What happened to Reggie from Big Brother?

 If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website.

Reggie Bird first hit screens in 2003, winning the third season of Big Brother and $250,000 prize money in the process.  

But the triumph hasn’t come with boundless glitz and glamour, with the star having had quite the harrowing journey since leaving the reality show.  

WATCH: Reggie Bird wins Big Brother 2003

Just a year after her season of Big Brother, Reggie, now 47, was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa and is now legally blind. "I've lost my peripheral vision and I’ve got 10 degrees of central vision left. I have no night vision," she said during The Daily Edition in 2016. 

Due to her age and the invisible nature of the ailment, Reggie has been on the receiving end of certain personal misconceptions. 

"Sometimes when I forget to take my cane to the shops and I bang into people... they look at me because I'm so young and just think I’m being rude," she explained. 

"Even when you're getting a taxi – I've had a few say, 'you're only going up the road, why can't you walk?' Things like that upset me." 

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Reggie also suffered a stroke in 2017 as a result of a heart condition.  

"They told me I have a hole in my heart. I was literally heartbroken. But it makes sense now, why I'm always so tired and unwell, and what caused my stroke last year," she divulged to Woman’s Day the following year.  

And, unfortunately, the health conditions extend past Reggie’s own, with her youngest son Lucas, 12, grappling with cystic fibrosis. 

Reggie welcomed her first child, Mia, 14, four years after Big Brother with her second husband, Dale Sorensen. Three years after that, the couple had Lucas. 

The mother has previously explained to Now To Love that the condition comes with daily physiotherapy and medication to help Lucas digest food and break down mucus from his lungs.  

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Instagram

"It's mentally and physically draining on Lucas so I have to stay strong for him. It's a constant battle to try to get weight on him so he has to drink supplements and have a diet high in calories and fat. I hope he will live past the 37 years of expected time.” 

Watching her son deal with the condition throughout his childhood has been understandably heartbreaking for Reggie, who recalled one particularly harrowing moment on WHO's celebrity podcast, Who Are You, in 2018. 

"At the moment he's saying, 'Mummy, I don't want to live. I don't want to live with cystic fibrosis, I don't want to be here'. A little nine-year-old saying they don't want to live... it's not good.” 

Earlier this year, Reggie rallied her Instagram followers to sign a petition to get a new cystic fibrosis treatment, for patients 12 years and older, approved under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). 

According to the ABC, the requests were denied twice before the drug was made available under the PBS in August for those with a specific mutation of the disease, making it more affordable for patients fitting the eligibility requirements. For those who don’t, the drug reportedly costs Australian patients nearly $300,000 a year.   

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Sharing an update about the fight to her Instagram in October, Reggie thanked those who signed the petition, regardless of the unfortunate outcome. 

“We will keep on fighting for our loved ones living with Cystic Fibrosis 🙌
#YesToTrikafta #CysticFibrosis #cfcantwait #trikafta.” 

As well as dealing the financial aspects that come with these health conditions, Reggie was also financially burdened.

"I left everything and moved to Sydney. I couldn't get a job for about two years after the show because no one would take me seriously. I spent all the money I had left on rent…” Reggie told news.com.au’s Not Here To Make Friends podcast. 

What’s more, after a man reportedly claimed to be a TV producer with the means to fund the pilot of a new travel show she was to star in, Reggie forked over $40,000 to the fraud. 

"I thought it was legit. He said he didn't have money and asked to borrow five grand and another five grand and then it all snowballed," she told the podcast.

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The Big Brother alum even nearly faced eviction in 2017, telling her story to Woman's Day.

“I’m so scared. One day your kids are cuddled up and warm and safe and just like that, it could all be gone. I owe my kids a warm bed and a safe house, that's not too much to ask, is it? 

“It's hard to believe I became known as the girl who survived multiple evictions in the Big Brother house, to 14 years later be faced with the real thing,” she added. "I’ve been having nightmares ever since, wondering where we're going to go.”  

As well as financial woes, Reggie also said she had a stalker who she claimed went by “nine different names” and would come to her house. 

"I met him at a movie premiere and he approached me. I didn't know anything – I'm just a little girl from Tasmania who cooks fish and chips. And you get thrown into this crazy world afterwards." 

"Even going to events – I got offered so many drugs. And I don't take drugs and I didn't know what they were,” explaining that she was unaware of the slang terms for certain substances. 

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Instagram

After struggling to find employment for a long time, Reggie is now an ambassador for the online platform StarShell, which helps fight against cyber bulling.  

“Reggie understands first hand the effects of online trolls after suffering cyber bullying after her rise to fame winning Big Brother,” the website reads, adding she is “passionate about raising awareness about the damaging effects of bullying to provide a safe future for her children”.  

Despite the harrowing trajectory of Reggie’s life post Big Brother, the recent revamped BB has certainly been on her radar, with the mother saying she would be keen to make a return to the house for an all-star series. 

"I'd love to go back into the house with past housemates," she told Now To Love. "I think the true-blue, die-hard Big Brother fans would love to see that happen."

WATCH: Big Brother is coming in 2022 

Well, it seems as though the season three winner's wish has come true, with the news that she and fellow Big Brother winner Tim Dormer will be making a return to the famous house in 2022.

In a sneak peek of the hit show, it was revealed that the latest season will also see fresh faces competing against the much-loved contestants.

Speaking of her highly-anticipated appearance in the new season, season one winner Reggie is also heard saying, "This may be a new game but I’m still the same old Reggie."

“It’s just little old me from Tazzie.

“Big Brother is in my blood. I just can’t believe I’m here.”

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website.

Catie Powers

As a digital writer for New Idea, Catie Powers covers all things entertainment, lifestyle, and royals.

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Where is Reggie from Big Brother now?

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Is Reggie blind?

Big Brother star Reggie Bird has lashed out at trolls who falsely claim she isn't actually blind. The 48-year-old, who won season three of Big Brother in 2003, is legally blind after being diagnosed with the degenerative eye condition pigmentosa, but still has limited vision.

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Reggie Bird made history when she was crowned the winner of Big Brother Australia for a second time earlier this month. And now the embattled mother-of-two, who is legally blind and raising a son with cystic fibrosis, has revealed how her partner, Phillip Jade, 41, has been able to help turn her life around.