The moment Georgie Gardner knew she had met "the one" after 2 weeks
Today show co-host Georgie Gardner has been married to Tim Baker for nearly 16 years, but the couple both knew they were in it for the long haul after just two weeks.
“I’ve always been attracted to shy men for some reason,” Georgie Gardner revealed in an interview with 9Honey.
“There’s something about being a bit reserved and considered that really appeals to me and he was all that.”
Georgie first met her husband after going to a Sydney pub for a friend’s 30th, which Tim was also invited to.
“My gut feeling was that we were part of the same tribe. I felt immediately comfortable in his company,” Georgie said. “There was an instant physical attraction… something there that just cut through immediately.
“It was just, it was effortless,” she recalled. “We spoke the same language and from a very early stage (I think it came from him having a dog) I could see he was a carer. He was just so kind and that was really important to me.”
The couple, who knew it was the real thing just after two weeks, were refreshingly honest with each other when they first met.
Georgie said she had been “on the lookout” before she met Tim.
“I wasn’t desperate, but I was very much looking to find my life partner,” she said.
“You know, [at] the grand old age of 31 or 32, I felt a bit like I was on the shelf. And as I said to Tim, it was getting dusty up there.”
Four months later, Tim asked her to marry him, but Georgie confessed that finding your person is probably the easiest part of a relationship.
The TV host said when they became parents, they had their fair share of “rocky times”.
“We were so exhausted and so absorbed in this baby, both with our learner plates on, no grandparents around, really fending for ourselves,” she said.
“I was juggling going back to work, and that was a really tough period, when I think back to it.”
However, through their tough period, they were able to lay crucial foundations as a couple.
“You see the best and the worst of each other and I think you look at each other and think, ‘Okay, well if we can get through that, we can get through everything’,” she says. “If those foundations are in place, I think ultimately you can get through anything.”
Tim and Georgie have now made it through raising their two children – Bronte, 12, and Angus, 10 – and pursuing their two busy careers in TV and finance.
From stepping back from the Today show in 2014 to taking Lisa Wilkinson’s spot as co-host earlier this year, Georgie says that Tim has supported her through every decision.
“I just love how he is as a father,” she said. “I love that he has been so supportive of my career, never threatened by what I do for work. To the contrary, just so encouraging and proud – and always interested.”