Why Amanda Keller was “angry at the world” – and the moment that changed everything
The radio star opened up about her toughest birthday yet.
Australian media personality Amanda Keller has opened up about life with her husband Harley, sharing an emotional glimpse into how the challenges of Parkinson’s disease came to a head on her birthday – before a stranger’s words helped her completely shift her perspective.
Speaking on her iHeart podcast Double A Chattery, Amanda admitted she hit an emotional breaking point after a difficult morning, when her husband “wasn’t himself,” bringing up “a whole lot of bad stuff” for her.
Instead of celebrating, she found herself overwhelmed and frustrated, saying she “was angry at the world” and kept thinking “it’s my birthday” – hoping Harley would acknowledge it, even though “it was all about him again that morning.”
At one point, she said she “sort of yelled into a blanket ‘it’s my birthday’,” capturing the mix of love, guilt and exhaustion she was feeling.
As she tried to care for him, her phone kept lighting up with birthday messages, many saying they hoped she was being “spoilt.”
But the word didn’t sit right, as her reality looked very different.
Later, while out in a park, a stranger gently challenged that idea, telling her, “it depends what you mean by spoilt.” Amanda said the comment stopped her in her tracks.
“I had a complete reframe,” she explained, recalling how she “started crying in the park with this incredible woman.” In that moment, her thinking shifted.
She realised that despite everything, she still had something incredibly meaningful – time with her husband.
“I’ve had thirty six years and yet another birthday with this man,” she said, describing him as “still such a good man… still a loving man,” who faces the disease with “stoicism.”
That shift in perspective changed everything. “I just thought. ‘I am spoilt’,” she said, adding that the emotional weight she’d been carrying suddenly felt lighter – going from “an anvil” to “a feather of good luck.”
“I just felt my good fortune,” she said. “And I hadn’t felt that for a long time.”
