You never know when your past will come back to haunt you, as Breakfast TV‘s Hayley Holt was reminded this morning after a hilarious live interview on the show.
Hayley was interviewing departing New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew about moving on at the end of the year when she changed tack, announcing: “Now it’s time for the tough questions… Who, in your opinion, is the greatest All Black of all time?”
She seemed to almost sense what was coming next and squirm in her seat as Tew began laughing mischievously.
“There’s no doubt, the person you know reasonably well is my choice,” he said. As her eyes rolled skyward and the rest of the Breakfast crew began laughing uproariously Tew continued, “Richie was a fantastic captain, and an outstanding athlete and the best All Black I saw play.”
With great humility, she allowed the hilarity at her expense to continue, asking, “How have you kept these players, such as the person I know quite well, in New Zealand?”
To which Tew gave an explanation about providing a great environment for the players, and great coaches.
Richie and Gemma McCaw in August, 2018. They welcomed their first child, Charlotte, two months after this image was taken.
Hayley and Richie McCaw famously dated for about two years and split in 2009.
When news broke in 2013 that Richie had started dating his now wife, Black Sticks player Gemma Flynn, Hayley was a radio co-host at More FM and took to the airwaves to offer some friendly advice.
“Well, she could say yes to the Christmas morning road bike ride,” Holt said.
She told listeners she had refused to join McCaw on his traditional festive bike rides.
“I had several opportunities, but basically I decided to stay in my pyjamas and drink champagne,” she laughed.
“Do you think that’s why the relationship ended?” her co-presenter Marc Ellis quipped. “You didn’t go on the bike ride, but stayed home and got boozed instead?”
“Oh, I think there were many reasons why that relationship ended!” Holt retorted.
Hayley has not been linked with any men since then, and last year opened up to NEXT magazine about the pressure she felt as a single woman in her 30s to be thinking about having children.
“Every single person wants to know what I’m doing with my womb at the moment… Because I am ‘of the age’… I guess it’s fear in a way, because there is a certain age that you have to make those decisions.”
She revealed she had looked into freezing her eggs but decided against it and to revisit making the decision again later.
“I was having a discussion with my mum about it the other day, and we both sort of got a little bit teary,” she told NEXT.
“Her especially, because she knows what it’s like to be a mother. She’s my mum, and she doesn’t want me to be upset or have something taken away from me [if I don’t have children]. But if that’s how it’s meant to go, then I’ll work out a way to deal with it.”
Hayley has also been open in recent years about her struggles with alcohol and her decision to become sober.
