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Somehow, somewhere along the line, Asher Keddie developed a reputation for being aloof. Certainly, the last time we sat down, a decade ago, she was more guarded, less open, about sharing her experience of juggling a white-hot career with young motherhood. Now, the seven-time Logie winner flashes a half smile: \u201cI really wore that sense of protection. I was like a tigress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back then, at the height of her fame as the neurotic, fabulous Offspring obstetrician Nina, Keddie was \u201cscratchy\u201d about the privacy of her family, which included a then-toddler son. \u201cPsychologically, I\u2019ve gone through a reasonable amount of growth over the last 10 years,\u201d she says, \u201cand been able to maintain my own peace, if that makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 51, she\u2019s spun a storied career playing complex, resilient women (Fake, Strife) into a second act as a producer while also running a \u201cfull-on\u201d household in a Melbourne bayside suburb. Now, while she feels the same \u201ccrazy love\u201d as ever for her artist husband Vincent Fantauzzo, 49, and sons Luca, 16, and Valentino, 11, Keddie\u2019s also finding time for self-care.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll three guys I live with are robust, and I\u2019ve always piled into that energy willingly,\u201d says the former ballerina, whose showbiz debut was in a dancewear ad. \u201cBut I\u2019ve found that can cost me.\u201d These days, she says, \u201cI\u2019ve found some autonomy in the big kind of chaotic mess that it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing that seems not to have changed a jot is Keddie\u2019s appearance. Skin like a bowl of cream, blonde hair artfully undone, she\u2019s casually chic in a Blanca striped shirt and Mother skinny jeans. \u201cI think I look pretty good for 51,\u201d says Keddie, whose sharper focus on looking after herself includes her first collaboration with a beauty brand.<\/p>\n
The two-time 2026 AACTA Award nominee is the newest brand partner for Australia and New Zealand for L\u2019Or\u00e9al Paris, whose marketing director Nadia Adelina saw the star\u2019s championing of gender equality and telling women\u2019s stories as mirroring \u201ccommitment to elevating the role of women in society\u201d.<\/p>\n
Aligning herself with a global community alongside Jane Fonda, Viola Davis and Gillian Anderson, says Keddie, \u201cjust felt like the right fit and something I really felt compelled to do and talk about right now \u2013 beauty standards and the importance of challenging stereotypes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Even though women are as fascinated as ever with how we interpret and embody ageing, talking about the beauty industry is sometimes seen as reductive in 2026. \u201cRight?\u201d says Keddie, whose career-long adherence to an unvarnished, minimal aesthetic resonates with midlife women battling unrealistic expectations of youth. \u201cThat\u2019s precisely why the partnership with L\u2019Or\u00e9al felt like an authentic choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of two daughters raised by teachers Robi and James Keddie, she says she was \u201cvery self-conscious\u201d about the way she looked while growing up in Melbourne. Ironically, being on camera constantly for work helped because she \u201cdidn\u2019t have time\u201d to worry about her appearance.<\/p>\n
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Keddie says her partnership with L\u2019Or\u00e9al Paris feels like \u201can authentic choice\u201d.Tracey Lee Hayes for L\u2019Or\u00e9al Paris. <\/p>\n
Fast-forward to her sixth decade and Keddie sees and feels beauty \u201cas much more all-encompassing than what my face or body looks like. And that is an extraordinary relief. I mean, it\u2019s all just such a waste of energy,\u201d she says. She calls the L\u2019Or\u00e9al Paris tagline \u201cyou\u2019re worth it\u201d a life mantra, \u201cespecially for women of my age because we are bloody worth it. The authenticity of the message is really compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why? \u201cThat\u2019s where I am in life. It\u2019s taken a hell of a long time for me to embrace self-worth, and I really believe it now. I\u2019m comfortable looking at myself in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comfortable enough to spurn injectables or cosmetic treatments, especially in an industry which really cares about looks? Yes, says Keddie. While she \u201chas no judgment whatsoever\u201d about Botox or fillers, she prefers facials with an LED light, and a morning and night regimen involving cleansing for three minutes, massaging her face with a roller, and layering serums and moisturisers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about embracing the self-care, not just wanting to enhance myself physically,\u201d says Keddie. \u201cI feel good about the choices I\u2019ve made not to reshape my face into something different. I genuinely like looking at the lines on my face and seeing the life that I\u2019ve led. I\u2019m proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just after 11am and Keddie has had a \u201cnormal\u201d morning \u2013 making breakfasts, whizzing her boys to before-school sport and jumping on a call from Tokyo with film producer Bruna Papandrea. For the last year, Keddie says, she\u2019s \u201cbeen in a bit of a cave\u201d, stepping away from shooting to work with Papandrea on the TV production of Sally Hepworth\u2019s novel The Soulmate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did feel like I was keeping everything on the rails then. That was a burden I feel I placed on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asher Keddie on juggling motherhood and her acting career<\/p>\n
The beauty of producing, says Keddie, is that she can still experience the \u201ccreativity I absolutely need\u201d while doing school runs and divvying up with Fantauzzo the job of getting their boys to soccer seven days a week. \u201cIt\u2019s non-stop every day because they\u2019re very athletic kids who need to move all the time. And they eat non-stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
This domesticity is now natural and entrenched for Keddie, 14 years after she and Fantauzzo were introduced by chef Matt Moran. Fantauzzo had seen Keddie on TV and wanted to paint her. The resulting portrait, Love Face, was a finalist in the 2013 Archibald Prize and won the People\u2019s Choice Award.<\/p>\n
Two years later, in 2014, they wed on Fiji\u2019s Turtle Island. Part of the deal from the start was Luca, Fantauzzo\u2019s son from a previous relationship. \u201cThere was no courtship or alone time when we met because Luca was there,\u201d says Keddie. \u201cI fell in love with that little boy at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valentino\u2019s 2015 birth was perhaps even more seismic, catapulting Keddie into that period of new motherhood when joy and terror are intertwined. She admits that in its early days, when she left home at 5.45am for Offspring and came home around 8pm, she white-knuckled it \u2013 and it took a toll.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did feel like I was keeping everything on the rails then. That was a burden I feel I placed on myself,\u201d she says, admitting that she battled the urge to find \u201csolutions for everybody I love, but actually, it\u2019s not good for anybody\u201d. Now, with Luca and Val finding independence, Keddie \u201cis trying to suppress that need to do everything for them. I\u2019m sure this is very normal for mums.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Vincent](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3b83dd05d5368b3c69d8bd3edcdb151ddfbf97e1.jpeg\")
Vincent Fantauzzo\u2019s portrait of Asher Keddie, which led to their romance and marriage.<\/p>\n
Just as she did a decade ago, Keddie lights up when talking about being a mum of boys: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine it being any other way.\u201d Even the family dog, an American Staffy called Sandro, is male: \u201cHe\u2019s gorgeous and follows me around all day. He\u2019s mama\u2019s boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because in the past she \u201coverworked in life, in relationships, in motherhood, in my professional life\u201d, Keddie\u2019s self-care mission means she\u2019s \u201cunapologetic\u201d about her requirements for staying on an even keel: \u201cI need space. Calm. Sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Living with the autoimmune disease lupus means Keddie eats very well. \u201cI know what works for my body and I stick to it. I have avocado on toast every morning, for example.\u201d She\u2019s also had the same enviable sleep routine since childhood. She\u2019s in bed every night by 9pm to meditate and read, dropping off \u201ceffortlessly\u201d and sleeping for a solid nine or 10 hours. \u201cIt\u2019s a gift, really!\u201d<\/p>\n
The golden thread running through it all is Keddie and Fantauzzo\u2019s marriage. Like the star herself, that\u2019s evolved from what they\u2019ve called an \u201cinstant connection\u201d to something Keddie describes as \u201cvery intentional\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really choosing each other, warts and all. I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a relief to have been with someone for this long and really know who they are. It\u2019s a privilege. Especially for people like Vinnie and I, who are both fairly self-protective and hypersensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keddie\u2019s voice wobbles a bit. \u201cIt\u2019s making me emotional,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of us for moving through the challenging times every relationship experiences, but also actually choosing intentionally to stay and keep growing together. It\u2019s a good place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lisa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/90101e6a37f01fd08fd7492a0cf45e536ffe0596.jpeg\")
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