Maggie Tabberer

Tabberer was born the youngest of five to Alfred and Molly Trigar in Parkside, South Australia. At the age of 14, while attending her sister's wedding, she was spotted by a photographer and as a result was offered her first modelling job, a one-off assignment. In her early twenties she attended a modelling school and at the age of 23 was discovered by photographer Helmut Newton who mentored her and launched her successful modelling career. While living in Melbourne in 1960, she won the Model of the Year award and then moved to Sydney to take advantage of modelling opportunities there. She chose to end her modelling career at the age of 25 after beginning to lose her slim figure.^[1]

Tabberer stayed well-connected to the fashion industry, however. In 1967 she started a public relations company, Maggie Tabberer & Associates, which took on many fashion-related clients and assignments. In 1981, she launched a plus-size clothing label called Maggie T.^[2] Tabberer is the brand's ambassador but does not have a stake in the company.^[3]

A portrait of her by Australian artist Paul Newton was a finalist in the 1999 Archibald Prize.

Tabberer began working in publishing when she wrote a fashion column, "Maggie Says", for The Daily Mirror newspaper in Sydney in 1963. She remained with the paper for 16 years, until billionaire Kerry Packer asked her to become fashion editor of Australian Women's Weekly magazine in 1981. She soon became the public face of the magazine, frequently appearing on its cover and in television advertising. Tabberer stayed with the magazine for 15 years until 1996.^[1]

Tabberer began appearing on television in 1964, as one of the "beauties" on the panel talk show Beauty and the Beast (the "beast" being the show's host, Eric Baume, until 1965 and then Stuart Wagstaff). Her appearances on Beauty and the Beast made her a household name and she later began hosting her own daily chat show, Maggie, for which she won two consecutive Gold Logies in 1970 and 1971.^[1] She was the first person to win consecutive awards, although Graham Kennedy had already won three non-consecutive Gold Logies by 1970.

Since 2005, she has hosted her own television interview show, Maggie ... At Home With, on Australian pay TV channel Bio. (formerly the Biography Channel). On her show she "visits the homes of various Australian celebrities and elites to discuss their lives, careers, tragedies, and triumphs".^[4]

Tabberer took her surname from her first husband, Charles Tabberer, whom she married at the age of 17. They had two daughters, Brooke and Amanda. The demands of her modelling career, however, saw that marriage end after seven years.^[5]

After moving to Sydney with her daughters in 1960, Tabberer was introduced by Helmut Newton to Ettore Prossimo, an Italian restaurateur, whom she married in 1967. In that same year, Tabberer gave birth to their son, Francesco, who died of sudden infant death syndrome when 10 days old. The pair separated after 17 years of marriage, although they rekindled their friendship before Prossimo's death from a heart attack in 1996.^[5]

In 1985, Tabberer announced that she was in a relationship with journalist Richard Zachariah. The couple co-presented a lifestyle television series, The Home Show, on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1990 to 1995 when they separated.^[5]

In the Queen's Birthday Honours, Tabberer was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the community, particularly through her support for charitable organisations and the advancement of the Australian fashion industry.^[6]

• Maggie Tabberer at IMDb
• Maggie Tabberer AM, Harry M. Miller Management
• Tabberer, Maggie at The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia