Matt Shirvington made the “life-changing” discovery he was going to be a dad while living away in London.
The Sunrise co-host’s wife Jessica Shirvington delivered the “amazing news” around 18 years ago, leading to the big decision of whether to stay overseas or return home to Australia.
“We were living in London doing our own thing and we’d always planned to have a family but it was just an amazing surprise,” he tells 7Life ahead of his 17th Father’s Day.
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“It was a game changer for us because we were living in London and, although we had kind of had family come and go over there, we were away from home.”
Ultimately, the couple chose to welcome their elder daughter, Sienna, overseas, remaining there until Jess was expecting their second child.
“Sienna was about two years old and Jess was actually pregnant when we came home and we had our second baby here in Australia,” Shirvo explains.
Today the proud parents have three children – Sienna, 17, Winnie, 15 and Lincoln, five.
Acknowledging the age gap with their youngest, Shirvo says it’s a “different dynamic in our family, but a great one”.
While welcoming a new child always comes with its own adjustment, the seasoned dad says Sienna’s arrival changed the family “completely”.
He explained that they went “from being a couple to having someone else in your life that you have to look after”.
“After that it’s kind of like, ‘Well, we’ve done this before we can do it again’… It’s pretty special.”
Shirvo had a similar upbringing to his son Lincoln, growing up with older sisters himself.
The TV star was used to living in a girl household during his upbringing, and when his two daughters were younger.
But things changed when Lincoln came along in 2018.
“I mean, boys age differently and they do things differently. They have an approach to life that is just a bit different to girls,” he says.
“Girls have their own way of doing things, and I love having young girls, and love raising Lincoln as well at the same time.”
Shirvo says there has been beauty in his girls being able to “consciously know how we parent” by watching how Lincoln is raised.
“I love, at the moment, how my older daughters are now kind of taking responsibility for looking after him at times,” the dad says.
“It’s kind of given them something else in a way of another life lesson to understand and to consciously know how we parent as well.”
Reflecting on his 17 years of fatherhood, Shirvo says watching his kids grow up and finding their life passions has been what he loves most.
“I’ve watched my kids grow up and see them have a passion for something and invest themselves and love something so much,” he shares.
“As a parent, you’d do anything to allow them to do it and allow that to blossom.
“That’s the bit that really gets me.”
Sienna has found a love for the arts, Winnie loves sports and, although Lincoln is “still finding his passion”, he recently had a successful season of junior soccer.
Despite both Shirvo and Jess working busy jobs, the TV host says his family is “surprisingly” close.
“We’re all very close and very open and spend a lot of time together and enjoy spending a lot of time together,” he says.
“In this day and age, there are so many pressures of work and you know, not necessarily having enough time together, and it’s definitely a priority of ours as a family unit.
“We’re lucky in a way.”
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