'Different person': MasterChef Australia star Julie Goodwin, 54, shocks fans with dramatically slimmed-down transformation in new social media video

Sky News AU

12-06-2025

Julie Goodwin has stunned fans with her slimmer-than-ever appearance in a new video.
The 2009 MasterChef Australia winner, now 54, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a video promoting a chemical-free cleaning brand.
In it, the svelte TV star appeared to have lost even more weight after she first shed a whopping 20kg almost a decade ago.
Goodwin's natural grey locks peeked through her short dyed tresses, with the hairstyle accentuating her slender face and frame.
The cullinary extraordinaire's slender collarbones and arms were visible beneath her black-and-white striped T-shirt.
Despite her new appearance, Goodwin kept her signature glasses on, which have become synonymous with the star for more than a decade.
Fans flooded the comments after failing to recognise the star cook due to her new look.
"Wow, you look like a different person," one person said.
"Julie, I didn't recognise you at all," another person said.
Another person said had Goodwin not introduced herself in the clip, they wouldn't have ever guessed it was really her.
"Had she not said, 'I am Julie Goodwin', I would not have believed my eyes! You are fabulous, as always!" they said.
It comes as the celebrity is rumoured to be replacing Poh Ling Yeow, who was runner-up in Goodwin's MasterChef season, as a judge on the show.
Yeow first spun the rumour mill into overdrive earlier this year after she revealed the role doesn't come naturally to her.
Instead, the star, who joined judges Andy Allen, Sofia Levin, and Jean-Christophe Novell in 2024, reminisced about "being a contestant again".
"I constantly run through the challenges that I have just delivered and think about what I would do in that situation," Yeow told the From the Newsroom podcast.
"That's how much I miss and love it."
Despite Network Ten denying Yeow would be replaced at the end of the 2025 season, an insider last week tipped Goodwin to take her place.
"Julie would be a fantastic judge. Fans love her," the source told New Idea.
"While no one wants to see Poh leave, everyone would welcome Julie back with open arms."
The celebrity cook herself said she "absolutely loved" guest judging the cooking competition in 2023, leaving many to believe Yeow's time was up.
After her rise to fame on MasterChef, Goodwin became a household name in Australia and is adored by many for her happy-go-lucky personality.
She went on to build a successful career as a cookbook author, Australian Women's Weekly columnist, and TV personality.
However, in her personal life, Goodwin has faced serious struggles while grappling with her fame.
She recorded a drink driving offence in 2018 and made an attempt on her life in 2020.
Opening up about the dark time on the Head Game podcast in March, Goodwin said she went "right down to the bottom of the well".
"I had made a decision that everybody, everybody, my colleagues, my children, my husband, my family, everybody would be better off if I just racked off and let them all be," Goodwin said on the Head Game podcast in March.
The chef recently revealed she's now in a much better place.
"I'm good, I really am," she told Nine Honey.