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Anh’s Brush with Fame: April 19

Family violence campaigner and 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty sits down for Anh Do this week.

Family violence campaigner and 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty is the subject this week on Anh’s Brush with Fame.

Growing up on a family farm in England, Rosie lost her mother when she was just six years old after a sudden illness, and recalls the last time she saw her.  Her grieving father struggled to comfort Rosie and her brothers, raising his children to be tough and independent.

After travelling to Australia, Rosie met Greg, a handsome colleague with whom she shared a brief on-again/off-again relationship until declaring it ‘unhealthy’ and breaking it off.  When their paths crossed again years later, Rosie found herself pregnant and facing the possibility of raising a child alone in her 40s.

Rosie describes the joy she felt in motherhood, and the bond she felt to the funny, beautiful Luke, who was scared of the dark and shared her bed.  Then the heart-wrenching moment when his father took it all away in an act of violence that set the nation reeling.

Since Luke’s death in 2014, Rosie has thrown herself into advocacy work, putting the issue of family violence on the national agenda to fill the unfillable void of Luke’s absence.  She fights to not let sadness consume her, seeing herself as having a brief moment in time to make a difference.

Anh commends Rosie for her dignity, her bright outlook and her apparent refusal to be defined by her unimaginable grief.  But how will Rosie respond to Anh’s portrayal of her, and what else does Anh have in store?

8pm Wednesday on ABC.

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