Matty McLean has been a fixture on New Zealand screens for over a decade now, after first appearing on Breakfast as a 20-year-old - where he was made to sing live on camera by then-host Paul Henry.
But when Breakfast returned this year, not only is McLean now one of the main hosts on the daily show, he returned as a married man, after getting hitched on New Year’s Eve to his partner of six years, Ryan Teece.
“Every cliche in the book - truly the best day of our lives, it went by way too fast, we never got to talk to anyone, but we had so much fun,” he told Paula Bennett on her Herald podcast, Ask Me Anything.
While it was the third New Year’s Eve wedding he’d been to, it was the first time he’d ever attended a same-sex wedding.
“Isn’t it ridiculous? I dunno if I’m just hanging around with the wrong gays . . .”
It may not be that surprising though, considering only a decade has passed since same-sex marriage was legalised in New Zealand. It was a parliamentary process that McLean actually submitted to back in 2012, and he ended up fronting to the select committee to advocate for legalisation.
“It is a relatively short amount of time, 10 years, but also so much has happened in 10 years that sometimes you forget that actually, it really wasn’t that long ago that I wouldn’t have been able to stand up there and do that with the man that I loved,” McLean said.
Matty McLean and Ryan Teece officially tied the knot on New Year's Eve. Photo / Instagram
Growing up gay in small-town New Zealand, McLean said high school wasn’t the easiest experience for him, where the positive moments were undercut by comparing himself with other men and the way he saw himself.
“I think I was constantly comparing myself to other men and not thinking that I was as strong as them and having that kind of validated in my formative years as a teenager by people telling me that the way I was and the way I acted and the way I presented myself was bad or wrong. And so I think that really had an impact on me and more than I ever realised it did.”
All those feelings came crashing back when McLean went on Celebrity Treasure Island for the first time in 2019, where he was sidelined by his own team in favour of protecting the physically stronger members.
“It really brought back all of these emotions from my childhood, which I truly thought that I had moved past and didn’t care about any more. And all of a sudden I was really confronted head-on with the fact that actually, I don’t think I had dealt with it, and I don’t think I had processed it, and I still was obviously holding on to a lot of stuff from my earlier years that really came to the fore on a bloody deserted island in Fiji!”
Returning for his second go on Treasure Island: Fans v Faves, McLean said he doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone this time around, and is focusing on doing this for himself.
“I’ve been really lucky enough to have made an incredible group of friends. I’ve found a husband who loves me. I’ve been really lucky enough to have longevity in an industry that doesn’t often provide longevity for people. So yeah, clearly I’m doing something all right.”
Listen to the full podcast for more on Matty’s journey on Treasure Island, his advice for people wanting to stand up for themselves, and why being Paul Henry’s ‘whipping boy’ shaped him into the broadcaster he is today. You can watch Matty on Breakfast weekdays from 6am, on Treasure Island: Fans v Faves Mondays to Wednesdays at 7:30. He also hosts the official Treasure Island podcast.
Ask Me Anything is a NZ Herald podcast, hosted by Paula Bennett. New episodes are out every Sunday.
