{"id":539123,"date":"2026-07-22T19:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/539123\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T19:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:56:09","slug":"society-insider-all-black-anton-segner-and-hunter-kawanas-inspiring-love-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/539123\/","title":{"rendered":"Society Insider: All Black Anton Segner and Hunter Kawana\u2019s inspiring love story"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Segner, 25, moved to New Zealand at 15 to pursue his rugby dreams<\/a>, attending Nelson Boys High School, Kawana, 27, has built a successful career in modelling and content creation.<\/p>\n

Kawana tells Society Insider that as much as she is proud of Segner, he is just as proud of her.<\/p>\n

\"HunterHunter Kawana is living her dream job as a content creator. <\/p>\n

Kawana cheered Segner<\/a> on throughout the Blues season and says the past couple of weeks have been magical, with his parents Tim and Eva, and his brothers Fritz and Emil, travelling from Frankfurt to watch Segner make his debut as an All Black at Sky Stadium in Wellington. They were also there for his second test at Eden Park on the weekend. <\/p>\n

A few months prior, Kawana had secretly organised for Segner\u2019s older brother Fritz to visit New Zealand, so he could surprise him and see him play his 50th game for the Blues. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnton is like the male version of me,\u201d Kawana says. \u201cWe truly have the same souls; I have never met a man like him.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"AllAll Black Anton Segner with Hunter Kawana, who first got to see him play for the Blues in February. Photo \/ @Hunterleekawana<\/p>\n

Kawana says Segner is understanding, empathetic, kind and a beautiful human in general. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel so lucky to call him my partner, and he feels the same, which we tell each other all the time.\u201d <\/p>\n

The pair met at Auckland private members\u2019 bar Shy Guy<\/a> last September. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t feeling like going out, but the girls convinced me. We ended up there and there he was. We chatted all night, and we have been inseparable ever since.\u201d <\/p>\n

Segner\u2019s arrival at the All Black camp last month put a temporary end to the couple being constantly at each other\u2019s side. <\/p>\n

\"HunterHunter Kawana and Anton Segner, who capped off his standout Super Rugby Pacific campaign by claiming four honours at the Blues Awards in May. Photo \/ @Hunterleekawana<\/p>\n

They enjoyed a summer holiday, followed by Segner visiting New Plymouth to meet Kawana\u2019s family. In March, Segner and Kawana had a romantic trip to the Gold Coast. <\/p>\n

The day before Saturday night\u2019s test, Kawana packed up her smart Hobsonville townhouse and moved into Segner\u2019s city apartment. <\/p>\n

Segner achieving his rugby goals at the highest level complements Kawana\u2019s goals, and the inspirational career she has embarked on.<\/p>\n

\"HunterHunter Kawana was a guest at the ASB Classic earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Kawana is an in-demand model at 62 Management and a star influencer represented by J&L Creators, building a following of more than 40,000 Instagram and TikTok followers, sharing both the glamorous side of her life and her personal experiences of depression. <\/p>\n

Kawana grew up in New Plymouth and was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when she was younger. <\/p>\n

In addition to sharing her experiences online, she has also spoken at mental health events across NZ. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help others by sharing my experiences; if there had been someone like me around back then, when I was struggling, it would have really helped me get through some of the hardest times in my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

Her work highlights have seen Kawana travel overseas for brand trips with the likes of Revlon and Sony. <\/p>\n

\u201cI started content creation straight out of high school when I was studying to be a makeup artist,\u201d Kawana says.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistency over the years is what built it into what it is now – genuinely my dream job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have worked with incredible brands such as Dyson, Adidas, YSL Beauty, and combined modelling with content creation for a campaign with Glassons.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"OliviaOlivia Brown and Hunter Kawana at the New Zealand Fashion Week launch last year. Photo \/ Ruby Hamilton<\/p>\n

She has been a welcome addition to the Blues – and now All Blacks – partners and girlfriends, while Segner also fits in nicely with Kawana\u2019s friends, including content creators Cassandra Grodd and Olivia Moana, who sent black roses to the couple when Segner made the All Blacks. <\/p>\n

Ricardo Simich<\/a> has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Segner, 25, moved to New Zealand at 15 to pursue his rugby dreams, attending Nelson Boys High…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1443,13038,5263,95,53783,7022,1038,1866,134,20214,2936,15674,265415,2882,1885,1432,130,2720,111,139,69,5502,2952,228461,2953,2935,213,427,1961,2951,686],"class_list":["post-539123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-about","tag-advocate","tag-all","tag-and","tag-anton","tag-black","tag-brings","tag-find","tag-health","tag-hunter","tag-insider","tag-inspiring","tag-kawanas","tag-love","tag-mental","tag-model","tag-more","tag-mori","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-partner","tag-ricardo","tag-segner","tag-simich","tag-society","tag-sports","tag-story","tag-this","tag-town","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}