Island Roots: TVNZ reporter Indira Stewart on the judgement she faced after NZ Idol

TVNZ journalist and former NZ Idol runner-up Indira Stewart. Photo / TVNZ

Television reporter Indira Stewart is no stranger to the small screen.

Before reporting and presenting news at TVNZ, she was Indira Moala, best known as the 21-year-old who was voted runner-up on talent show New Zealand Idol in 2006.

Speaking with Island Roots, Auckland Ways hosts Mariner Fagaiava and Allyssa Verner-Pula this week, she shares about life before and after the small screen, the struggles she faced as a young single mum and a surprise return to university.

Stewart speaks about what it was like in the NZ Idol house and says it was an adjustment for an innocent church girl who had never dated or kissed anyone at that point, she says.

“My parents are pastors, [so] it was a culture shock figuring out: ‘Oh my gosh, you guys are smoking weed. Aren’t we supposed to be in rehearsals’?”

Indira Stewart pictured in 2006 during the NZ Idol competition. Photo / Chris Skelton

She reveals she faced public scrutiny shortly after her appearance on the hit show, particularly after her first marriage ended.

There were, however, also perks.

“I’d go clubbing...and be back of the line and the bouncer would be like: ‘Come through’,” she laughed.

“That’s the kind of famous you get in New Zealand. You’re still going to the dairy in your stubbies like everyone else.”

Stewart and her husband Hayden Stewart have four children between them - Jedeiah, Iszak, Caysha and Noomi.

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Her eldest children are from a previous marriage that ended shortly after it began, she says.

“I remember walking into [Work and Income NZ] in Ōtāhuhu to go on the solo parent benefit. I remember how humbling that road was for me - especially because I felt at that time case managers were like: ‘Are you Indira from NZ Idol’?”

That WINZ assistance helped her put her children into daycare and also allowed go back to study; enrolling in a journalism degree.

Her financial struggles continued, she says, and there were days she would worry about being able to afford nappies, buying formula and money for the bus.

Stewart, who hails from Kadavu in Fiji and Tu’anuku and Mu’a in Tonga, credits that period of her life as shaping her character and helping her to where she is now.

“You can get up on TV and you can read the news. But when I go back to my desk and look at photos of my kids, I never forget where I came from,” she says.

Looking ahead, Stewart reveals she has embarked on a new adventure studying law.

Studying with a crop of students who are much younger than her is inspiring, she says.

“I also think it’s always important as a Pasifika woman to equip yourself as much as possible because you always want to land on your feet wherever you go.

“The more I can contribute to the world I’m in, the happier I’m going to be by the time I die.”