Enjoying the fame she found late in life on Gogglebox Australia, Di Kershaw happily posed for selfies with fans of the programme.
In her 77 years she liked a lot: shopping, trashy gossip magazines, fashion and kombucha and vodka on the rocks in a wine glass.
But, as mourners heard at the part-time TV star’s funeral in Sydney on Friday, she was mostly dear to her husband Mick, children Alex and Victoria and six-year-old grandson Harvey.
For those who only knew Di from Gogglebox, she was the stylishly dressed master of destruction as she and Mick dissected TV shows on her couch.
Gogglebox star Di Kershaw was seen off at a funeral at Sydney’s Garrison Church in Millers Point. Her husband and fellow Goggleboxer Mick Kershaw is pictured at the service
Mick and Di Kershaw had been looking forward to curling up on the couch for the latest season of Gogglebox Australia, which began filming this month. Di’s death from stomach cancer on July 22nd means Mick will not be appearing on the show again without her
In his eulogy, Alex spoke about his parents’ love affair, which began on the Northern Beaches when Mick was 20 and Di was 17. “Mick and Di were absolute sweethearts,” Alex said
The art dealer couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last Thursday and have been together for 60 years.
Mick and Di have been on Gogglebox since season one in 2015 and were among the most recognizable participants in the Channel 10 Foxtel program.
Diane Lesley Kershaw died of stomach cancer on July 22 at the age of 77 and chose to bid farewell in a simple wooden coffin at Garrison Church in Millers Point.
Son Alex, 45, and daughter Victoria, 43, came to the Anglican service to celebrate a life well-lived with their 80-year-old father.
In his eulogy, Alex spoke about his parents’ love affair, which began on the Northern Beaches when Mick was 20 and Di was just 17.
“Mick and Di were absolute sweethearts,” Alex said.
Di’s son Alex (second adult from left) and daughter Victoria (above) came to the Anglican service to celebrate a life well-lived with their 80-year-old father (far right).
Alex Kershaw said Mick and Di did everything together – Sunday night movies, travelling, collecting art – and got out more times during the week than most of his hipster students.
After much courtship, they married in 1967, the same year Johnny Cash and June Carter released the classic country song Jackson.
“They got married in a fever hotter than a pepper sprout,” Alex said, quoting the opening lyrics of the hit single.
The arts professor described how Mick and Di did everything together – Sunday night movies, travelling, collecting art – and going out more nights a week than most of his hipster students.
“Di’s friends all know she knew how to throw a damn good party,” he said.
Alex recalled how his mother liked a glass of red wine — as Gogglebox viewers would know — “but she didn’t care if it was a $10 bottle or a $100 bottle.”
She was a woman who disliked fools and could ruthlessly ignore anyone who stood in her way, but cared deeply for those she loved.
A choir sang Abide with Me, Amazing Grace and Let it Be at the end of the service
Mick, 80, told Chron Australia that Di, 77, became ill around three months ago when she started having trouble keeping food down. She spent nine weeks at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst in central Sydney and her last fortnight at Sacred Heart Hospice
“She liked being in control, and she wasn’t particularly happy when she wasn’t,” Alex said.
The service heard Di was an extrovert who stood out in any crowd. She didn’t watch the evening news, believed in astrology, and “arranged” food instead of cooking it.
She had always seemed indestructible.
Alex shared a series of anecdotes that encapsulated his mother’s character from all stages of her life.
A natural beauty who had modeled as a teenager, Di described herself before meeting Mick as “an uncatchable girl from Newport”.
She was expelled from school at 15 after being found at an art students’ ball in the old Trocadero dance hall on George Street.
A natural beauty who had modeled as a teenager, Di described herself before meeting Mick as “a girl from Newport who couldn’t be caught”. Mick is pictured on the far right
“The cancer spread and was inoperable,” said Mick. “The only alternative to that was chemo or radiation, but she was far too weak to endure it. Di can be seen in the bottom row, second from right, with the cast of Gogglebox Australia
On a trip to San Francisco in 1976, she was approached by singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who wanted to buy the Victorian nightgown she was wearing. Di told her she couldn’t have it.
“Life is for living,” she used to say.
“There was a vitality that could be described as infectiously effervescent,” Alex said. “She was a warrior queen who did her words.”
Being asked to appear on Gogglebox had been a chance to find a new kind of fun in old age, which she and Mick wholeheartedly embraced.
“She loved being on Gogglebox,” Alex said.
Being asked to appear on Gogglebox had been a chance to find a new kind of fun in old age, which she and Mick wholeheartedly embraced. “She loved being on Gogglebox,” said son Alex
Mick and Di were approached by a production scout for EndemolShine at a cocktail party for the opening of an art exhibition in Paddington to be on the show.
The pair were unfamiliar with the original UK Gogglebox, but the scout saw they had something together that would appeal to audiences of a local version.
Mick and Di didn’t think long about the suggestion. They had sold their Indigenous art galleries in Darlinghurst and Cairns and had some free time in semi-retirement.
The couple became close with the production staff, who invited them into their lounge, welcomed births and attended a member’s wedding.
They had been looking forward to getting back on the couch to appear on the next season of Gogglebox, which airs August 25.
Di spent nine weeks at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst in central Sydney and the last two weeks at Sacred Heart Hospice next door.
Di kept her terminal diagnosis a secret from everyone but those closest to the art dealer couple. The former model, who couldn’t eat and was on intravenous feeding, spent her final days with her family
Di kept her terminal diagnosis a secret from everyone but those closest to the family. “She was strong-willed and she was brave,” Alex said.
“Mick will sure miss being bossed around.” She “gave the lip” to the end.
Mick previously told the Chron Australia that Di’s cancer was inoperable and she had decided to stop being fed intravenously.
“Part of that decision was thinking of us,” he said. “A big part of that decision didn’t mean to do that to us.”
Filming for the next season of Gogglebox began earlier this month and Mick said he wouldn’t do the show without Di: “We were a couple”.
Di Kershaw was awarded the 2020 Order of Australia Medal for services to the visual arts