Photography: Robert Trathen.
If anyone had told Paul Henry he’d be launching a political career at 66, he probably would have laughed. The broadcasting veteran was perfectly happy as a “semi-retired man”, spending languid days poolside at his home in Palm Springs, California, renovating his farmhouse outside Auckland, and enjoying time with his wife Diane Foreman and their big, happy, blended family.
But instead, he’s thrown retirement out the door and joined the Act Party – hitting the election campaign trail, swapping luxury hotels for roadside motels and lazy days for a whistlestop tour around New Zealand. This is very different to how he and Diane imagined they’d be spending this chapter, but they’re embracing the change with open arms.
In fact, when Paul rannthe idea of becoming a politician past her in May, she didn’t hesitate.
“I told him, ‘Don’t die wondering – you should do it,’” Diane recalls.
Now, she jokes, she’s just hoping he doesn’t actually die doing it.
“Honestly, he’s working so unbelievably hard. I’ve never seen him like this.”
Paul steps back into the spotlight
The move into politics may have surprised the public, but his family sawvit coming. Paul has long been obsessed with the political landscape and, increasingly frustrated by the status quo, decided to give it a shot – spurred on by friends and family who told him he should.
Yes, life as he knew it has been upended, but Paul is in his element.
“Energising is the word for it,” he says, chatting to Woman’s Weekly over a glass of his favourite pinot noir alongside businesswoman Diane at their Auckland home.
“When you’ve got 500 people sitting in a room waiting for you to speak and they’re applauding as you’re walking in, it doesn’t matter what you’re going to talk about, or whether you’re a cast member in Cirque du Soleil or the prime minister – the energy in that room is infectious. “But the biggest thing for me is the genuine desire just to sort s**t out in this country, you know? I genuinely want to help change the direction of New Zealand – it feels exciting to be giving it a go.”
And Diane is right behind him. She’s incredibly proud of his decision to step into politics at this stage of life, even if it does mean they’re ships in the night right now.
“He said he didn’t want to wake up after election day and feel like he didn’t try,” says Diane.
“And I really am so proud of him because the easiest thing would have been to stay on the sofa, having another glass of red wine, keeping his head down. We were having a lovely life, you know? “Instead, he’s had the guts and the courage to stick his head above the parapet again.”
Facing the heat of politics
But while Paul was prepared for the criticism that comes with politics, he admits he has been surprised by the viciousness of some of the comments aimed at him. He believes people have lost the ability to listen and to accept differing views. He was shocked by what he describes as “intolerable aggression” by protesters towards attendees at a Dunedin meeting, where a podcaster was removed by security.
But Paul insists he’s not bothered by online trolls. Paul – who stood unsuccessfully for National in 1999 – is serious about his political run. He has committed to two three-year terms and speaks enthusiastically about working with Act leader David Seymour. He’s already made headlines with his call for dedicated cancer hospitals, an idea that has subsequently been adopted as Act policy.
“I think the saddest thing is that we have a society that really is champing at the bit to reach mediocrity and that isn’t the way New Zealand should be, and it isn’t the way New Zealand used to be. One of the greatest challenges actually for the government is to try to turn that around.”
Behind the TV persona
Diane says the Paul people see on TV isn’t necessarily the man she knows best.
“The real Paul is the guy at home with the children. Or the guy out on the boat, or the one at home with me watching Netflix. So this is quite a big step for him because to put himself out there for a second time in his life is huge. He’s had such a high-public profile already and he was enjoying being out of it.”
The couple adores their family. Paul is dad to Lucy, 38, Bella, 35, and Sophie, 33, while Diane has Nichola, 46, Amy, 44, Josh, 35, and Charlotte, 29. They’re also grandparents to Lucien, 25, Sebastian, 18, Juno, 18, Liam, 16, Lexi, 12, Reihan, eight, Mina, five, twins Walter and Darcy, two, Darla, eight months, and Zoey, just one month old.
Family always comes first
Despite his demanding new political career, Paul insists that being a dad and grandad will always come first. His work has often taken him away from home, but he’s always believed that what matters is making the time together count. He talks to his daughters every day, FaceTimes his grandchildren and recently spent a few nights at his farm with Reihan, something they both loved.
“We walked around and looked at what the builders were doing,” says Paul.
“We lit fires. We just spent time together. It was lovely.”
Diane calls Paul an “experience guy”. While she’s the one reminding the little ones to brush their teeth, Paul is more interested in making memories with them.
“He gives them so much of himself,” she says.
“His time, energy… and his total investment in their lives. He loves them so much.”
A marriage built on independence
He’s enormously proud of his daughters and like any besotted grandparent, is convinced his grandkids are in a league of their own.
“You look at other people’s grandchildren, and you think, ‘Oh, how desperately ordinary.’ But then I look at my own and I genuinely believe mine are better than everyone else’s. Because they are!”
And watching Bella and Lucy become mothers has been particularly special.
“It’s that circle of life thing, isn’t it?” he says.
Paul and Diane – who were close friends for many years before they wed in 2020 – have always been comfortable giving each other plenty of space and that’s unlikely to change if Paul’s political career takes him to Wellington beyond the election. At number four on the Act Party list, there’s a high chance it will.
“When you get married at 60, you’re very adult,” says Diane.
“We’ve both had big lives, big careers, so there’s no pretence. We are what we are. You’re not growing into the people you’re going to be. We’re both fully formed human beings, fully formed adults and we have our own lives a lot of the time.”
A marriage built on independence
She jokes that having Paul out of the house allows her to renovate without him getting in the way. But they also treasure their time together, making time for dinners out, weekends on Waiheke Island and overseas travel.
Says Paul, “We’ve been best friends for so long. It’s just a privilege being with her. It’s easy to be married.”
The couple love talking politics – “we’re both very good arguers” – and are closely aligned, but Diane also credits Paul with making her a more carefree person.
“He’s the most positive man I’ve ever met. I’m a more fun person for having been married to him for nearly seven years. He doesn’t sweat the small stuff – he leaves that to me!”
That positivity, Paul says, is something he owes in part to his beloved mum Olive, who passed away in 2016. Olive raised him on her own in a council flat in Bristol, where she worked night shifts in a plastics factory. By his own description, she was an unlikely person to dream big – she was terrified of bureaucracy and had little belief in herself. But when it came to her son, she had total faith he could do whatever he wanted in life.
“She was an extraordinary woman. She was convinced that this little schlep she was bringing up could be anything at all. She dreamed big for me. I’ll be forever grateful to her for that because I know if I hadn’t had that, I wouldn’t have achieved any of what I have.”
Olive’s enduring influence
Diane says Olive, who affectionately called her son “Our Paul”, genuinely believed everything he did was extraordinary.
“If he took her a cream bun, it would be the best cream bun in the world because Our Paul gave it to her.”
It’s almost 10 years since Olive died. But Paul still talks about her with the same sense of wonder – and wishes she could be here today to see his move into politics.
“She would have been enormously proud,” he says.
“She very much lived entirely through me. She was so proud of everything I did. She would have been in awe of what’s happening now. “If you have parents like
the mother I had, then you can face anything. Because you will have aspiration and you will have belief in yourself.”
