{"id":823918,"date":"2026-07-26T00:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823918\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T00:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:33:17","slug":"exclusive-nicky-buckley-on-her-baby-bump-scandal-career-and-life-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823918\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Nicky Buckley on her baby bump scandal, career and life now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicky Buckley<\/a> never set out to be at the centre of a great Australian debate, but that\u2019s exactly what happened \u2013 all because she turned up to work.<\/p>\n

In 1997, Buckley\u2019s decision to continue working as co-host of Sale of the Century<\/a> during her first pregnancy<\/a> caused a firestorm of debate, especially as she continued to wear gowns that showcased her growing bump.<\/p>\n

\"Buckley's<\/p>\n

Buckley’s pregnancy caused quite the stir in 1997.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Now 60, Buckley was impressed by her calm demeanour throughout the intense scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must have had pretty good hormones going on because everything was like water off a duck\u2019s back to me,\u201d she told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that kind of scrutiny was happening to me now in menopause, I don\u2019t know that I could deal with it as well,\u201d she added with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Despite all the outside noise at the time, Buckley said she never second guessed her decision to keep working.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018No, I have a mortgage and there\u2019s no reason why I shouldn\u2019t be able to work.\u2019 Towards the end, people started making outfits for me because they realised they were getting great exposure,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just didn\u2019t bother me that much. They actually broke the Channel Nine fax machine with the volume of faxes coming through; it completely jammed it. A Current Affair<\/a> ran a story on it and radio stations ran polls on it. It was crazy, but I was just going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Buckley considers that experience on Sale of the Century as one of the most defining of her varied career, as well as getting out of her comfort zone as host of Talk to the Animals and evolving as an MC.<\/p>\n

After another on-screen pregnancy and despite high ratings, Buckley was let go from Sale in 1999.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit like, \u2018Oh, really?\u2019 But at the same time, I was so grateful for how long I\u2019d been there. I was the longest-standing co-host on that show by far,\u201d Buckley recalled.<\/p>\n

\"Glenn<\/p>\n

Glenn Ridge and Buckley worked together on Sale of the Century for six years.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mind, I\u2019m very practical and I just go, \u201cYou know what? It\u2019s meant to be. Time\u2019s up, and onto whatever\u2019s next,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

As such, it\u2019s not something she looks back on much \u2013 but she\u2019s very pleased that times have changed. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did say to my girlfriend, speaking of a job I did probably two weeks ago in Geelong, a big opening where I MC\u2019d along with Aaron Finch<\/a>, the ex-cricketer and cricket commentator,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not 40 yet, and I\u2019m 60. I laughed to my girlfriend and said, \u2018This is hysterical. I\u2019m 20 years older than him and we\u2019re MCing together.\u2019 It\u2019s a turn of events, which I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nicky<\/p>\n

Nicky Buckley\u00a0Instagram\/@nickybuckleyofficial<\/p>\n

While she\u2019s learning to \u201cenjoy quiet times\u201d, Buckley said she couldn\u2019t help but love being busy \u2013 whether that meant MCing, content creation on social media, walking runways at Melbourne Fashion Festival<\/a> or jumping in the car for a weeks-long golfing road trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always worked hard to reinvent myself when one door closes. I try to work with the times and keep up with changes just to be busy, not so much to be relevant,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That even led to a surprising new passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember coming home from Melbourne in the car one day, and I had more time on my hands. I thought, \u2018Oh god, I feel like I\u2019m wasting my life, what can I do?\u2019\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\"Murray<\/p>\n

Buckley with her husband, Murray Bingham, pictured in 2024.\u00a0nna\\BGossling<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018Maybe I\u2019ll learn the drums.\u2019 Then I thought, \u2018Oh, don\u2019t be silly, you\u2019re too old for that.\u2019 Then, \u2018No, I\u2019m not!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I started doing that and it was just fun, fun, fun. Now we\u2019ve got a little band going, which is great \u2026 I\u2019m always open to challenges, and sometimes you don\u2019t even know that there\u2019s something out there that you want to do until the opportunity presents itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, Buckley wasn\u2019t sure exactly what challenge was next \u2013 just that there would surely be something.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m open to the universe like that. Maybe 12 months down the track you\u2019ll go, \u201cAha!\u201d she said. \u201cShe didn\u2019t know that one was coming!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicky Buckley never set out to be at the centre of a great Australian debate, but that\u2019s exactly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-823918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823918","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=823918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}