I can only hope that Natalie Joyce had no TV reception last night. While around 631,000 metro viewers tuned in to watch her husband, former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce and his partner Vikki Campion speak out about their affair—and their newborn son, Sebastian, I hope Natalie Joyce was holed up with friends and family and a glass of wine, with no television in sight.
If she did tune in to the reportedly $150,000-interview with Network Seven’s Sunday Night (which in a nice case of schadenfreude could not out-rate the ABC's Mystery Road), imagine what it would have been like for her—and her four daughters, for that matter—to watch their pain be retold again on Australian TV.
They would have heard details of Barnaby Joyce’s affair with Campion, his then-staffer; the details of when they discovered Campion was pregnant and how they dealt with the implications for Joyce’s career. Imagine having to hear the line “you can’t help who you fall in love with” rolled out with every promo for the interview; not to mention the utterly cringe-worthy moment where Joyce told his newborn son, “Boy, man, you caused some problems,” which I guess was a poor attempt at humour?
Unsurprisingly, there has been a huge wave of support for Natalie Joyce since the interview went to air.
What is most telling about this whole affair, is Natalie Joyce's dignified silence. Apart from issuing a brief statement in February, at the time the news of the affair broke, she has understandably avoided the public eye. “This situation is devastation on many fronts,” she said in February. “Our family life has had to be shared during Barnaby’s political career and it was with trust that we let campaign and office staff into our homes and into our lives. Naturally we also feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved.”
Since then, she has kept a low profile and got on with her role of being a mother to four young women. One report claims she has increased her hours as a special needs teacher to full-time, a poignant detail as her husband—a government employee, lets not forget—receives a sizable cheque from Network Seven.
According to tabloid reports, she has had even more lucrative offers to share her side of the story, but has so far turned them down. It would be no surprise. The story of the 'wronged woman' is tabloid gold, as countless cover stories of Noelene Hogan and Jennifer Aniston will attest. And let's face it, Natalie Joyce would be well within her rights to get a little compensation for her ordeal.
If she does decide to give an interview, let it be for a huge sum of cash so she can get on with her life--a life that she put on hold to support her husband's political career.
