They say first impressions count, but in the case of Hilary Barry, she’s learned not to necessarily trust them. This year, she celebrates two very big milestones – her 25th wedding anniversary with husband Mike Barry and 30 years of being on television – and in both those cases, she was absolutely sure it wasn’t going to work out. Which is why she’s so looking forward to making 2023 a year of celebration.
In the case of Mike, Hilary, now 53, had a simple reason why she thought there wasn’t a future. Laughing, she explains, “Look, I judged him very unfairly because I thought he was far too handsome! Isn’t that a terrible thing? I thought, ‘Well, he’s going to be trouble,’ and as it turned out, he was no trouble at all.”
They met when Hilary was 27 and it was their mutual friend, rugby commentator Tony Johnson, who decided his TV3 colleague would be a good match for his mate, who is the son of former All Black Kevin Barry.
Hilary recalls, “This one day at work, Tony was hassling me to go meet up with some of his friends – in particular, his friend Mike. I thought, ‘No, I’m not going to go. How tragic is that, turning up knowing he’s trying to set me up?!’”
But after repeated badgering from Tony, Hilary relented and did what all women have done in this situation – agreeing to stay for only one drink and dragging another friend
