Maggie Raworth going makeup-free on national TV shouldn’t be a big deal: ‘It’s actually sad’

Maggie Raworth didn’t think twice when she sat down to film tonight’s A Current Affair segment with Australian photographer Cait Miers makeup-free.

The seasoned journalist has done plenty of barefaced broadcasts before – when covering natural disasters like floods and fires – without any issue, and had no reason to think this time would be any different. She was wrong.

“I have gone on TV many times without makeup on,” Raworth told nine.com.au.

“I’ve just never actually said, ‘I’m not wearing any makeup’. I’ve never made it a big deal.”

Whenever she appeared on TV screens without makeup in the past, no-one noticed – or if they did, they didn’t mention it.

But this time Raworth made it explicitly clear that she was going barefaced in support of Miers’ ‘Laugh Lines Project’, a global campaign designed to challenge beauty standards by capturing 1000 women makeup-free, and that got a reaction.

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Raworth’s Instagram posts about tonight’s segment were flooded with comments as soon as she posted them. Almost all were praising her and Miers.

“I’ve actually had a lot of people message me and say really lovely, supportive, positive things to me,” Raworth said.

“The positive responses have far outweighed the negative.”

There has been a smattering of criticism, but most of the nasty comments simply roll off Raworth.

“I figured people would talk about my face, I figured people would have something to say, and that didn’t bother me,” she said.

“I just don’t really care. When you’re news reporting, you do get a lot of criticism in comments and online, and I’ve never really been offended by it, to be honest.”

The one accusation she does want to address is that she actually was wearing makeup in the segment, despite claiming she wasn’t.

The truth is the only product on her face was a swipe of Carmex lip balm.

“It’s important to understand that when I was doing that interview, I had a lot of lights on me, which is quite flattering,” Raworth said.

“Maybe I would have looked worse if I didn’t have the lights on.”

Everyone has their own insecurities and for some Australians, the idea of going to the shops – let alone appearing on national TV – without makeup is mortifying.

But that’s just not the case for Raworth.

“I did not think this was a big deal, and it was a real learning opportunity for me to see that for some people it is, and it’s actually sad,” she said.

Raworth is totally supportive of women and girls having fun with makeup, using it to feel more beautiful, the whole shebang.

She doesn’t think the mere sight of a woman doing her job with a bare face should be such a big deal.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal to go on TV without makeup on,” Raworth said.

“Everyone has made it a big deal by weighing in.”

Watch Maggie Raworth’s full report on A Current Affair at 7pm tonight.