EXCLUSIVE
ABC health expert Dr Norman Swan has married for the third time, to a glamorous colleague from the public broadcaster who is 24 years his junior.
Dr Swan, 70, known as the “Covid King” for his sometimes controversial public health interventions during the pandemic, married National Radio producer Katie Hamann, 46, on the Greek island of Hydra last weekend.
Their nuptials were revealed by recently retired Late Night Live host Phillip Adams, who shared a photo of the happily married couple on social media.
Ms Hamann, who was photographed holding a bouquet of roses, opted for a simple sleeveless white dress with a high neckline and a single bracelet around her left forearm.
Her new husband, wearing a relaxed cream linen suit and open-necked shirt, put his arm around her waist as they smiled for the cameras indoors.
“Good old Dr. Swan, aka the King of Covid, convinced me to join LNL (Late Night Live) 33 years ago,” Adams wrote on X on Wednesday night.
“Congratulations on your marriage, Norman.”
Dr Swan, 70, known as the “Covid King” for his sometimes controversial public health interventions during the pandemic, has married Radio National producer Katie Hamann.
Their nuptials were revealed by recently retired Late Night Live host Phillip Adams, who shared a photo of the happily married couple on social media.
Mr Adams’ tweet was filled with well-wishes for the happy couple.
Family and friends are understood to have flown in from around the world to attend the ceremony on the picturesque car-free island in the Aegean Sea off the southern tip of Greece.
It is unclear when the couple met, although it is understood that their paths first crossed in a professional setting.
In the Australian summer of 2019-20, Dr Swan worked as a presenter on Radio National (RN) Breakfast.
On January 7, 2020, he reportedly emailed Ms. Hamann, who was producing the show, about a mysterious illness that had emerged in Wuhan, China.
“Worth keeping an eye on,” was the motto.
Dr Swan’s early insight would, within months, propel him to become one of the most familiar faces on Australian television screens as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world.
Dr Norman Swan became one of the most familiar faces on Australian television screens as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world and the ABC used him as its go-to analyst.
His new wife, Ms Hamann (pictured), has worked on and off for the ABC since 2011, eventually becoming executive producer of Radio National.
But his newfound stardom was not without controversy.
He was often accused of fearmongering due to his strong support for mandatory mask wearing and lockdowns.
Dr. Swan has not treated patients since joining ABC in 1982, but continues to be licensed because his media work counts as medical practice.
Ms Hamann, originally from Taree on the New South Wales mid-north coast, is believed to be the mother of two children from a previous relationship.
She has worked on and off for ABC since 2011, eventually rising to executive producer of RN, where she hired her future husband to appear on several occasions.
Ms Hamann (pictured), 46, from Taree on the NSW mid-north coast, is believed to be the mother of two children from a previous relationship.
Ms Hamann was credited with producing an RN Drive program in September 2023, where Dr Swan discussed how 14 per cent of people in Australia suffered persistent symptoms after contracting Covid-19.
Ms Hamann’s mother is believed to be younger than Dr Swan.
And unlike her new husband, Ms Hamann’s father is a practising doctor, working as a consultant dermatologist in Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.
Ms Hamann’s father has posted a series of photos on Instagram from his travels around the Mediterranean in recent days, including a stunning shot of a rainbow in Hydra six days ago.
In the acknowledgements of Dr. Swan’s 2021 book ‘So You Think You Know What’s Good For You?’, he paid tribute to his future wife.
“Katie Hamann put up with me through a difficult year and also read the draft, which is always a bit of a gamble, but Katie’s skills as a producer and editor came through,” he wrote.
Dr Swan previously admitted he felt “a little embarrassed” about being twice divorced.
“It’s a bit of a shame that I’ve been married (and divorced) twice,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2022.
‘I’ve heard men complain that the women in their lives are the reason they’ve been married more than once, when 50 percent or more of the reason is us men.’
Dr Swan was often accused of fearmongering due to his strong support for mask mandates and lockdowns (pictured, a shopper wearing a mask in Sydney)
The Scottish-born doctor originally wanted to be an actor before pursuing a career in medicine.
He moved to Australia at the age of 25 to further his training in paediatrics and in 1982 became a health reporter at the ABC and later became general manager of Radio National.
While there, he hired Geraldine Doogue, who later became one of Australia’s best-known journalists and presenters. They remain very good friends.
Dr Swan won a Gold Walkley in 1988 for research that exposed fraudulent research by gynaecologist William McBride, leading to the disgraced doctor being banned from practice.
When he met his first wife, Lee Sutton, a fellow pediatrician, he said he soon “realized she would be an amazing mother, as she has been to our children Anna, Georgia and Jonathan.”
Jonathan is a globetrotting journalist whose viral 2020 interview with then-President Donald Trump earned him an Emmy Award.
Jonathan now works as a political reporter for the New York Times.
In 2016, Dr. Swan’s daughter Anna suffered a traumatic brain injury in a horrific bicycle accident during a family vacation in Italy.
The trauma of the accident was reported to have contributed to the breakdown of Dr Swan’s second marriage to Karen Carey, a Perth woman.
Dr. Swan’s son, Jonathan (left), is a globetrotting journalist whose viral 2020 interview with then-President Donald Trump earned him an Emmy Award. Father and son are pictured together
Dr Swan won a Gold Walkley in 1988 for an investigation that exposed fraudulent research by gynaecologist William McBride, leading to the disgraced doctor being banned from practice.
The ABC used Dr Swan as its go-to analyst throughout the pandemic and he went on to host a weekly Coronacast podcast dedicated to covering Covid-related issues for three years.
However, he was caught making mistakes along the way.
He was forced to apologise after claiming in 2022 that the death of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching from a suspected heart attack was likely Covid-related.
The senator, who was 52 when she died, never contracted Covid according to her furious family.
The ABC admitted that Dr Swan’s comments breached its editorial standards and warned him during talks with the broadcaster’s management.
Last year, Dr Swan was controversially appointed a Member of the Order of Australia “for significant service to the media as a science and health commentator”.
Dr Swan and Ms Hamann have been contacted for comment.
