“Why didn’t you marry? Why haven’t you married?”
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been asked a series of cringe-worthy personal questions, including on her decision to not marry her partner, in what was billed an "exclusive" prime-time interview with veteran journalist Ray Martin.
The award-winning journalist asked Ms Gillard the volley of personal questions in the first half of the interview.
Martin questioned whether Labor Party "strategists" had asked her to get married "to help things along" and when she replied "no", he followed it up with "Why didn't you marry, why haven't you married?"
"It’s just the right decision for us and the right decision for me. I am an atheist, I’m not a person of faith, and so I don’t think about marriage in that religious sense," Ms Gillard replied.
Earlier, Martin asked questions about Ms Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson's profession as a hairdresser, and whether her life would have been easier if he was a "lawyer or banker".
Ms Gillard replied, "Would we think it was quite so odd if a male Prime Minister or a male chief executive officer of a big bank or whatever had a wife who worked as a hairdresser?"
"Would we think that was really, really odd? 'Why on earth did he marry her? She’s a hairdresser!'"
"I just don’t think it would occur to us. I think it was the gender thing a bit."
During Ms Gillard's political career some media outlets used Mathieson's occupation as a hairdresser and the couple's decision not to marry to call into question their relationship.
Martin also asked whether Ms Gillard was bothered by "the sisterhood" criticising her fashion choices, such as when Germaine Greer joked about her body shape and choice of jackets.
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