Katherine Kennard sometimes doesn’t recognise her own life. This time last year, the Nothing Trivial star was single and looking for love.
Fast-forward 12 months, and not only has the actress found romance, but her whole world has been turned upside down. Katherine’s new relationship has seen her thrust headfirst into a world of school drop-offs and packed lunches since she started living with her new partner and his five-year-old son.
“Sometimes it feels like I’ve walked onto another set,” says Katherine (41), who plays mother-of-two Jo on TV One’s hit show. “But this is my new life and this is what I do now.”
A big believer in following her intuition and maintaining a positive outlook on life, last year when she spoke to the Weekly, Katherine was sure that one day she would find love and have children in her life. Sure enough, her positive thoughts materialised and she met her partner, Spartacus set dresser Gabriel, 10 months ago.
The actress’ world has been turned upside down since Lucius came into it
As the couple’s relationship became more serious, Gabriel gradually introduced Katherine into his son Lucius’ life. The active boy lives with his father, but sees his mother on a regular basis. When Katherine moved into his Auckland home a few months ago, she was careful to maintain boundaries.
“I’m not his parent, I’m not his stepmum, I’m not his auntie – to him I’m just Katherine,” she explains. “I am his caregiver sometimes, but from his point of view I’m his friend.
“It is hard because you’re dealing with another parent’s child, but it’s about letting him know my boundaries.”
Katherine and Lucius are clearly good pals and when she picks him up from school he runs to her with arms wide open. While Katherine has quickly learned the art of playing toy cars, she says living with a child has been a big adjustment.
“I’ve allowed myself to dive into the deep end, but I guess I wanted to – it felt like the right time with Gabriel.
“The biggest challenge so far has been thinking, ‘Where did all my space go?’ All this energy gets put into raising one child – it really threw me.”
The former model was born in Britain and spent a lot of her childhood and younger years travelling around Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand – one of the reasons why she says she draws her energy from nature and the outdoors.
Living with a child has meant less time for herself, and maintaining her own space has been important in the transition into Gabriel and Lucius’ life. That’s why she has her own room in their house.
Katherine’s domestic bliss is in stark contrast to her character’s turmoil
“I think it’s really important for us to have our own individual spaces and Lucius to have his too,” she says.
“Finding that time for self- reflection can be tricky, but when you are busy you need to be conscious of the times you are feeling off-kilter.
“For me, nature is my equaliser, so it only takes a 10-minute walk for me to get back into a positive state of mind.”
Finding a little “me time” is a message Katherine shares with the women in the Renew Mothers programme – a mothering development course at the Orakei Community Centre in Auckland. She sponsors and mentors a young mother who she talks to once a month about self-empowerment.
“It’s funny I’m doing this considering I don’t have any children myself, but I really understand how important having that time to just be yourself is, even if it’s only for a few minutes,” she says.
On this season of Nothing Trivial, Katherine’s character is embroiled in a custody battle with ex-husband Mac (played by Shane Cortese).
Jo has become pregnant to her boyfriend Adam (played by Shortland Street star Mike Edward) and Katherine had to wear a prosthetic belly throughout this series – an experience that unleashed her protective instincts.
Katherine and Gabriel have made no firm decision on whether they will have kids together, but are currently happy with the status quo.
Although she’s aware of her own biological clock, Katherine says she still hopes to have children of her own one day. “I’ve tried to let go of that whole biological clock thing. I’m at an age now where if I was to buy into all those statistics then I’d be in a complete panic.”
Katherine and Gabriel have made no firm decision on whether they will have kids together, but are currently happy with the status quo.
For many years, Katherine found the lack of job security working as an actress alarming, thinking she could “barely look after herself, let along a child”, but it’s a worry she’s let go over time.
“[As a mother] you just do what you have to do. That’s what starts kicking in. At this stage, Lucius and I are still getting to know each other – I’m not his auntie and I’m loving that.”
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