How the brash TV journalist’s former high-profile actor wife and partner maintained a lifelong bond
In the colorful life of Australian journalist Derryn Hinch, the so-called “human headliner” was known for his fiery ideas, his long career in newspapers and radio, his foray into politics and his fight against sex offenders. He was also brutally satirized by lawyer-turned-comedian Steve Vizard as “Derryn Hunch”.
But one notable feature about the way he lived his life was that Hinch, who died this week aged 82, was always surrounded by intelligent, complex and beautiful women. Actor Jacki Weaver, to whom he was married between 1983 and 1998, sent the following text message to my colleague Garry Maddox after Hinch’s death: “It’s very sad. We will never see his like again.”
This short thought is the tip of the iceberg; an untold essay about both the man and his complexities and how he moves through the world. Like many journalists of his age, he was on a kind of crusade. He had high morals and was not afraid to fight for justice. He passed through a room with magnetic attraction. And clearly, he was attracted to a beautiful woman.
Hinch’s first marriage was to journalist Lana Wells in 1965. This marriage lasted only five years; the couple divorced in 1970. His second marriage, to Eve Carpenter in 1972, lasted eight years; They separated in 1980. Hinch was then married to Chanel Hayton between 2006 and 2012, and after their divorce he was in a two-year relationship with former NSW police sergeant Natasha Chadwick until 2015.
But for much of his life, there have been two women who dominated his private world and made quite public headlines: Weaver, whose separation and subsequent divorce never quite extinguished the candle of love, and actor and animal rights advocate Lynda Stoner, with whom he had a four-year relationship (1979-1982) and a Hollywood rom-com-style sequel that rekindled in 2016.
These two relationships took place under the media spotlight, largely because the two women had, at various times, had careers that were much more prominent than his. Weaver is one of Australia’s best actors, an Oscar nominee, and has Hollywood roots. And at the height of his fame, Stoner was one of Australia’s biggest television stars, leading hit series such as: Young Doctors And Police Shop.
In a 1991 interview, Weaver said of Hinch: “Derryn is extremely soft-hearted. He never holds a grudge. He can’t understand other people who do it. He’ll say something terrible about someone or do something terrible to someone on live television and then a year later he comes up and talks to them and can’t understand why they don’t want to know him.”
Weaver described it as a kind of newspaper job; He’s been working in newspaper offices since he was 14, where every newspaper is brand new and fresh and nothing is older than yesterday’s news, and Derryn thinks so too. “One of the best things about each other, and it’s something that drives a lot of people crazy, is that we both wake up bright and happy in the morning.”
Their marriage was so happy that they did so twice, renewing their vows, before eventually divorcing. But it was the love and affection left behind that made their relationship so impactful to the wider culture in Australia. Their post-divorce friendship was on display for all to see.
Writing in his memoirs, Much Love, JacWeaver wrote of their first encounter: “For 24 years countless magazine and newspaper articles bleated: how to be Does he love her? From where? Many women loved Hinch, and many women still love and understand him. The corny but inescapable truth is that I fell completely in love with him on our first date – at a Melbourne Football Club event, of all things, while surrounded by Australian management officials at a fundraising dinner.
Talking about her relationship with Weaver to Good Weekend columnist Benjamin Law in 2024, Hinch said, “I’m a little emotional and I like to be in love, I like to commit to someone.” When Law asked what he brings to their relationship, Hinch said: “I hope he has a sense of humour. And people seem to enjoy my kisses.”
Years later, when Hinch and Weaver met again for a television interview, in a fascinating moment, Hinch asked her: “Why did we break up again?” In an unsurprising display of charm and intelligence, Weaver replied without hesitation: “Because I ran off with another man, and I’m sorry, but he was very nice.”
Hinch’s relationship with Stoner was quite different but no less passionate. Their story was a story of love abandoned and reignited. The couple had been together for several years in the early 1980s before marrying Weaver, and the relationship was covered extensively by the media. Daily Telegraph with TV Week. However, they ultimately called off their engagement.
They later reconnected in Canberra in 2016 and rekindled their romance. “I’m proud [Lynda]Hinch told journalist Fiona Byrne: “We’re very comfortable with each other because we’ve known each other for so long and you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
And like some weird Shakespeare troupe – The Merry Wives of DerrynWhat pleased Hinch most, so to speak, was that everyone got along. “Luckily Lynda and Jacki have a sense of humor too because they’re such good friends and they love each other,” Hinch told Byrne.
As Weaver remembers, he was always the soft-hearted man who could never bear a grudge.
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Michael Idato is general culture editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X or email.
