There are two very different Chelsea Winters; at least according to her husband. There is the one we all know – the wholesomely pretty Masterchef winner and successful cookbook author. That is the Auckland version of Chelsea.
She lives in an airy modern townhouse filled with Scandi-style furniture and leafy pot plants and the sorts of words you might use to describe her are clean-living, focused and hardworking.
But come summer, as soon as she gets to her favourite beach on Great Barrier Island another Chelsea emerges. One she cheerfully admits is “rough-as-guts”.
“Barrier Chelsea never washes her hair because she’s in the sea all day and it goes crazy and dreadlocked. She’s brown and she drifts around wearing bikinis and sarongs, and turns into a bit of an earth child,” she says.
Husband Mike Bullot likes that version of her so much that they’ve invested in some land on the island and plan to spend lots of time camping there this summer to give Auckland Chelsea a bit of a break. Because while the past few years have been a dream run as far as her career is concerned, she is 33 now and her priorities are beginning to shift a little. Barrier Chelsea needs some time in the sun.
Part of that involves travelling with Mike and enjoying a slower pace, which will hopefully lead to what the couple is hoping for most from the next stage of their life.
“We’d love to have a family,” explains Chelsea. “Mike is very excited about the prospect of children, as am I. I’m 33 and obviously I don’t have a whole lot longer so we’re hoping we can try and make it happen some time in the near future.”
Taking that step will mean a lot of changes for Chelsea – one of many plans she has in store for 2018.
To find out more about how Chelsea has learned to say goodbye to stress and hello to a new more baby-friendly way of life, pick up the January issue of NEXT, on sale now.
