Nelson MANDELA
He told Robyn on his 90th birthday at his home in Qunu, sitting in his favorite buttercup yellow armchair, “What I did, was good for my soul.”
She watched him, for decades, disarm people with a dry sense of humor that often boarded on ‘cheesy,’ a knack for making everyone feel seen, and a deep understanding of himself. Despite his ability to draw out the best of people, he was fiercely private about this own emotions and was a detatched father, which his family talked about in many exclusive interviews with Curnow. A complicated man, a great man, who Curnow learnt much from. He said of himself: I’m not a saint. Just a sinner who keeps on trying. He liked to talk about his cattle with Curnow, and was not shy to tell people to loose weight saying to them “You need to reduce.”
Robyn anchored special coverage of his memorial service with Anderson Cooper, Christiane Amanpour and Chris Cuomo.
She was the only foreign TV journalist to report from inside his funeral, at the request of his family. She also had exclusive access to his final resting place.
Last conversation Mandela gave - on his 90th
Chatting on Mandela's 90th
Mandela's memorial service
"What I did was good for my soul"
The funeral cortage
Live from Mandela's funeral
Introducing my baby daughter to him
"You are my great great granddaughter."
Guests at Mandela's funeral
Mandela's beloved cows. On the day he was buried
Mandela's cell on Robben Island
Mandela's cell on Robben Island
Oscar PISTORIUS
Pistorius in his bedroom years before he shot his girlfriend. The Olympian has both his legs amputated below the knee when he was a baby.
Curnow covered every day of his trial for CNN USA and CNN International with exclusive footage and access.
George W BUSH
Curnow interviewed the former President and First Lady in Livingstone, Zambia. On air they talked about his work with HIV/Aids and his life-saving PEPFAR programme in Africa as well as the President’s distain for Edward Snowdon who he called a traitor.
Off air, Curnow and the President talked for an hour about his strategies and life post-Presidency; how he had started painting portraits of his family’s dogs after leaving office. Curnow asked him why he had also painting self-portraits of himself in the bath and shower. His answer was classic Bush, and worth hearing if you ever listen to Curnow’s talk entitled Stories I Only Tell My Friends.
Archbishop Desmond TUTU
Robyn attended St Mary’s School for Girls in Johannesburg during the darkest days of Apartheid. The school was progressive on many levels - Archbishop Tutu, then only a Bishop, often preached to the girls in the school chapel. Curnow remembers his early sermons, his laugher with a mitre on his head at the altar and the heartwarming memory of Tutu skipping and dancing down the chapel aisle.
Later on assignment, she interviewed him numerous times culminating in her special documentary from his 80th Birthday.
He was one of the bravest men she knew. He single-handedly fronted the anti-apartheid effort while most of the ANC leaders were in jail or in exile. Constantly challenging the apartheid regime. Never loosing his sense of outrage, and his sense of humour. When the ANC refused to allow his friend the Dali Lama visit South Africa for Tutu’s birthday celebrations, he unleashed a barrage of criticism at the government, saying they were corrupt, a political disappointment and in the pocket of the Chinese government.
He told Curnow he believed in a mid-day break - often two hours would pass when Tutu was unavailable. He said he would pray, walk, nap, meditate no matter what was happening the country, every single day.
FACTS
Oprah Winfrey does indeed hug a lot. Prince Harry was not a gentleman when Robyn clumsily tripped in front of him in Lesotho. Great artist William Kentridge was a gentleman when the CNN cameraman accidentally deleted their interview and Robyn asked him to re-film the whole conversation. President Bill Clinton most definitely has the gift of the gab.
More importantly Robyn enjoyed speaking to ordinary people and sporting heroes. The celebrities were fascinating - often in ways she least expected.
