Grant Denyer opens up about his most emotional year yet
Grant Denyer has opened up about his rollercoaster year that saw him recover from a car accident, start his first radio gig, finish up on Family Feud, win a Gold Logie, campaign for Rural Aid, and start a new show, Game Of Games.
"I've only ever lived life pedal to the metal!" Grant tells TV Week.
After eight nominations during his 21-year career on television, Grant finally won his first golden gong this year.
"I just didn't stop," Grant recalls of Logies’ night. "I was jumping in the crowd with this permanent grin that would just not leave my face."
By his side was wife and Mummy Time blogger Cheryl "Chezzi" Denyer.
"I just kept saying to him, 'Live and breathe every minute of this,'" Chezzi says. "This is just amazing."
Grant's emotional acceptance speech – in which he spoke of dark periods in his career when he felt "sad and lost”– immediately made headlines for his sincerity and honesty.
"I really wasn't sure if I'd ever work again or if I wanted to," Grant said as he accepted the Gold Logie.
"I wasn't particularly in a very good place. I wasn't very well. I was in a bit of a hole. I was pretty sad. I was a bit lost and Family Feud came along and I was very unwell at that particular time. And Family Feud gave me a ladder out of that hole. And I've very lucky to have had it.”
Reflecting back on the emotional night, Grand says he is in a “better headspace”.
“To be honest, the last couple of years, I think I was afraid to win it. The idea of standing up there in front of your peers and trying to entertain a room of entertainers has almost been too daunting to want to try to achieve,” he tells the publication.
"So there was a part of me that was talking myself out of not wanting to win, like previously. Now, I'm just a little bit more at peace with things and with myself, and I think it made the moment a lot more enjoyable."
Even so, Grant says he hasn’t re-watched any footage of his speech and he doesn’t play to.
"It was overwhelming when it happened, just too magical to want to revisit it," he says. "I can't improve on it, so why go through it again?"