Sunrise: Edwina Bartholomew farewells ‘big sister’ Samantha Armytage

Sam Armytage just finished her last day at Channel Seven’s Sunrise.

And newsreader Edwina Bartholomew shared a tribute to her friend and colleague on Thursday as she heads off into early retirement.

Edwina, 37, wrote on Instagram: ‘She will be missed on air but she leaves Sunrise with all of our love and best wishes. Go well. Sleep well.’

‘Thanks for your friendship (and all the clothes I stole from your wardrobe over the years). You have been like a big sister to me and I know the next chapter will be even better than the last,’ she added. 

Edwina then told her 204,000 Instagram followers she’d recently visited Sam at her home, where she seemed genuinely happy for the first time in a long time. 

‘A few weeks back I popped in to see @sam_armytage and her husband, Rich, at home,’ she said.

‘We ate BBQ chook while Molly [Edwina’s daughter] fed Banjo scotch finger biscuits on the floor. Sam was so incredibly happy – not about the biscuits, Banjo’s on a diet – she was just so incredibly content with life.

‘After a turbulent year and the loss of her beautiful Mum, it was just so wonderful to see.’

Sam’s last day on Sunrise was Thursday, but her $800,000-a-year contract with Seven doesn’t expire until October. 

She had tearfully announced her resignation live on Monday’s show. 

‘The time has come for the sun to set on my time at Sunrise. I have always been brave and fearless in my career and this decision is no different,’ she said.

She explained she was leaving of her own choosing, and was looking forward to life away from the spotlight after a ‘bittersweet’ year that included the death of her mother, Libby, and her marriage to businessman Richard Lavender, 61.

‘I want to step out of this public world for a while and take some time and calm things down, enjoy a bit of slow living, and spend some time with my precious family, my husband and [dog] Banjo,’ she said.

‘I go out of this job at a time of my own choosing and on top of the ratings, which not many people on television can say they do.

‘I’m extremely proud of my almost eight years at the helm of Sunrise, my seven years before that at Weekend Sunrise, and my almost 18 years with the Seven Network.’