Allison Langdon is one of the best-known names – and faces – on Australian television.
She’s been at the helm of some of the Nine Network’s biggest news programs, from Today with Karl Stefanovic and 60 Minutes to her latest gig hosting the Logie-nominated A Current Affair.
It’s a fast-paced, hectic world Langdon lives in – from the early rises for breakfast TV and the intense pressure of investigative journalism to her recent coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
It’s tempting to say that in terms of a partner, only another journalist could understand the demands of that world – and fortunately for Langdon, she’s married to one who knows all about it.
Here’s what you need to know about Allison Langdon and her husband, Michael Willesee Jr.
Is Allison Langdon married?
Ally Langdon has been married to Michael Willesee Jr since 2008.
Willesee Jr is the son of TV royalty – his father is famed A Current Affair host Mike Willesee, who spent decades in the limelight as an esteemed journalist and news presenter.
Langdon had been single for two years when she met her husband-to-be in a bar on Sydney’s Oxford Street, and the attraction was instant.
The former Today and 60 Minutes host once recounted an awkward moment when they realised they had slightly different memories of the night they met.
Langdon had been regaling her friends with the tale of how she’d met Willesee Jr when he interrupted with a blunt fact check.
“’We were at a bar and this guy walked in and he had his red T-shirt and dark jeans and you just have that moment where you just have, like, an overwhelming physical attraction to someone’,” she told her friends.
“‘I just got hit by this’ … And I finished telling the story, blah blah, blah, and Mike interrupted me and said, ‘I’ve never owned a red T-shirt’.” Oops!
Langdon did admit in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald that a few drinks had been consumed on the night and her memories of the momentous occasion were a little hazy.
Two years later, the couple married in Noosa.
What has Allison Langdon said about her husband?
Langdon told 9Honey that she’d always remember Willesee’s face as she arrived for their wedding ceremony.
“I just remember getting out of the car, on dad’s arm, and just looking down and locking eyes with Mike,” she said.
“I think it’s just so overwhelming … thinking that all these people are here to celebrate the love that you have for this other person, and it was beautiful.”
What has Allison Langdon’s husband said about her?
In a rare interview about his personal life, Willesee Jr, also a journalist, told Daily Life he was awed by his wife’s work ethic.
”She’s the hardest worker I’ve ever seen, and I’ve worked in journalism for 25 years,” he said.
”That’s something that is overlooked when people view her success.”
Does Allison Langdon have children?
Yes, Allison Langdon and Mike Willesee Jr have two children.
Their son, Mack, was born in 2017 and their daughter, Scout, in 2019 – just two days after Mike Willessee Jr’s father passed away, making it a bittersweet arrival.
In her twenties, Langdon wasn’t sure she’d be able to pursue the career she wanted and have kids. She was 29 when she married Willesee Jr, and it wasn’t until she reached 36 that she started to get clucky.
“My husband and I got married when I was 29, and a year later I was appointed to 60 Minutes,” she told Future Women.
“And the reality of 60 Minutes is we spend six/seven months of the year on the road, often overseas, so that didn’t really fit in with having a baby. For a long time I sort of thought it was something that we wouldn’t do.
“I didn’t think I was missing out on anything. And then something just came over me when I was 36, and I thought hang on, I need to start thinking about this – am I okay if we don’t have children?
“And I kinda thought, I want to give this a crack.”
Over the years, Langdon has been opened about the rewards and difficulties of working parenthood, admitting it hasn’t always been easy.
“It’s really hard. I remember going to work one morning with Mack and I was trying to say to Mike, ‘Pass me the spoon’,” she told Bounty in 2020.
“But I couldn’t remember the word for spoon and I was getting really upset and crying, ‘My job is words and I’m about to do a 60 Minutes interview and I’m a terrible mum and I’m terrible at my job.’
“It can get so overwhelming.”
But for Langdon, it’s a wonderful type of chaos. Asked to describe a typical day in the Langdon/Willesee household, she once said: ”I’ll be trying to take one kid off to day care while my husband’s feeding the dog and we’re working out who’s picking up what from where.”
Sound familiar?
