
"Scurrie" (Shayne Currie), NZME's managing editor, phoned her to say 'You're an MP but you can write. I can't trust other MPs not to get their staff to write'.
"That was his trademark getting people who were real journalists and real writers. I think that's one of its secrets, its survival and its success."
Her final message is: "Happy birthday, kia kaha HOS."
