Veteran journalist Liz Hayes’ and her rarely-seen lover spotted at Sydney Airport as the long-time couple go on a romantic trip together

Veteran journalist Liz Hayes and her rarely seen partner Ben Crane appear to have spent the holidays together on a romantic trip.

The happy couple, who have been together for more than 20 years, were spotted in a very rare sighting at Sydney Airport just before Christmas.

Carrying their luggage through the terminal, the pair went incognito as the 60 Minutes star hid her eyes behind dark sunglasses.

Liz, 68, looked very chic in a casual, layered ensemble with a cropped blue denim jacket thrown on over a white button-down.

Opting for a comfortable flight, the reporter donned black sweatpants and matching sneakers, while pulling her blonde locks back into an updo.

With a cross-body handbag across her torso, Liz didn’t have a single hand free as she carried a silver carry-on and an MJ Bale garment bag.

The happy couple, who have been together for more than two decades, were spotted in a very rare sighting at Sydney Airport just before Christmas.

Carrying their luggage through the terminal, the pair went incognito as the 60 Minutes star hid her eyes behind a pair of dark sunglasses

Meanwhile, Ben, a sound recordist who met Liz while they were working together on 60 Minutes, stepped out in a smart casual look for their trip.

Ben tucked his reading glasses into the collar of his black T-shirt and put on blue jeans and a navy blue sport coat.

He completed his look with a pair of white Adidas sneakers while also carrying a handful of luggage through the airport.

Despite starting their relationship in the early 2000s when they met on 60 Minutes, Liz has kept her love life with Ben out of the public eye.

Liz has been divorced three times, with each of her relationships playing out on the public stage in a spectacle she once told Stellar magazine was “soul destroying.”

The TV journalist met and married her first husband, builder Brian Hayes, in her home town of Taree in the late 1970s, when she was just 21.

They split in the mid-’80s, about the same time she landed a gig as co-host of the Today breakfast show in 1986 and her public profile skyrocketed.

After their divorce, Liz later had a highly publicized romance with advertising millionaire John Singleton.

Liz looked very chic in a casual, layered ensemble with a cropped blue denim jacket thrown on over a white button-down.

Opting for a comfortable flight, the reporter donned black sweatpants and matching sneakers while pulling her blonde locks back into an updo.

With a cross-body handbag across her torso, Liz didn’t have a single hand free as she carried a silver carry-on and an MJ Bale garment bag.

Meanwhile, Ben, a sound recordist who met Liz while they were working together on 60 Minutes, stepped out in a smart casual look for their trip.

Ben tucked his reading glasses into the collar of his black T-shirt and put on blue jeans and a navy blue sport coat.

He completed his look with a pair of white Adidas sneakers while also carrying a handful of luggage through the airport

They tied the knot in February 1991, but were only married for ten months before divorcing around Christmas that same year.

Liz was the fourth of his six wives over the years, although they remained friends after their divorce.

A few years later, in 1994, she was spotted on the arm of Sydney doctor Stephen Coogan while the couple had a three-year marriage that ended in 1997.

Liz talked about three divorces at the age of 40 in her memoir I’m Liz Hayes in 2023.

She told Stellar at the time that she struggled to see her face in the headlines as her love life was dissected by the public eye.

‘It was a bad time. Let’s face it: these things aren’t great. And it is enlarged. It will be bigger than Ben-Hur,” she told the publication.

‘You look at yourself. You read about yourself. You notice you look pretty grim, so you think I’m pretty grim.”

She added that public criticism of her failed marriages made her feel like a “failure” romantically.

“Honestly, it’s a little soul-destroying when the world seemingly tells you, ‘Yes, you’re a dude,'” she added.

Liz began a relationship with Ben Crane, a former 60 Minutes soundman, in the early 2000s and has kept their love life very private ever since.