Nene Claire King is an Australian journalist. She is the former editor of some of Australia's women's magazines, including ''

Woman's Day ''Woman's Day'' is an American women's monthly magazine that covers such topics as homemaking, food, nutrition, physical fitness, physical attractiveness, and fashion. The print edition is one of the Seven Sisters magazines. The magazine was f ...

'', ''

New Idea ''New Idea'' is a long-running Australian weekly magazine aimed at women that is published by Are Media. History The magazine was first published in 1902 by Fitchett Bros. The founder was Thomas Shaw Fitchett. It was subtitled A Women's Home Jou ...

'' and '' Women's Weekly''.

Early life

Nene Claire King was born in March 1943 in Melbourne to a Jewish family. Her parents were Lionel Louvain King (died 1996) and Emilie Rebecca Myers (1916–2008) and she has an older brother, Peter (Snowy). She was educated in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at the Methodist Ladies' College.

Career

King started in a publishing firm and was offered a role in front of the camera in a series of interviews. She froze on-screen, and it was decided that King would be better behind the scenes. After some work in Hong Kong, she came back to Australia and worked on ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' newspaper. Working as chief reporter on the women's magazine ''New Idea'' awakened her love of magazines which eventually drew her into being the editor. King is credited with turning the circulation of ''Woman's Day'' around. When she took the helm as editor, the magazine's circulation was 680,000 and within a short time, the circulation had boosted to over a million, outselling the top magazine, ''New Idea''. King eventually became the first female board member of

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

's company

Publishing and Broadcasting Limited Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) was one of Australia's largest corporations. With interests primarily in media and gambling, for the entirety of its existence it was largely controlled by the Packer family. History Predecessors PB ...

Addiction

On the edition of 12 June 2007 of ''

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befo ...

'' on Australia's Channel 7, King revealed she is addicted to prescription medication and has recently been to rehab to cure addictions to illicit drugs.

Personal life

King has one sibling, her older brother, Peter.

Peter FitzSimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement sin ...

wrote King's biography ''Nene King'' in 2002. King wrote her autobiography, entitled ''Nene''. In February 2010, King claimed she was facing ruin after a disastrous falling out with associates was set to cost her more than $1 million. The matter went before Melbourne's County Court in February 2016. On 12 February 2016, an associate was found not guilty of defrauding King. King has been married three times. In 1993, she married her third husband, Patrick Bowring, a rock journalist and diver. Bowring disappeared while wreck diving in May 1996, a month after King's father Lionel also died. Her mother Emily died in April 2008. King has admitted to using alcohol to "bury" her problems. She also admits to having smoked marijuana. The former editor of ''

'' and ''

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by ...

'' magazines, told ''The Sunday Telegraph'' that she faced losing her home to pay her debts. She currently lives in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

, Victoria, and writes a weekly

agony aunt An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...

column for ''New Idea''. In June 2013, Australian actor Mandy McElhinney played King in the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

television mini-series '' Paper Giants: Magazine Wars'', a sequel to '' Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Nene Living people Australian magazine editors Women magazine editors Australian memoirists Australian journalists 1943 births People from Melbourne Australian Jews People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne