Don Burke’s wife of nearly five decades has long managed the TV gardener’s business and was instrumental to Burke’s Backyard’s runaway success in the 90s.
Burke, 70, described Marea as his ‘soul mate’ in an emotional interview about her health troubles with Nine’s A Current Affair program more than two years ago.
The couple now face a new battle amid claims – slammed as ‘untrue’ by Burke – of sexual harassment by the prominent garden guru.
The bombshell claims were published by Fairfax Media and the ABC on Monday morning, with Burke engaging experienced defamation lawyer Patrick George.
It is not suggested that Marea had any previous knowledge of the claims about Don Burke until the making of the claims now.
‘Crucial to our success’: TV gardener Don Burke, of Burke’s Backyard fame, with his wife of close to four decades, Marea, in October 2014
TV legend Don Burke has been accused of sexually harassing female colleagues. He is pictured with accuser Louise Langdon
Bridget Ninness (right), a former producer on Burke’s Backyard, described her boss as a ‘vile human being’
Marea – described as ‘crucial’ to her ‘showpony’ husband’s success – was believed to be by her husband’s side as the controversy blew out into the open this week.
A woman who answered a landline number for the family at the weekend said the couple had gone away together but anticipated returning on Monday.
Marea has kept a low public profile throughout her husband’s career, with the pair speaking out in an interview with A Current Affair two-and-a-half years ago.
‘When I met Marea, I thought this is for keeps….’ Don said.
The couple met during a public debate – with Don joking Marea looked like a ‘nun’. ‘He said, I was wearing white, he said I looked like a nun,’ Marea told interviewer Tracey Grimshaw.
Grimshaw asked: ‘You thought because she looked like a nun she’d be a challenge.’
Amused, Burke said: ‘Yes, I’m sure that was the case. A lot of girls I’d met, it was difficult to have a good conversation with them.
‘But the moment Marea and I met we were on the same level… I thought thank god, I met a girl you can make your best friend’.
Newlyweds: A fresh-faced Burke and his wife are pictured in a supplied photograph
‘I was the showpony but she ran the company,’ Burke said in the interview with A Current Affair
‘She organised the whole thing, dealt with the staff, turned vague ideas into reality.’
Burke said: ‘I was the showpony but she ran the company.
‘She organised the whole thing, dealt with the staff, turned vague ideas into reality.’
In the interview, Don described Marea as his ‘soul-mate’ and said ‘for all the dreadful times I’ve been through i think it has brought us much closer together’.
A home among the gum trees: TV gardener Burke (file photo, 2009)
The program recounted Marea’s health struggles, including her diagnosis with Arteriovenous Malformation – a collection of blood vessels similar to varicose veins which formed atop her brain, requiring major surgery on her head.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and was said to be in remission at the time of the program.
The couple have two children and live at a sprawling bushland estate in Kenthurst, in Sydney’s Hills District.
In their interview, Marea told host Tracy Grimshaw she believed the couple had grown closer because of their struggles.
‘I suppose we are closer in that I need him to be there in case I do fall down the steps because Don does a lot now, that perhaps he wouldn’t have’.