‘Nanna Katie’ Dishes Out Life Advice To All Her Maltese Fans
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’ve seen the hilarious clips of Katie Azzopardi, the Malta-born woman from Australia giving Family Feud host Grant Denyer a run for his money.
With the Maltese portion of the internet collectively hoping for more from Katie, Lovin Malta caught up with her for a quick chat, and a piece of life advice or two.
“Be yourself and be happy. Tell it how it is.”
Katie was born in Msida, but grew up in Marsa, where she went to school and spent most of her young life. Her connection to her hometown grew even stronger after she got married in Marsa’s parish church back in 1956 – exactly 60 years ago. But proving age is just a number, Katie’s quips and jabs about her husband show their love is just as strong as it was the day they tied the knot.
“We’ve been married 60 years so he must like something!”
Since moving to Australia, Katie hasn’t come back to visit Malta as often as she’d like to, but the few times she does, she always prioritizes a trip to Mellieħa’s Għadira bay.
Her memories of Malta are all very fond and Katie speaks openly about how much she misses her relatives back home – but being a self-proclaimed lover of food, she also dreams of the delicious flavours of our island.
“I miss the vans bringing us bread, qagħaq and other treats. We don’t have the same food here.”
“I miss the vans bringing us bread”
Like many Maltese expats, Katie wanted to stay true to her roots, even halfway across the globe. She joined the Maltese-Australian Gold Coast Association to help out by showing other members of the group how to prepare all kinds of tasty Maltese dishes to bring our tiny island a little closer to Australia.
But it wasn’t her membership to an association that gave her heritage away. On the show, Katie’s accent was a dead giveaway of her Maltese side, so it comes as no surprise that it’s not just the food that’s travelled Down Under with her. Katie still proudly speaks in Maltese with her family and friends in Queensland.
It seems fame hasn’t changed Katie – despite her ever-growing popularity on the internet, she herself doesn’t switch on to the grid very often. Our questions were answered over the phone, and her daughters respond to all of Katie’s fans – with their mother’s blessing of course.
There was something heartwarming about watching Katie win over the studio audience at Family Feud with such ease, and it really demonstrated just how much we can learn about enjoying every opportunity to the fullest. So naturally we asked the superstar herself if she had any advice to give all her fans.
“Always be yourself and be happy. Tell it how it is.” Simple and effective. And clearly she happily lives by this mantra.
Her time on the show proved to be more than just a barrel of laughs, she also became the first person to drop two swear words on Family Feud, so you can add trendsetter to her CV too.
But it’s not just life advice and Maltese deliciacies that she’s giving out, Nanna Katie also has a lot of love to spare. “Please pass on my regards to all readers, I am very happy with the response from everyone. They are all so kind.”
Thanks for making us laugh so much Katie! Here’s to you auditioning for the X-Factor!