Sarah Wilson (born 8 January 1974) is an Australian

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

blogger A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

media consultant A media consultant is a marketing agent or public relations executive that is hired by businesses or political candidates to obtain positive press coverage. Media consultants usually draft press releases to highlight positive achievements of a ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of ''I Quit Sugar''.

Early life and education

Wilson grew up in the bush outside Canberra, ACT with five younger siblings. She owned her first business at the age of 12 or 13, selling library-book bags, brooches, and gift cards. She has a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, politics, gender studies and law from

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

which she undertook between 1992 and 1997. She also completed an online course with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and describes herself as a health coach.

Career

Wilson's first job as a journalist was as a restaurant reviewer for

News Ltd News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television prod ...

's ''Sunday Magazine''. At age 25 she had a weekly

opinion column An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted aud ...

in News Ltd's ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

''.

Media roles

She was the editor of Australian ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine from February 2003 to December 2007. During her time at the magazine, she interviewed former Australian Prime Ministers

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

and

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

, and entered the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

by staging the World's Biggest Bikini Shoot at

Bondi Beach Bondi Beach () is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of ...

. During this time she was also the fashion editor of Channel Nine's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' show. Wilson's first host role as a television presenter came in 2009 as the host of ''

MasterChef Australia ''MasterChef Australia'' is an Australian competitive cooking reality show based on the original British ''MasterChef (British TV series), MasterChef''. It is produced by Endemol Shine Australia and screens on Network 10. Restaurateur and ch ...

''. After she left the program, her role was not replaced and a

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

spokesman, David Mott stated; "Sarah has an impressive background with abilities that far outweighed her duties on the show." From 2009 until the end of 2011, Wilson wrote more than 130 weekly columns that appeared in Sunday Life, a magazine lift-out in the Australian

Sun-Herald Sun-Herald may refer to: * ''The Sun-Herald'', the Sunday edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', a newspaper based in Sydney, Australia * ''Sun Herald'', a newspaper based in Biloxi, Mississippi See also * ''Herald Sun'', in Melbourne, Australi ...

newspaper in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Her columns focused on the wellness movement, productivity and lifestyle simplicity - themes which are also explored in her blog. Wilson later became the face and program developer for

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

's Lifestyle YOU channel. She hosted the show ''Eat Yourself Sexy'', a nutrition and wellness makeover program that screened on Foxtel in late 2011.

I Quit Sugar

Wilson is known for her ''I Quit Sugar'' books. After she resigned from ''Cosmopolitan'' and returned to freelancing and weekly columns, she wrote about experimentally quitting sugar for a week. As she explains in ''First, We Make the Beast Beautiful'' she subsequently wrote the

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

, ''I Quit Sugar: an 8-week program''. Sales were good, with reportedly more than 100,000 copies sold in Australia. The e-book spawned a hard copy book and then several recipe books, eating programs and supermarket products, leading to a business based around reducing sugar consumption. The business employed 23 staff, and her online community had more than 2.3 million people. Along with fellow Australian journalist

Peter FitzSimons Peter John FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and was the chair of the Australian Republic Movement from 2015 to 20 ...

, Wilson has been vocal about reducing Australians' sugar intake and leading a more active healthy active lifestyle. Wilson's views about sugar and some of her recipes have drawn criticism from some dietitians and commentators, and her qualifications as a "health coach" have been criticised as being insufficient to allow her to provide dietary advice. Stating that her intention was never to build up a business empire and make money, Wilson announced the closure of her ''I Quit Sugar'' business in February 2018 and is now pursuing other entrepreneurial activities and charity work.

Vaccination comments

In April 2013, Wilson was criticised for statements she made on the morning variety show ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

'', where she claimed the evidence for the safety and efficacy of

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an ag ...

was "not conclusive". ''

Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegr ...

'' journalist Jane Hansen condemned Wilson's comments, writing "if you are going to hang yourself out there as a voice on healthy living, you have to be informed." Wilson responded on Twitter that she was not against vaccinations and had been asked for the arguments that the

anti-vaccination movement Anti-vaccine activism, which collectively constitutes the "anti-vax" movement, is a set of organized activities expressing opposition to vaccination, and these collaborating networks have often sought to increase vaccine hesitancy by dissem ...

presented, rather than her personal views.

Books

* ''I Quit Sugar'', Pan Macmillan (2012) * ''First, We Make The Beast Beautiful'' (2017) * ''This One Wild and Precious Life: A Hopeful Path Forward in a Fractured World'' (2020)

Personal life

Wilson lives between Paris and Sydney. She was diagnosed with an

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated tha ...

Hashimoto's thyroiditis Hashimoto's thyroiditis, also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, Hashimoto's disease and autoimmune thyroiditis, is an autoimmune disease in which the thyroid gland is gradually destroyed. Early on, symptoms may not be noticed. Over ti ...

in 2008, and lives with

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

and

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Sarah Living people Anti-sugar activists Australian television presenters Australian women television presenters Australian food writers Australian magazine editors Australian women magazine editors Place of birth missing (living people) Australian National University alumni 1974 births Australian non-fiction writers People with bipolar disorder