She’s set to make her highly-anticipated return to TV screens on Sunday night, after a three month break.
And on the eve of her debut on The Project, Lisa Wilkinson has appeared on the cover of Stellar magazine, looking jovial and rejuvenated after spending the holiday season at home with her family.
The 58-year-old wears a patent black skirt, chiffon blouse and a collection of gold jewellery for the occasion, clutching her short brunette locks with a wide grin on her mouth.
‘It was something I’d been thinking about for months’: Former Today star Lisa Wilkinson looks sensational on the cover of Stellar as she prepares for The Project debut
Inside the publication Lisa changes into a tutu style skirt and one sleeved black top, lightly resting her arm on a bent knee.
She opened up about her controversial exit from the Channel Nine breakfast show she worked at the helm at for over a decade, saying it wasn’t a surprising decision.
‘It was something I’d been thinking about for a couple of months, and very seriously,’ she said.
‘The timing was just right. Publicly, it may have seemed like it happened very quickly, but it was something I was seriously contemplating. Then everything just fell into place.’
She’s ready to come back! Inside the publication Lisa changes into a tutu style skirt and one sleeved black top, lightly resting her arm on a bent knee
Moving up: Lisa, who walked away from Today in October last year, was immediately offered the position as a panelist on Network Ten’s The Project
Lisa, who walked away from Today in October last year, was immediately offered the position as a panelist on Network Ten’s The Project.
She will join Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly and Peter Helliar on the table come Sunday evening.
The interview also saw the veteran journalist open up about her good friend and former colleague Georgie Gardner, who took over her position beside Karl Stefanovic.
The 58-year-old is nothing but supportive of the quick-witted Georgie, but believes there’s nothing she can say to the 46-year-old that she doesn’t already know.
‘She did the show for five years, she doesn’t need advice from me,’ Lisa told Stellar.
‘She did the show for five years, she doesn’t need advice from me’: Former Today star Lisa Wilkinson declines to offer any words of wisdom to incoming co-host Georgie Gardner
The journalist made global news last year when she quit the Today show after she failed to achieve pay parity with co-host Karl Stefanovic.
It’s no secret that Lisa saw the 6.30pm start as a huge perk of her new role at The Project.
She reminded Stellar of that fact when they asked her if she’d be watching Georgie on the Today show every morning.
She’s got this! On Sunday, former Today host Lisa, said she’s nothing but supportive of her former colleague, but believes there’s nothing she can say to Georgie that she doesn’t already know
Predicting her chances of tuning-in to the breakfast talk show, the mother-of-three joked: ‘It depends on whether I wake up in time.’
Lisa’s husband Peter FitzSimons famously referenced his wife’s struggles with early morning starts when approached for comment on her resignation last year.
The morning after she made her big announcement, Peter was stopped by media on his way out, while Lisa was nowhere to be seen.
Does Lisa wake up with Today? Predicting her chances of tuning-in the program she co-hosted for a decade, the mother-of-three joked: ‘It depends on whether I wake up in time’
Explaining her absence, the 56-year-old happily revealed: ‘She’s having the best sleep in she’s had in 10 years!’
Lisa served as the breakfast program’s co-host for a decade, also fronting the annual Carols in the Domain broadcast every Christmas Eve.
When asked if Channel Ten had more plans for her, she told Stellar: ‘[The Project] is my number-one focus, because before I move into anything else, I am going to get this right.’
‘I am going to get this right’: Lisa is now preparing to premiere on her first episode of The Project on Sunday night, a role she insists is her ‘number-one focus’