The face of A Current Affair: Everything we know about Tracy Grimshaw.

Tracy Grimshaw was just a kid when A Current Affair first beamed on her family's television set. 

Considered "required viewing" in her house, Grimshaw would tune in every night to watch late journalist Mike Willesee interview politicians, actors and everyone in between. 

50 years on, Grimshaw never imagined she'd be the face millions of Aussies would one day watch from their own lounge rooms.

"Back then, I was going to be a vet or a flight attendant so if you’d told me that one day I’d sit in this chair, let alone occupy it for 17 years, I’d have thought you were mad," the 62-year-old said as she announced her departure from the show on Monday night.

Sharing the news with her viewers first, the Walkley-award-winning journalist announced, "I’ve decided to finish up with A Current Affair".

"It’s been a big decision and before the gossip websites start telling you rubbish, I want you to know it’s been my decision alone and I’m not being shoved out the door by the boys' club because I’m too old."

"I’m not too old, I’m just a bit tired", she added, before explaining she's "basically been a shift worker for 26 years" during her time on the Today Show and A Current Affair.

Watch: Tracy Grimshaw announces she is leaving A Current Affair. Post continues below. 

Grimshaw, who has enjoyed a 40 year career in the industry, went on to say she will be finishing up the show in November. 

“You’ve let me indulge my love of interviewing here. I’ve talked to people who’ve made us all laugh and cry, who’ve shared their triumphs and their challenges and their wisdom and despair."

"Thank you for your loyalty. I hope I’ve repaid it," she signed off. 

As Grimshaw wraps up her final months on A Current Affair, here's a look back at her life and career. 

Her early days in the Nine newsroom. 

Grimshaw's started her journalism career in the busy Melbourne newsroom of Channel Nine in 1981.

A young reporter, she seemed to make an early impression. 

"She was great then. She is great now," fellow journalist and Grimshaw's former desk mate Hugh Riminton wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. 

When I started at Channel 9 in Bendigo St, Richmond in the late 80s, Tracy was my desk mate. She was great then. She is great now. Love that woman. Well played, Tracy. I send hugs and applause. #TracyGrimshaw https://t.co/3FiLuqb33h

— Hugh Riminton (@hughriminton) September 5, 2022

Four years later, she took a seat at the desk when she began presenting 9News daytime bulletins. 

Her career continued to take off, and in 1995 she began co-hosting the Midday Show with David Reyne. 

Tracy Grimshaw presenting National Nine Morning News in 1989. Image: Channel Nine. 

From the Today show to A Current Affair. 

From 1996, Aussies woke up to Grimshaw on the Today show, which she co-hosted with Steve Liebmann. 

During her nine years on the program, the respected journalist reported on a number of major news events including the Thredbo disaster and the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

Eight years later, she would share a desk with the show's current co-host Karl Stefanovic.

On Tuesday, the 48-year-old paid tribute to his former mentor after she announced her departure from A Current Affair. 

"She is the best in the business," Stefanovic said on the Today show. 

"I had the great fortune of working for her for a year and she was exceptional."

Tracy Grimshaw on the Today show. Image: Channel Nine. 

In 2006, Grimshaw became the face of A Current Affair, where she has stayed for 17 years. 

During her time on the program, she's interviewed a range of people from politicians, celebrities, and everyday Aussies, including the two survivors of the 2006 Beaconsfield mine collapse.

Tracy Grimshaw at the 50th Annual TV Week Logie Awards in 2008. Image: Don Arnold/FilmMagic/Getty. 

Her work later saw her awarded the Walkley Award in 2009 for broadcast and online interviewing.

That same year, Grimshaw hit back at celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay when he mocked her appearance and suggested she was a lesbian. 

"I had an interview with [Grimshaw] yesterday, holy c**p. She needs to see Simon Cowell's Botox doctor," Ramsay said at a Melbourne food and wine festival. 

Grimshaw later addressed the comments on A Current Affair.

"Gordon Ramsay made me promise not to ask on Friday about his private life. He then got on stage on Saturday and made some very clear and uninformed insinuations about mine," she said at the time.

"Obviously Gordon thinks that any woman who doesn't find him attractive must be gay. For the record, I don't and I'm not."

Since then, Grimshaw has continuously proven she's not afraid to shy away from uncomfortable topics or ask the hard questions. 

It's a skill she recently flexed when she interviewed former Prime Minister Scott Morrison ahead of this year's election. 

"You said on Sunday that you saved the country, [but] you didn't hold a hose [during the bushfires], you weren't in your tinny plucking people off rooftops [during the floods in NSW and Queensland], and you didn't do 16-hour days in PPE on COVID-19 wards. You didn't have enough vaccines, you didn't get enough RAT tests so we could finally have a holiday interstate for Christmas... Do you think maybe you slightly over egged the part about saving the country?" she asked Morrison. 

"Well, that's quite a long list you've been able to pull together," he replied, before saying "we come out of this pandemic better than almost any other country in the world".

"Do you think maybe you slightly over-egged the part about 'I saved the country'?"

Tonight on A Current Affair, Tracy Grimshaw goes head-to-head with Scott Morrison.

Hear the prime minister's response TONIGHT at 7pm.
#AusVotes #9ACA pic.twitter.com/dffbV3oBbd

— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) May 17, 2022

Her family life. 

Throughout her career, Grimshaw has continued to keep her private life out of the headlines. 

Not much is known about her family, aside from the fact she has adopted a son, who has also stayed out of the public eye.

However, she did open up about the death of her mother, after she passed from lung cancer in 2011. 

Speaking to Now to Love two years later, Grimshaw said her mother's death had helped her realise it's ok to be vulnerable. 

"I think society expects people to be pragmatic when, as an adult, you lose a parent," she told the publication. 

"But I don't think you can be. At least, I can't be. If parents lose their children, then that is an acknowledged tragedy because it is not part of the cycle of life and rightly so.

"I think people should be okay to be decimated by something like this. It doesn't mean you're weak."

Feature Image: Don Arnold/FilmMagic/Getty/Channel Nine.

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