{"id":330832,"date":"2025-12-06T04:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330832\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T04:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:37:07","slug":"jacinda-ardern-reflects-on-covid-years-during-graham-norton-show-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330832\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacinda Ardern reflects on Covid years during Graham Norton Show appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ardern<\/a> told Norton the comment had annoyed her because her government was focused on both protecting people and protecting the economy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI should add, I\u2019m not a violent person\u201d, she added to laughter. <\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern appeared on the Graham Norton show in an episode that aired in the UK today. Photo \/ Jane Ussher<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the Covid impacted election, she told Norton the landslide win in 2020 \u201cnever felt like victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of thought, okay, people want us to keep going. And so we did, but it got harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe election then was almost like an election in the middle of a war, it\u2019s sort of how it felt in some ways.\u201d <\/p>\n

Norton asked Ardern about why she thought her popularity began to decline. <\/p>\n

She said while she took responsibility for her time in office, global politics had also changed over that period. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have seen politics carry a lot more grievance from individuals, and in some ways it\u2019s become more violent and aggressive. So, you know, I don\u2019t think it was just any one leader that has experienced that shift.\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite the shift in the political landscape, Ardern said she would still encourage young people to get into politics<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat other job if you\u2019re a do-gooder, like I can be sometimes, when you see a problem in the world, and you\u2019ve got the power to do something about it, what other job do you get that gift?\u201d <\/p>\n

She made a plea for people to not \u201cgive up on the prospect that politics can be better\u201d.<\/p>\n

Throughout the lively episode, Ardern sat alongside actor Kate Winslet<\/a>, talk show host Seth Meyers<\/a> and comedian Alan Carr.<\/p>\n

She also spoke about auditioning many years ago to be an extra in Sir Peter Jackson\u2019s<\/a> The Lord of the Rings trilogy<\/a> – as a hobbit. <\/p>\n

\u201cHalf of New Zealand auditioned, and half of New Zealand starred, except for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winslet, whose first film was Jackson\u2019s Heavenly Creatures, was full of praise for the way Ardern had handled her dual roles of pregnancy and global leadership. <\/p>\n

The former politician said she discovered she was pregnant three days before finding out she would be Prime Minister. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh my god she is so amazing. You are so amazing,\u201d Winslet said, to applause from the audience. <\/p>\n

Ardern said on the show that she would not return to politics because, after first entering Parliament at 28 years old, it was now up to the next generation.<\/p>\n

The Graham Norton Show episode featuring Kate Winslet, Jacinda Ardern, Alan Carr and Seth Meyers will air on TVNZ and TVNZ+ on Friday 12 December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ardern told Norton the comment had annoyed her because her government was focused on both protecting people and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[38771,59644,64,63,12305,147,53378,185044,15454,134,10680,21694,93513,59643,50029,119366,2652,20401,106706,56111,2349,36443,6618,427,185045,32388],"class_list":["post-330832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-appearance","tag-ardern","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bridges","tag-covid","tag-dame","tag-discussed","tag-during","tag-entertainment","tag-face","tag-former","tag-graham","tag-jacinda","tag-minister","tag-norton","tag-on","tag-prime","tag-punch","tag-reflects","tag-show","tag-simon","tag-time","tag-tv","tag-wanted","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}