”I wondered whether I’d be able to feed myself let alone anybody else.”

He’s long appeared on our screens as Summer Bay veteran Alf Stewart, but Home and Away favourite Ray Meagher’s life is a little different to that of his fictional character.

While Alf has been a father, stepfather and foster father, Ray himself doesn’t have any children, and he’s previously revealed why.

“When I was younger as a freelance actor, I wondered whether I’d be able to feed myself let alone anybody else,” he told The Daily Telegraph in 2018, indicating that due to the uncertain nature of acting, he chose not to have kids.

“It’s a funny old profession, it’s very precarious, it’s a pretty dodgy old profession employment-wise,” he added.

While he may not have any kids of his own, Ray is a stepfather to his wife Gilly‘s adult daughter Rebecca, and the pair regularly check in with one another.

“I have a stepdaughter Rebecca who is in her early 40s,” he told the publication.

“I talk to her at least once a week and see her for brekkie or brunch whenever the Home and Away schedule permits, which is maybe once a fortnight, and I love that.”

The actor has been married for 13 years after he tied the knot with Gilly in 2010, and he revealed that she prefers to stay out of the spotlight.

“Gilly would rather swallow a tonne of bricks than go to the Logies­,” the 79-year-old explained of her absence from the 2018 event.

“She says ‘That’s your work, you go and you don’t have to worry about me… not knowing a whole heap of people’ so she’s very comfortable with that.”

While she prefers to stay behind-the-scenes, Gilly, a former nurse, plays an important role in Ray’s life.

After undergoing life-saving triple-bypass surgery in 2019 and being given a clean bill of health, Ray credited his wife Gilly as a major factor in his recovery.

“She’s absolutely fantastic,” Ray told our sister site New Idea in 2020, and revealed Gilly has always been an incredible support to him.

He echoed that statement when he also told New Idea shortly after his first heart surgery: “I really don’t know what I would have done without Gilly.

“Once a nurse, always a nurse.”

And when she isn’t saving his life, Ray credits Gilly to being a wonderful cook – something that makes them perfect for each other.

“I think that it’s fair to say that I’ve got a pretty balanced diet, and that’s all thanks to Gilly, too,” he said.

“There are probably three or four things I can cook, but I never get near the place. Gilly enjoys cooking and I enjoy eating, so we’re a natural-born team!

“I’m a lucky man indeed!”

Ray admitted his health before Gilly entered his life was vastly different after a health scare was a result of “bad living for 40 years” after he prioritised “having to much fun”.

“She was a lifesaver, and she keeps me on the straight and narrow now,” he said.

This article was originally published on our sister site New Idea.