Richard Stephen WilkinsAM (born 19 June 1954) is a New Zealand–born Australian television and radio presenter. He is the entertainment editor for the Nine Network and weekend announcer on smoothfm.
Early life and music career
Wilkins was born in New Zealand on 19 June 1954, where he graduated from teachers' college, majoring in English and music. Using the name "Richard Wilde", he became an aspiring pop singer. PolyGram signed him to a worldwide deal.[1]
In 1980, he brought his band Wilde And Reckless to Australia. He released some singles and a six-track EP, and toured with Grace Jones. He left the music industry to work behind the scenes as Promotions and Marketing Manager for Sydney radio stations 2Day FM and 2UW. He was part of the Australian Olympians' group which released the top-30 single "You're Not Alone".
In 2006, he returned to the stage for his role as Vince Fontaine in the mega-production "Grease: the Arena Spectacular".
Television and radio career
Along with Joy Smithers and Alison Drower, Wilkins was the original host of MTV Australia when it launched on Nine in 1987.
Wilkins has been the Nine's Network's Entertainment editor and presented daily features and interviews in showbusiness from around the world. He has also presented the Nine Network's coverage of The Academy Awards, The Golden Globe Awards, ARIA Awards and many other special events.
Reporting live on the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson on 26 June 2009, Wilkins erroneously reported the death of actor Jeff Goldblum on Today, although later in the program this was verified as a hoax.[2][3]
In September 2011, he released his autobiography Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms, co-written with Carrie Hutchinson, which went on to be a bestseller.
In May 2012, Wilkins started on smoothfm. He is the host of weekend Mornings (10am – 1pm) on smoothfm 91.5 in Melbourne and smoothfm 95.3 in Sydney.[4]
In 2017, Wilkins celebrated his 30th anniversary with the Nine Network.[5] In January 2017, for the twelfth time, Wilkins co-hosted the annual G'Day USA Gala – the annual Australian event in the United States, at the behest of Foreign MinisterJulie Bishop. In November 2017, Wilkins returned to host the ARIA awards from The Star in Sydney for the Nine Network.
Target of fake ad scams
In November 2023, Australia's ABC News reported that Wilkins' fake images are "regularly" being misused by scamsters on social media, as well as on news and entertainment websites.[6]
Honours
Wilkins was presented with the Variety Club's "Heart of Variety" Award in 2000 for his outstanding humanitarian efforts.
Wilkins has five children to four different mothers. His eldest child has Down syndrome and was born in New Zealand when Wilkins was 18 years old and the mother was 16 years old. Wilkins has spoken about his difficulty trying to raise a child with Down syndrome at such a young age. Wilkins' youngest son, Christian, is a model and actor. His youngest child is with fashion designer Collette Dinnigan, whom he dated in the early 2000s before breaking up in 2004.[8]
Wilkins tested positive to COVID-19 on 12 March 2020, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Five days earlier, he had been in contact with Rita Wilson, one of the first known celebrities to contract the coronavirus.[9]
