Iron Mike's magic milestone: ‘I'M FINALLY IN A GOOD SPACE!'

Fighting fit at 55, the Newshup Presenter is getting by with a little help from his friends

- Leena Tailor.

Racing across the Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand finish line alongside his Newshub colleague Ryan Bridge and Six60 rocker Chris Mac, Mike McRoberts felt jubilant relief. The event marked a belated celebration of the TV star’s 55th birthday and unexpectedly placing eighth in the race was yet another sign of how life couldn’t be better as he sails into the second half of his sixth decade on this planet.

After finding new love following his marriage breakup, Mike has recently moved into a new West Auckland home and is proud to say he has two children studying double degrees. And this month, he’ll mark 20 years of presenting the news with Three – a milestone that would’ve been unthinkable to a teenage Mike, whose stutter saw him spending years hiding away in the library, “the only place talking was discouraged”, and pretending not to know answers in class to avoid speaking aloud.

“If you’d said to me or my family that one day I’d read the six o’clock news, they would’ve fallen about laughing,” Mike tells Woman’s Day. “Your voice is so important for expressing yourself and if you’re a creative person, it’s torture. I became good at hiding and trying not to talk, which was a killer. And we had no money growing up, so I just learned to deal with it myself by slowing things down and getting control.

“In retrospect, it made me who I am. I became a good listener and formulated things in my mind before saying them – which is great for live crosses!”