Secret Relationships. What do we know about secret relationships? My interview with ABC Radio’s ‘Overnight’s with Rod Quinn’ explains why people choose to keep their relationship secret. How do they function? What’s the protocol? How does the couple get away with it?

This conversation and interview were prompted by Australia’s NSW Premiere Gladys Berejiklian and her 5-year long partner, Daryl Maguire, with whom she’d had a secret relationship.

Here are our main talking points:

• Why do people get into secret relationships?
• The good and the bad?
• Is it an appeal or thrill when you’re younger? Problem later? Or is it problematic always that someone wants to hide?
• How do you get out of one if no one knew?
• What are some risks, especially for women, if no one knows they’re involved with someone?
• What about same sex couples? Are secret relationships more common because of social stigma? Reactions of parents etc.?
• How do films, movies, literature portray secret relationships? Is it a helpful depiction?

ABC Radio Overnights program with Rod Quinn is broadcast nationally across Australia. Each week they have a regular ‘Talking Point’ segment, where they discuss a topic with an expert and audiences have an opportunity to ring up, make comments or ask questions.

Here’s the article that prompted our interview: Gladys and Daryl: the secret relationship that shocked the state

For more on the program: ABC Radio Overnights with Rod Quinn