Real Life with John Cowan

Lorraine Downes rose to international prominence when she won Miss Universe in 1983, an extraordinary win for a 19-year-old New Zealander. She went on to run a modelling business in Wellington and worked with women as a style and image consultant while raising her two children with her former husband All Black Murray Mexted. In 2006, Lorraine won the New Zealand Dancing with the Stars alongside dance partner Aaron Gilmore.

Lorraine moved to Auckland and married cricketer Martin Crowe in 2009. When Martin was diagnosed with lymphoma she became his primary caregiver, and after four years of illness he tragically passed away last year.

Lorraine published her first book Life, Loss, Love, a biography in April of this year.