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: “I really wore that sense of protection. I was like a tigress.”
Back then, at the height of her fame as the neurotic, fabulous Offspring obstetrician Nina, Keddie was “scratchy” about the privacy of her family, which included a then-toddler son. “Psychologically, I’ve gone through a reasonable amount of growth over the last 10 years,” she says, “and been able to maintain my own peace, if that makes sense.”
At 51, she’s spun a storied career playing complex, resilient women (Fake, Strife) into a second act as a producer while also running a “full-on” household in a Melbourne bayside suburb. Now, while she feels the same “crazy love” as ever for her artist husband Vincent Fantauzzo, 49, and sons Luca, 16, and Valentino, 11, Keddie’s also finding time for self-care.
“All three guys I live with are robust, and I’ve always piled into that energy willingly,” says the former ballerina, whose showbiz debut was in a dancewear ad. “But I’ve found that can cost me.” These days, she says, “I’ve found some autonomy in the big kind of chaotic mess that it was.”
One thing that seems not to have changed a jot is Keddie’s appearance. Skin like a bowl of cream, blonde hair artfully undone, she’s casually chic in a Blanca striped shirt and Mother skinny jeans. “I think I look pretty good for 51,” says Keddie, whose sharper focus on looking after herself includes her first collaboration with a beauty brand.
The two-time 2026 AACTA Award nominee is the newest brand partner for Australia and New Zealand for L’Oréal Paris, whose marketing director Nadia Adelina saw the star’s championing of gender equality and telling women’s stories as mirroring “commitment to elevating the role of women in society”.
Aligning herself with a global community alongside Jane Fonda, Viola Davis and Gillian Anderson, says Keddie, “just felt like the right fit and something I really felt compelled to do and talk about right now – beauty standards and the importance of challenging stereotypes”.
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. “Right?” says Keddie, whose career-long adherence to an unvarnished, minimal aesthetic resonates with midlife women battling unrealistic expectations of youth. “That’s precisely why the partnership with L’Oréal felt like an authentic choice.”
One of two daughters raised by teachers Robi and James Keddie, she says she was “very self-conscious” about the way she looked while growing up in Melbourne. Ironically, being on camera constantly for work helped because she “didn’t have time” to worry about her appearance.
Fast-forward to her sixth decade and Keddie sees and feels beauty “as much more all-encompassing than what my face or body looks like. And that is an extraordinary relief. I mean, it’s all just such a waste of energy,” she says. She calls the L’Oréal Paris tagline “you’re worth it” a life mantra, “especially for women of my age because we are bloody worth it. The authenticity of the message is really compelling.”
Why? “That’s where I am in life. It’s taken a hell of a long time for me to embrace self-worth, and I really believe it now. I’m comfortable looking at myself in the mirror.”
Comfortable enough to spurn injectables or cosmetic treatments, especially in an industry which really cares about looks? Yes, says Keddie. While she “has no judgment whatsoever” 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.
“It’s about embracing the self-care, not just wanting to enhance myself physically,” says Keddie. “I feel good about the choices I’ve 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’ve led. I’m proud of it.”
It’s just after 11am and Keddie has had a “normal” morning – 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’s “been in a bit of a cave”, stepping away from shooting to work with Papandrea on the TV production of Sally Hepworth’s novel The Soulmate.
“I did feel like I was keeping everything on the rails then. That was a burden I feel I placed on myself.”
Asher Keddie on juggling motherhood and her acting career
The beauty of producing, says Keddie, is that she can still experience the “creativity I absolutely need” while doing school runs and divvying up with Fantauzzo the job of getting their boys to soccer seven days a week. “It’s non-stop every day because they’re very athletic kids who need to move all the time. And they eat non-stop.”
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’s Choice Award.
Two years later, in 2014, they wed on Fiji’s Turtle Island. Part of the deal from the start was Luca, Fantauzzo’s son from a previous relationship. “There was no courtship or alone time when we met because Luca was there,” says Keddie. “I fell in love with that little boy at the same time.”
Valentino’s 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 – and it took a toll.
“I did feel like I was keeping everything on the rails then. That was a burden I feel I placed on myself,” she says, admitting that she battled the urge to find “solutions for everybody I love, but actually, it’s not good for anybody”. Now, with Luca and Val finding independence, Keddie “is trying to suppress that need to do everything for them. I’m sure this is very normal for mums.”
Just as she did a decade ago, Keddie lights up when talking about being a mum of boys: “I can’t imagine it being any other way.” Even the family dog, an American Staffy called Sandro, is male: “He’s gorgeous and follows me around all day. He’s mama’s boy.”
Because in the past she “overworked in life, in relationships, in motherhood, in my professional life”, Keddie’s self-care mission means she’s “unapologetic” about her requirements for staying on an even keel: “I need space. Calm. Sleep.”
Living with the autoimmune disease lupus means Keddie eats very well. “I know what works for my body and I stick to it. I have avocado on toast every morning, for example.” She’s also had the same enviable sleep routine since childhood. She’s in bed every night by 9pm to meditate and read, dropping off “effortlessly” and sleeping for a solid nine or 10 hours. “It’s a gift, really!”
The golden thread running through it all is Keddie and Fantauzzo’s marriage. Like the star herself, that’s evolved from what they’ve called an “instant connection” to something Keddie describes as “very intentional”.
“We’re really choosing each other, warts and all. I wouldn’t say it’s a relief to have been with someone for this long and really know who they are. It’s a privilege. Especially for people like Vinnie and I, who are both fairly self-protective and hypersensitive.”
Keddie’s voice wobbles a bit. “It’s making me emotional,” she says. “I’m 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’s a good place to be.”
What’s their secret? “We don’t do pretend, Vinnie and I, which can make for confronting moments. But that’s the relationship,” she says. “It’s definitely true that we’ve reached a point where only honesty will do.” If they’re together in 30 years’ time, “we still won’t be drawing breath. There’s no lack of conversation!”
Looking back to her 30s and 40s, Keddie says she “wasted a lot of energy trying to force things to happen or not recognising when things had had their day. As I’ve really gotten to know myself, things are unfolding with far more ease.”
With her brand collaboration, production work and strong family ties, “this is certainly, for many different reasons, the richest time of my life”.
And this is certainly not an aloof woman.
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