1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: The public has had a long held fascination with detectives. 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,080 Speaker 1: Detective see a side of life the average persons never 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: exposed her. I spent thirty four years as a cop. 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: For twenty five of those years I was catching killers. 5 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: That's what I did for a living. I was a 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: homicide detective. I'm no longer just interviewing bad guys. Instead, 7 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: I'm taking the public into the world in which I operated. 8 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: The guests I talk to each week have amazing stories 9 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: from all sides of the law. The interviews are raw 10 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: and honest, just like the people I talk to. Some 11 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: of the content and language might be confronting. That's because 12 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: no one who comes into contact with crime is left unchanged. 13 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: Join me now as I take you into this world. Today, 14 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: I spoke to Kate Derouge. Kate has experienced the highs 15 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: and lows of life. In two thousand and five, she 16 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: was the winner of the hit reality series Australian Idol 17 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: and then went on to be a member of the 18 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: Young Divers musical group. We spoke about that period of 19 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,919 Speaker 1: her life, but we also delved into a dark place. 20 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: Kate told me about her seven year addiction to ice, 21 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: living in a drug den with ten other people, being 22 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: attacked by a partner with a machete in a drug 23 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: fueled rage, and her numerous arrests. In fact, there was 24 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,199 Speaker 1: not a lot we didn't talk about. Kate was very open. 25 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: Kate also spoke about being body shamed on National TV 26 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: by Kyle Sandlan's and the impact that that had on her. 27 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: She also spoke about her road to recovery and what 28 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: she now finds important in life. Kate's story shows that 29 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:37,679 Speaker 1: life can go off the rails even if you are 30 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: surrounded by good people. It also shows there is a 31 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: way back. Have her listened to her story, Kate Derouge, 32 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: thank you for coming on I Catch Killers. 33 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 2: No worries Garth, thanks for having me. It's a bit 34 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 2: of a random one for me, but I like it. 35 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 2: I'm excited for what we're going to chat about. 36 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: Well, I should have thought about the name of the 37 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: podcast before we started rolling with I Catch Killers, because 38 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: everyone looks a little bit suspicious. They ye get an 39 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: invite onto that. Okay, tell me, have you ever killed anyone? 40 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: Did you say? 41 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 3: But recently? Not recently? 42 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: So we're good, all right, Okay. I tried to get 43 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: that one that would make a great viewing if I 44 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: could get a confession Confession Life. Hey, it is a 45 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: true crime podcast, but we've had so many people on 46 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: the podcast that their life has gone off track because 47 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: of drugs and just in prepping for the podcast Heroes 48 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: having a look at the figures and they're a couple 49 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: of years old. But I think it would pretty much 50 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: be the same that in New South Wales I'm talking here. 51 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: I think it's fifty six percent of male prisoners have 52 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: been involved with heavy drugs, you know, the cocaine and 53 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: the ice a heroin before they did their term in jail. 54 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: And in femals, I think it was up to seventy 55 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: six percent that drugs have steered people away. So true 56 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: crime podcasts, but drugs do play a big part in 57 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: that world, I think so. 58 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 2: And you know, I actually interviewed myself recently the ex 59 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 2: governor of the prison system here in Victoria, and I 60 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 2: asked her that question. I was like, how many people 61 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 2: that come into the prison system do you think are 62 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 2: driven by drugs and mental health or crime? 63 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: First? 64 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 3: Like what comes first? The chicken or the egg? 65 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 2: And I can't remember the exact percentages that she gave me, 66 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 2: but like she said, majority of them are driven by 67 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 2: some kind of drug related offense or mental health that's 68 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:25,080 Speaker 2: landed them there, and. 69 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: Quite often a combination of the two, which is a 70 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: terrible cocktail. I've found with people that have got into 71 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: drugs where it's impacted on their life, invariably it starts. 72 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: I've had a lot of people say, well, that's for 73 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: the other guys to get addicted. I can just put 74 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: my toe in the water and I'll be fine. I 75 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: can pull out whenever I want to, and before they 76 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: realize that they've got an addiction problem. The others seem 77 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: to be ones that are running away from something that's 78 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: happened in their childhood, and the drugs are the escape 79 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: from that. Would you you've got a sense of the world, 80 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: Do you think that that's where people find themselves in. 81 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 2: I've never met a true addict. And I say true 82 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 2: addict because I think there's people that get addicted to 83 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 2: drugs that are situational and I've met and that can 84 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 2: put the drugs down after a little bit of help 85 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 2: or a couple of weeks away, you know, or whatever 86 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 2: it might be, and get on and live a relatively 87 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 2: normal life that might be able to have a drink 88 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 2: or whatever. And then there's what I call true addicts. 89 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 2: And I believe I've been an addict since birth. I 90 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 2: believe that my brain's wired a little bit differently, and 91 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 2: I almost would say somewhat of an allergic reaction when 92 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 2: substance has hit my system. But I've never met a 93 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 2: true addict that wasn't running from something, that wasn't driven 94 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 2: by trauma, you know, or had some kind of traumatic 95 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 2: event that they you know, drugs became their solution and 96 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 2: the way that they learned to manage their lives. 97 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting how people find their way down that path. 98 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: There was a quote in one of the many interviews 99 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: that you've done, and I'll just read it out. It 100 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: was back in two thousand and twenty three where you said, 101 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:00,839 Speaker 1: in the back of my mind, it was a story 102 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: I told myself, I'm not an addict. I don't end 103 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: up in those places. I come from a good home. 104 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: But this shit doesn't give a fuck who you are. 105 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: It doesn't care where you came from, who your mummies 106 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: or daddies are, or what school you went to. 107 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 3: It doesn't. 108 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, true true words. 109 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 3: It doesn't. 110 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 2: It doesn't care like if it can get, you know, 111 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 2: and I say this and I share this, and because 112 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 2: you know, I think so many people have this incredible 113 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 2: preconceived ideas that addicts come from broken homes and you know, 114 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 2: all of these really dramatic, awful backgrounds. 115 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 3: You know, but that wasn't that wasn't my case. 116 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 2: Like, you know, I came from a home that on 117 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 2: paper looked like I should have grown up to be 118 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 2: really normal, happy, healthy, balanced person girl in the world. 119 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 2: And that just didn't you know, addiction didn't care about 120 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:49,599 Speaker 2: any of that stuff, but just it just didn't. And 121 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 2: you know, I've seen over the years people come from 122 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 2: all kinds of professions. 123 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: You know. 124 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 2: One of the biggest eye openers I remember, I was 125 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,240 Speaker 2: in rehabit I obviously won't use his name, but I 126 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 2: was in reh had with this doctor and he was 127 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 2: the most incredibly looking, smart human and on paper had 128 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 2: absolutely everything that a person you think could want a 129 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 2: need to be okay in this world. And he was 130 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 2: the most traumatized, insecure, you know, addicted person that I'd 131 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 2: ever met. 132 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 3: And it was such an eye opener for me. Addiction 133 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 3: it doesn't it just doesn't care. 134 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't discriminate. Also, The fact is that people 135 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: can function with it for a while before it catches 136 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: them out, and by the time it's caught them out, 137 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: their life's invariably fallen aparto. 138 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 3: Gone to ship. 139 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 2: By the time most people realize they're in strife, it's 140 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 2: too late, you know what I mean. 141 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 3: People always say to me, why did you touch Ice? 142 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,160 Speaker 3: Why did you pick up eyes? You knew what would happen. 143 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, maybe, but like by the time I'd 144 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 2: got to that point, it was too late. Like I 145 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 2: was well and truly on my path of addiction, and 146 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 2: I would have picked up anything that would have soothed 147 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 2: and taken away that pain that I was feeling at 148 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 2: that time. 149 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 3: It wouldn't have mattered what it was. But you know, 150 00:06:58,040 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 3: Ice was just the one that brought me to my knees. 151 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 2: So by the time I got to that, like logic 152 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 2: thinking and all of that sane processing that people that 153 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 2: aren't on drugs do, was well and truly gone. 154 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: Out the door gone. You talk about your childhood, where 155 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: did you grow up? 156 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 2: So I grew up in Bendigo, you know, in a 157 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 2: house with a mom and dad, brother, sister, a beautiful 158 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 2: extended family. You know, grandparents, all of that really beautiful stuff, 159 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 2: you know, just it was filled with love. There was 160 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 2: you know, my parents were still you know, up together 161 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 2: until my mum left us. And you know, so I 162 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 2: came from that kind of home. You know, we weren't 163 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 2: rich or anything crazy like that, but my parents were 164 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 2: incredible humans that worked really hard to make sure that 165 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 2: you know, we as kids never went without and that 166 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 2: we had everything that we needed. But yeah, I just 167 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 2: I share this a lot. I just always remember having 168 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 2: this sense of being a square peg in a round hole. 169 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 3: Just something was always not right for me. 170 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: And break that down, what's that look like you're looking 171 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: for something that other people seemed satisfied or you were 172 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: looking for something that. 173 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 2: I just always and up until I guess I got 174 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 2: recovery nearly eight years ago, I don't remember a time 175 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,559 Speaker 2: where I just didn't have this sense of I guess 176 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 2: the best way to like impending doom, like something terrible 177 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 2: was going to happen. Like I just lived in this 178 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 2: state of fear and anxiety and that me Kate, little 179 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 2: Kate as a five year old just wasn't right in 180 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 2: her body and she needed to be somebody else to 181 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 2: be okay. 182 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 3: And to be loved and to be accepted. 183 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:33,839 Speaker 2: And I couldn't tell you where that came from, or 184 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 2: where or the reasoning for that thinking that was just 185 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 2: my reality and my addictive behavior. And this surprises a 186 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 2: lot of people showed up way before drugs, way before drugs. 187 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 3: It just didn't. 188 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 2: It's just not as big and as scary and as 189 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 2: dangerous as the words drugs. But like I used to 190 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 2: use food in a really unhealthy, unmanageable way from like 191 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 2: five year old. I used to steal it and lie 192 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,439 Speaker 2: and hide it needed in secret, in a shameful kind 193 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 2: of way. And I guess as I grew up, those 194 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 2: behaviors changed and shifted, you know, and that you know, 195 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:09,319 Speaker 2: as I got a bit older, it moved into latter 196 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 2: real lot. But I've never done anything in that's not 197 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 2: full on, you know. I've always done it to extremes, 198 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 2: whether that be relationships. You know, I'll meet a guy 199 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 2: or used to and you've calmed down now. But I'd 200 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 2: meet somebody and you know, I'd be mad within the 201 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 2: first week, you know, would be amazingly in love and 202 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 2: he'd be the most toxic human. 203 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 3: That ever lived in the world. But we were moving 204 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 3: in and. 205 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 2: You know, it's just everything was always so intense for me, 206 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 2: and eventually, I guess when I ran into drugs after idol, 207 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:40,199 Speaker 2: that was the perfect storm. 208 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: Okay, So it's sort of you have that personality trade 209 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: that was in your DNA that you were going to commit. 210 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: You just weren't sure. 211 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 3: If I was on yeah, I was on yeah. 212 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: And look, that way of living life is an interesting 213 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: way of living life. And some people navigate their way 214 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: through life with that type of drive that yeah, they 215 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: chase it and they commit one hundred you know, one 216 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: hundred percent. A lot of those people are very successful. 217 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: But it's just a cautionary tail, isn't it If that 218 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,719 Speaker 1: if that drive is pointed in the wrong direction? All 219 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 1: help and break list. 220 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 2: My dad always used to say to me, if you say, Katy, 221 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:16,680 Speaker 2: if you could put ten percent of the effort that 222 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 2: you put into using drugs into your life, you would 223 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 2: be an incredibly successful human. And he was right, you 224 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 2: know what I mean, He's all right, Like if just 225 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 2: once I committed to something and I was lost in it, 226 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 2: there was really no stopping me. 227 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: Okay, music, when did that become your become your passion? 228 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 3: Always? I grew up around music. 229 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 2: My granddad was an incredible singer, incredible tenor you know, 230 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 2: he was offered to travel the world with the Pavrotti's 231 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 2: and those kinds of singers, but he had he had 232 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 2: he had five babies at home and he chose to 233 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 2: stay home. 234 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 3: He was that kind of guy. And yeah, my house 235 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 3: was just always filled with music. 236 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 2: You know, all my uncles and my dad played guitar 237 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 2: and singing and it was just something that was always 238 00:10:58,080 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 2: just a part of my world. 239 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: Right. You went on Australian Idol at eighteen, and this 240 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: is a man sitting here saying I would get terrified 241 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: if I had to do karaoke at two am and 242 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,839 Speaker 1: a drunken bar. What where did you get the confidence 243 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: to at eighteen? Because I've watched the show and when 244 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 1: you won it in two thousand and five, it was big. 245 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: It was before all the PATV and everything else subscribers 246 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: and that Australian Idol was watched by everyone was talking 247 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: about it the next day. What made you think, who 248 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 1: encouraged you or what drove you to even have a 249 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: shot at something like that. 250 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 2: I guess it was just it was something that I 251 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 2: was good at and it's taken me a lot of 252 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 2: years to be able to say that, and I still 253 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 2: stumble over those words. But it was something that I 254 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 2: was good at, and it just felt like the natural, 255 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 2: Like my family encouraged me, my singing teacher encouraged me, 256 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 2: like everybody sort of encouraged me to just go and 257 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 2: give this show ago and I auditioned two years before that, 258 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 2: both years before or I won. Yeah, and didn't get 259 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 2: through the front door. But yeah, I just was something 260 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 2: that everybody sort of said that I should do. I 261 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 2: was petrified, yeah the whole time. But yeah, I just 262 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:15,719 Speaker 2: kept I just kept turning up and doing it. But yeah, 263 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 2: it was I guess it just felt like I didn't 264 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 2: I wasn't very good at anything else, Like I wasn't 265 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 2: good at school. I was never gonna, you know, graduate 266 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 2: with honors or anything like. 267 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: That. 268 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 2: Was the only thing that I was really good at 269 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 2: and that I felt comfortable to a degree doing and 270 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:32,439 Speaker 2: that people took me serious for was music. 271 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 3: So I just kind of felt like the thing to do. 272 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: Right. You had that confidence from the people around you, 273 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,559 Speaker 1: and you knew that you had had a skill set there. Okay, 274 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: you were knocked back for the first two auditions. I 275 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 1: would imagine that attacks your self esteem to a degree too. 276 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: You roll up there, you think everyone around you has 277 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: been telling you you're great, you could win this, and 278 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: you rock up and they got. 279 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 3: Hyeah, no no deal. Yeah. 280 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,040 Speaker 2: And I was sixteen the first time I auditioned, so 281 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 2: you know, pretty vulnerable. But yeah, you know what, to 282 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 2: be totally honest, I don't remember those times a lot. 283 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 2: I as I said to you earlier, like I spent 284 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 2: so much on my childhood and so much of those 285 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 2: teenage years just so disgustingly uncomfortable in my skin and 286 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 2: just riddled with so much anxiety that I almost felt 287 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 2: like I lived in a disassociated state from myself. I 288 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 2: would just go through the motions and do things and 289 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,679 Speaker 2: turn up obviously I was there, but I don't have 290 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: many core memories of that stuff. Like I can tell 291 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 2: you that I was on Australian Idol, and I can 292 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:36,440 Speaker 2: tell you that I won, and I can tell you 293 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 2: that I've done lots of incredible things, but I don't 294 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:42,360 Speaker 2: necessarily remember it. And that's a really it saddens me 295 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 2: to say that, but yeah, I just they're not memories 296 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 2: that I that I have, Right. 297 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: Is that because of what you've been through and that 298 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:54,320 Speaker 1: I suppose you shuffle your memories along and you've seen 299 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 1: a lot more extreme since then. Is it? Where have 300 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: you lost those memories? Because I I think, like you 301 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: look back at they were formative years as a teenager 302 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: and yeah, stepping into adulthood and you know what that 303 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: journey you went on when you won Australian idol at eighteen, 304 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: that was an incredible journey. 305 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you know, I've done all kinds of wonderful 306 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 2: things since then, Like I you know, I got to 307 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:21,840 Speaker 2: travel through Europe with my family and we talk about 308 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 2: it all the time and they go, do you remember this? 309 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 2: And I say that I have no recollection of that, 310 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 2: and I do put it down to maybe partially the 311 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 2: abuse to my brain over the years, partially that and 312 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 2: also just as you know, that fight or flight instinct 313 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 2: as a young person, that I just was so like 314 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 2: this all the time, that I was just existing as 315 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 2: opposed to being present right in the world. 316 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: And you said you weren't comfortable with yourself at the time. 317 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: What was that about? Where was that coming from? Look? 318 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 2: You know, I guess I grew up in those early 319 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 2: two thousands where women's bodies were really judged, and it 320 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 2: was okay to say what was reminiscing actually just yesterday 321 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 2: about the Biggest Loser and the way it was okay 322 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 2: to treat those people like the people and contestants on 323 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 2: those shows, and it was just so disgusting. And you know, 324 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 2: we were taught to believe that that heroin chic tiny 325 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 2: little bodies was what perceived to be beautiful, and if 326 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 2: you weren't that, you were no one. And I wasn't that, 327 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 2: especially within the industry that I was trying to step into. 328 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 3: You know, it was so. 329 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 2: Important, and it was every bit, if not more important 330 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 2: that you would look a certain way that you could sing. 331 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 3: You know, it was it was such a big deal. 332 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 2: And I grabbed onto that messaging and that storyline and 333 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 2: it just became my core belief, you know what I mean. 334 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 2: I just really truly believed if I didn't look a 335 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 2: certain way, then I was I wasn't enough. And you know, 336 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 2: I guess that got confirmed for me in the industry. 337 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 2: And look, I don't blame anybody for that. It's just 338 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 2: the way it was. 339 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 3: And it happened to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 340 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 3: other people you know what I mean. 341 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 2: But there were certain situations that happened in that time 342 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 2: that just continued to confirm that belief system for me. 343 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 2: So yeah, but you know, even from a little girl 344 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 2: in school, I remember there was that popular group of 345 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 2: girls that. 346 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 3: Were at school and I just always looked at them. 347 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 2: I was like, Oh, if I could just look like 348 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 2: them and be like them and exist with them, then 349 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 2: I'd be okay in the world. 350 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 3: So it's just alert behavior. 351 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: And it can be cruel, can't it. Those childhoods and 352 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: one of being in with the cool gang, and yeah, 353 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: it can be cruel. Okay. So when take you back 354 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: two thousand and five, you auditioned for Australian Idol and 355 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: you got all the way through. Take us back to 356 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: those times, because your life changed dramatically from that moment 357 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: you became a well i'd say an over night celebrity. 358 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: But I know you've done a lot of work up 359 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: to it. But what was the process of applying and 360 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: then what did you have to do? Well? 361 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 2: I guess the first step was you had to turn 362 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 2: up an audition with the thousands and there's no judges there, 363 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 2: there's just producers behind the scenes. 364 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 3: You go in. 365 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 2: You sing a song, there's yes or no, pretty easy, 366 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 2: as simple as that. You go through that process, and 367 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,120 Speaker 2: then if you get past that first big day, they 368 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,680 Speaker 2: take you on to the next stage, which is singing 369 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,159 Speaker 2: in front of the judges, which was the stage in 370 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:13,920 Speaker 2: the previous years that I'd never got past. When I 371 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 2: got in front of the judges, the judges said get 372 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 2: out okay. But this third year, yeah, it was a 373 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 2: different It was a different setup. 374 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 3: It was the judges had changed. 375 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,920 Speaker 2: It went from Dicko to Kyle Yep and yeah, then 376 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 2: I got through, and then I just kept getting through. 377 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,280 Speaker 2: I just kept going to the next stage, turning up, 378 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 2: thinking oh this will be like, this will shortly be 379 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 2: the end. 380 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,120 Speaker 3: I'll be going home now. And I just just kept 381 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 3: getting through. 382 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: So when the show, whatever night that was played on 383 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: and you're performing, then the next day people would have 384 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 1: been interested in you. Did you realize your life was 385 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: changing the further you went up in the competition? 386 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 2: I mean, yes, life had definitely changed. You know what, 387 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 2: once I got into that top twelve, you really locked well, 388 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 2: I was really locked up in a bubble. And again, 389 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 2: it wasn't social media wasn't a thing there wasn't TikTok 390 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,639 Speaker 2: and Instagram and followers and any of that stuff. So 391 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 2: I guess I had no concept of what was happening 392 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,000 Speaker 2: outside of this little bubble that I lived in, which 393 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,240 Speaker 2: was basically a house with twelve people, from the house 394 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 2: to the studio to the house to the studio until 395 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 2: I went a bit further down and we would go 396 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,719 Speaker 2: into like shopping centers and back when shopping center performances 397 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,239 Speaker 2: and appearances were really a big thing, and then all 398 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 2: of a sudden there were. 399 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 3: These groups of like lots of people turning up. But yeah, 400 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 3: like I guess it was. 401 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 2: I didn't realize the magnitude of what was going on 402 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 2: out there until it was over and you get you know, 403 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,200 Speaker 2: when the winner is k de Rouge and then his 404 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 2: manager comes out and sort of takes you off, and 405 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 2: you go through this whirlwind of interviews and then you 406 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:49,680 Speaker 2: sort of out on the street in the real world, 407 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 2: and you know, and I feel a bit of saying this, 408 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 2: but like everybody knew my name, and it was very bizarre, 409 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 2: and not everybody knew my name in a good way. 410 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 2: It was a really divided like some people on the 411 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,680 Speaker 2: street like yeah, ok, D hooray. 412 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 3: And then other people like screw you shouldn't have won 413 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,719 Speaker 3: your shit. So it was it's as lot as an 414 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 3: eighteen year old kid to I guess walk into. 415 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: I was going to say, that is so much to take, 416 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: like any profile or public profile if you appear in media, 417 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: and I spent years in the in the police, fronting 418 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: up to media conferences, and it's intimidating in for someone 419 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: that's you know, a lot older than eighteen, as an 420 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:29,959 Speaker 1: eighteen year old and then rocking up to do interviews 421 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: and all that. I would imagine and maybe maybe you didn't, 422 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: but you'd feel like a bit of an imposter syndrome 423 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: too in that environment and what's all this attention about me? 424 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: Do they actually know who I am? 425 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 2: And I would get this feeling, and again that feeling 426 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 2: of you know, carried through with me all the time. 427 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 2: I'd be like imposter syndrome, Like one day someone I'm 428 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,199 Speaker 2: going to wake up here and someone's going to come 429 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:54,640 Speaker 2: in and be like, sorry, we've made a terrible mistake. 430 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 2: You could just pop off back to Bendigo where you 431 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 2: you know, just and obviously that never happened, but that 432 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 2: was the feeling all the time. And there wasn't years 433 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,639 Speaker 2: of practice or years of knowledge. And I was just 434 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:06,920 Speaker 2: a country kid from Bendigo. 435 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:07,159 Speaker 3: You know. 436 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 2: I liked wearing tracksuit pants and baggy clothes and really 437 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 2: didn't know anything about that. And I would I'd turn 438 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 2: up to radio stations looking like I just rolled out 439 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 2: of bed because I didn't know that there was anything. 440 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,160 Speaker 2: I didn't know I was meant to do it any 441 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 2: other I was a terrible famous person. 442 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: Gap the tracksuit nug boots didn't cover it. 443 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 3: I was just terrible. No, I didn't know. 444 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 2: Nobody mentioned to me, I've got to get up at 445 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 2: four thirty and go to this radio station where no 446 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 2: one can see you, but I need you to look 447 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,399 Speaker 2: a million dollars Like nobody mentioned that stuff to me. Hindsight, 448 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 2: it's probably common sense, but you know, I was just 449 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,120 Speaker 2: continued to be the cake that I'd always been. 450 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 3: And so yeah, the truth was I probably wasn't. I 451 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:44,199 Speaker 3: wasn't very good at being famous. 452 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 1: It weren't ready for at the time. Did you have 453 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 1: people around you advising you and all that, like people 454 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 1: that all? Was it that you just caught up in 455 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: this cocktail of people go out and want you hear 456 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: want you there, and did you have anyone actually looking 457 00:20:57,359 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 1: out for your interests that was giving you some sage 458 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: advice time? 459 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 2: No, no, not back then it was just these you know, 460 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 2: there was a management, a record label and an agent 461 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,840 Speaker 2: and they just you just think. 462 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 3: I think it was very much sincos. We didn't work 463 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 3: it out and do it or you know, get out 464 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:16,360 Speaker 3: of here. 465 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,959 Speaker 1: You you didn't even get through the show about controversy 466 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: because you know, you talked about body image and that 467 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: and Kyle Sandlan's managed to put his big foot in 468 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:30,560 Speaker 1: it and that. Yeah, that's not the type of publicity 469 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: you want to be caught up in that age as well. 470 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: Tell us what happened there and how do you handled that? Well? 471 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean by that point I'd already pretty much 472 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 2: cemented for myself that you know, I was not attractive 473 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:45,960 Speaker 2: and that kind of stuff, and that I should have 474 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 2: felt shame about my body. But you know, I went 475 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 2: exactly the way you would imagine it to an eighteen 476 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:53,480 Speaker 2: year old girl standing on national television and some do 477 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,080 Speaker 2: telling you to cover up your body. 478 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 3: Like it didn't It didn't feel good. 479 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 2: But also yeah, for some reason, it just was water 480 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 2: off a ducks back by that point because it was like, oh, yeah, 481 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 2: I know that you tell me something I don't know, 482 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So it was probably a 483 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 2: lot more horrific in the moment for everybody else than 484 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,840 Speaker 2: it was for me. But I guess if I could 485 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 2: go back and talk to Kate of eighteen year eighteen 486 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 2: years old, I'd probably give her a bit of a 487 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 2: hug there. 488 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,639 Speaker 3: She probably needed one. But you know, and this is 489 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:24,439 Speaker 3: the bit that's shocking. 490 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 2: It's TVCV, right, So you know, I got off stage 491 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,399 Speaker 2: and went the show finished that night and Kyle came up. 492 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 2: He said, oh, sorry about that comment, but you're saying 493 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 2: a bit like shit. So I just needed I just 494 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:34,919 Speaker 2: wanted to get you the sympathy. 495 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 3: Vote, you know what I mean. So it didn't mean 496 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 3: what it didn't mean for him what it meant to 497 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 3: the rest to everyone else. 498 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, but it was just another layer of controversy. 499 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,440 Speaker 1: You're finding stardom and you don't want to say it, 500 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: but I'll say it, like that brought your stardom for 501 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,879 Speaker 1: that age that time. Winning a show like that, you're 502 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,199 Speaker 1: going to be recognized on the street. People are going 503 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: to be taking pictures of you. People will come up 504 00:22:58,160 --> 00:22:59,680 Speaker 1: and asked it if they could get a picture of 505 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,639 Speaker 1: you type of thing. How did your process that? Did 506 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:04,199 Speaker 1: you enjoy it? Yeah? I did? 507 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 2: Look I enjoyed it when I did, you know what, 508 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 2: I did enjoy it. And it was nice to feel important, 509 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 2: you know what I mean. I'd wanted that feeling my 510 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 2: whole life. I always, you know, thought if I was 511 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 2: popular and cool that I'd be okay. And I guess 512 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 2: being thrown out into that world kind. 513 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:20,640 Speaker 3: Of gave me that in a way. 514 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:23,200 Speaker 2: So yeah, of course, when people are coming up to 515 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,360 Speaker 2: you on the street asking for pictures and signatures, it's 516 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 2: like I'd be lying if I didn't say it felt good. 517 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,119 Speaker 1: Right, So tell us the good times from there. So 518 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: what happens after you when a show like that? How 519 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: did your life change for you? 520 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 2: I changed in the you know, change in every single way. 521 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,440 Speaker 2: You know, I became a household name, you know. I 522 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 2: everything looked different, you know. I was traveling all over 523 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 2: Australia doing all kinds of things. I was doing stuff 524 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 2: that little girls still dream about, you know, looking in 525 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 2: the marrassing and into their hairbrush. 526 00:23:58,359 --> 00:23:58,879 Speaker 1: I was doing it. 527 00:23:58,920 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 3: I was living it, and you know, I. 528 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,880 Speaker 2: Was singing at AFL Grand Finals and all of these, 529 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:06,440 Speaker 2: you know, tens of thousands of people and in front 530 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 2: of you know, people often ask me, especially after where 531 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:12,439 Speaker 2: life went from there when it wasn't so good, they 532 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:14,119 Speaker 2: always go, oh, do you regret it? 533 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 3: And would you take it back if you could? And 534 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 3: it's absolutely not. Like it was the stuff that dreams 535 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 3: are made of. I got to live. 536 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,719 Speaker 2: I got to live the dream and make film clips 537 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 2: and release songs and have number ones and win arias 538 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 2: and rub shoulders with all the big important I call 539 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 2: them real famous people, like people that took ages to 540 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 2: get famous, you know, like those. 541 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 3: Kinds of people that I grew up watching or that 542 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 3: I grew up listening to. I got to be a 543 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 3: part of all that, and I wouldn't give that back 544 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:42,400 Speaker 3: for the world. 545 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,640 Speaker 1: Did the highs that you get performing I would imagine 546 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:51,680 Speaker 1: in front of a crowd and hanging on watching your performance, 547 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: coming to see you, and that you walk off stage, 548 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,920 Speaker 1: what do you have? Hang on to the high for 549 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: a bit, and then you hit hit loads. You're trying 550 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: to chase that the whole time. 551 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, I. 552 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 2: Guess, you know, if I'm to be totally honest, I 553 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,119 Speaker 2: guess I got introduced to drugs pretty quickly after that. 554 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 2: That was when that all sort of those two worlds collided. 555 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 2: So I was chasing highs, yes, from the performances, and 556 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 2: I did enjoy them. I and I you know, would 557 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 2: come off stage and be present, I guess with the 558 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 2: band or whoever was around at the time, But you know, 559 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 2: I started chasing other things pretty quickly because there's an energy. 560 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: I would imagine you come off stage with an energy, 561 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: and I never like I look at the world renowned 562 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:42,880 Speaker 1: rock stars and think, how do they come down from 563 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:45,600 Speaker 1: performing in front of one hundred thousand people when the 564 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,880 Speaker 1: whole energy is hinging all everything they say, do move 565 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: and that? How do they come down? And when yeah, 566 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: drugs permeate into that world, I saw the go I 567 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 1: get it, they're looking looking for a high after that, 568 00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: How do you match that high or even to come 569 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:01,160 Speaker 1: down one or the other? 570 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,159 Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent, And that was the next That 571 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 2: was the only thing that felt better than drugs during 572 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:09,479 Speaker 2: that time was being on stage. 573 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,879 Speaker 3: Yeah, And that was the only thing that matched that feeling. 574 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, when did you when did your first partake in 575 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:21,440 Speaker 1: illegal drugs? At what stage? Ah? What did I? 576 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 3: I one idol in the November, probably within six months, 577 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 3: maybe three months. 578 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,239 Speaker 1: Right, and drugs wasn't a part of your life up 579 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: to that point. 580 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 2: I think I'd done ecstasy once, but I was scared 581 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 2: of drugs. And I always knew to be scared of drugs, 582 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 2: you know. I always had that, and you know, different 583 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:42,879 Speaker 2: to what it is now. There's drugs absolutely everywhere and 584 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,159 Speaker 2: it's terrifying. I'm terrified for my own kids. But there 585 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 2: weren't drugs at school or any of that stuff in 586 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 2: Bendigo when I was there. You might have the occasional 587 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:54,160 Speaker 2: about smoke and a joint, but that was a big deal. Yeah, 588 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,719 Speaker 2: And look, I drank a few times and always did 589 00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 2: it to excess every time. You know, the first time 590 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,240 Speaker 2: I drank, I drank a bottle of bourbon and vomited 591 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 2: on myself and cheated on my boyfriend. 592 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 3: Like that's just who I am. As I said, I 593 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 3: just do it all extreme, But I didn't mean I 594 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 3: didn't meet drugs, I guess until after idle and the 595 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 3: first thing I was introduced was cocaine. 596 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:16,640 Speaker 2: And cocaine is I think, and I'm pretty sure it's 597 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 2: not changed. Is no different in many industries and worlds, 598 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,439 Speaker 2: especially that corporate world as being handed to beer. 599 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: It's not shocking the corporate world, so many worlds that 600 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: cocaine is just you're not judged that. Yeah, it's what 601 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: happens at the dinner party, what happens at the function, 602 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: what happens in the bathroom. Yeah, there's no social stigma 603 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: to it. You would have had the usual warnings growing 604 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:46,639 Speaker 1: up from your parents and the narrative just don't touch drugs. 605 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: Of course, you're eighteen, you've reached a high point in 606 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: your career, short career at that stage, but you've reached 607 00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:00,240 Speaker 1: some dizzy heights, and was anyone trying to walk you 608 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 1: of the cautionary tale of just be careful, you know, 609 00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:05,399 Speaker 1: if you dabble in this, it might lead to that. 610 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 2: Look, my parents, of course, had always given me those warnings, 611 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 2: and you know, I knew drugs are bad and all 612 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 2: of that kind of stuff. 613 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 3: But I guess they were naive too in many ways. 614 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,399 Speaker 2: They wouldn't have had an idea that there would have 615 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 2: been the amount of cocaine floating around at most events 616 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 2: or most situations. 617 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 3: I would find myself into the degree that it was, 618 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 3: And I guess probably and. 619 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 2: One of my big one of my big regrets of 620 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 2: that time is that I'm really lucky with the family 621 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,159 Speaker 2: that I have and I we're all very close and 622 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 2: was still very close, and for whatever reason, I pushed 623 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:41,600 Speaker 2: them away through that time. 624 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 3: You know, I leant towards all of these people that 625 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 3: I've known for thirty seconds and put my life and 626 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 3: my trust in them rather than the people that I 627 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,480 Speaker 3: knew that I could trust. So yeah, I was just 628 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 3: living life. 629 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 1: You know. 630 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 2: I was just like I am I am something here 631 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 2: and I'm hanging out with all of these people. And 632 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 2: you know, the first time that I tried cocaine, you know, 633 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 2: I didn't just have one line, you know, I had 634 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 2: it and I was like, what is this stuff? And 635 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 2: where do we get more? 636 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 3: And this is what this is what I talk about 637 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 3: with that addiction stuff. 638 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 2: It's like there were one hundred other people there that day, 639 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 2: and however, many of those people took drugs, but not 640 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 2: everybody had the same reaction to them that I did, 641 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:19,719 Speaker 2: you know what I mean? 642 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 3: And that was instant obsession with what I was doing. 643 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 2: And I knew where that bag was until it was gone, 644 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 2: and when it was gone, my anxiety was instantly through 645 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 2: the roof of like, well, where are we getting more? 646 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: You've got the taste and you want the instant Yeah, yeah, 647 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: How long did were you living the high life with that, 648 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: dabbling in the in the cocaine, hanging out with the 649 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: music industry types and touring? How long tell us through 650 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: that period of your life. 651 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 2: Look, I've got to continue having a pretty incredible career 652 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 2: for a while, and I didn't necessarily use drugs every 653 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 2: day from that day, but I certainly thought about them, 654 00:29:57,520 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 2: and you know, I knew when they were going to. 655 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:00,640 Speaker 3: Be around me next. 656 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 2: But you know, from there, I joined a girl group 657 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 2: called the Young Divers, which were, you know, incredibly successful, 658 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 2: and a whole other chapter of my career that was 659 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 2: unbelievable and unforgettable. But as if I was to put 660 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 2: it on a scale, for a really long time, I 661 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 2: was able to be this keep face for a long 662 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 2: time and do these drugs behind closed doors and keep 663 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 2: it under wraps and be manageable. But slowly, as it 664 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 2: always does, those scales started to tip and I started 665 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 2: to become worse at being this person in the public eye, 666 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 2: and I guess, you know, the holes started to show 667 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 2: with the behaviors that I was doing, and that took 668 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 2: probably three years. 669 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: To be honest, tell us about the time with the 670 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: young divas and the crew that you were touring with. There, 671 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: that would have been a fun, fun, wild time, I 672 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:50,240 Speaker 1: would imagine. 673 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 2: Look it was, and it was unexpected, you know, nobody 674 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 2: expected it to do. It was only ever meant to 675 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:58,600 Speaker 2: be a single and some shows, I think from memory 676 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 2: it was just meant to be really quick money making thing. 677 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:04,600 Speaker 3: And this time I know, it's for real, came out and. 678 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:08,880 Speaker 2: Everyone went wild and it just blew up and all 679 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 2: the people that make all the money were wet their 680 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 2: pants and they're like, oh my god, we've found. 681 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 3: We're on with hit gold. 682 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,040 Speaker 2: And it went from what it was meant to be 683 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 2: to two albums and however many shows we did, and 684 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 2: you know, nobody ever wanted it to end, but obviously 685 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 2: it did. But yeah, it was and again it was 686 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,719 Speaker 2: incredible that we were touring, We were selling out shows, 687 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 2: we were so busy, we were learning songs on aeroplanes 688 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:37,440 Speaker 2: on the way to gigs. Yeah, it was an unbelievable 689 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,920 Speaker 2: time and another time in my life I wouldn't give 690 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 2: back for the world. 691 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 3: It was challenging. 692 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, I would imagine who was in the who was 693 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: in the band? 694 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:49,239 Speaker 2: First lineup was myself, Emily Williams, Paulini, and Ricky Lee, 695 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 2: and then Ricky left after the first album, and then 696 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 2: we got Jess Melboy came in. She'd just come off 697 00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 2: the next season of Vital Yeah, she was season four, 698 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 2: I think little she was just a baby, and she 699 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:05,920 Speaker 2: stepped in for Ricky and we did another album and 700 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 2: another tour and then it all sort of went from there. 701 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,840 Speaker 1: Did the money flow in from that? Did you make 702 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: money from it? 703 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 3: I should have made a lot of money from it, right. 704 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 2: I've never really spoken about this in depth, and I 705 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 2: have no reason not to, I guess these days, no 706 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 2: one's ever asked me the question. But you know, we 707 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 2: were not taking care of through that time. You know, 708 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 2: we were getting paid a lot of money, but not 709 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 2: seeing a lot of money. And I was doing gigs 710 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,200 Speaker 2: that now looking back, knowing that we're worth, you know, 711 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 2: corporate gigs were worth one hundred thousand dollars at those times, 712 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 2: and I think we were getting fifteen hundred bucks each 713 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 2: And that's just the way it was. 714 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 3: But we were so young and so inexperienced. 715 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 2: I think that, you know, and I remember trying to 716 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 2: confront management once or twice or however many times. You know, 717 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,320 Speaker 2: I grew up around a really smart businessman. My dad's 718 00:32:57,320 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 2: an incredible businessman and done really well for himself, so 719 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 2: I knew enough to know that things weren't right. And 720 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 2: whenever I approached the subject of like, oh, can you 721 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 2: just explain to me where this has gone or where 722 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 2: that's gone, you know, it was always met with how 723 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 2: ungrateful or or shut down in a major way. 724 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,280 Speaker 1: So it was, you know, yeah, and I'm not I'm 725 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: not saying this is a case. Maybe it is, maybe 726 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: it isn't. But you're very exploitable in that position, aren't you. 727 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,120 Speaker 1: Here you are, look the dangling you can perform here, 728 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: perform there, forget the money, I'll do this for nothing. 729 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: And then you and then you you look back and 730 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: go where did all that money go? 731 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,000 Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, hang on a minute, wait a minue, where's 732 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 3: all my money? And yeah, and look there was also 733 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:42,120 Speaker 3: that thing of and I don't know. 734 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 2: If it's still the same with the shows these days, 735 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 2: but they owned my ass for a long time, you know, 736 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,479 Speaker 2: like between my management there, record label, they were they 737 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:52,920 Speaker 2: owned me, They owned all. 738 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,800 Speaker 1: Of us and this is all contracts you're locked into and. 739 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,840 Speaker 3: That you know they there was it was do this, 740 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,400 Speaker 3: do it that way, or we'll put you, you know, 741 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:04,360 Speaker 3: forget about it. We can find other people. 742 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,200 Speaker 1: We can find another one. Did you think your life 743 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,320 Speaker 1: was set? Did you think, now you made it to 744 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:12,920 Speaker 1: that run, this is your future? Did you did you 745 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 1: see your future as being a performer in the music industry? 746 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 3: I think so. 747 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:18,319 Speaker 1: Yeah. 748 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:21,400 Speaker 2: I guess after that happened, I just I kept just 749 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:25,160 Speaker 2: rolling with what was happening. I never expected, well, I mean, 750 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 2: I never expected it or all to fall apart the 751 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 2: way that it did anyway, you know, that's not how 752 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 2: I saw it happening. And I just kept I just 753 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,760 Speaker 2: thought there would just always be more work and always 754 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,799 Speaker 2: be more gigs, and I'd always be able to find more. 755 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:40,759 Speaker 2: But I guess as that other part of my life, 756 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 2: that other beast took hold, my interest in it and 757 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:46,839 Speaker 2: my care for it also disappeared. 758 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,400 Speaker 1: Was there anyone that you came across in the industry 759 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: that you saw the negative effects of drugs that had 760 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,480 Speaker 1: been taken down by dabbling in drugs? Something that you Yeah, 761 00:34:57,880 --> 00:34:59,719 Speaker 1: there was a red flag for me. There's a warning 762 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:01,320 Speaker 1: sign and that person was at the top of the 763 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,600 Speaker 1: game and the drugs got hold of them. Did you 764 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,240 Speaker 1: see any of that in the time that you were touring. 765 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 3: No, I never saw it. I never saw it firsthand. 766 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,399 Speaker 3: I guess I was probably the example at the time. 767 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 2: No, Like you hear stories of you know, big rock 768 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,440 Speaker 2: stars and all those people from you know, back in 769 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:22,279 Speaker 2: the day that lost their way, But no, I'd never 770 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,359 Speaker 2: seen anybody really the way. 771 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,239 Speaker 3: As far as I could see, it was just what 772 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:27,040 Speaker 3: everybody did. 773 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,879 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I have become good friends with him. Rick 774 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: Grossman from the Vinyls and Hodoo Gurus, the bass player, 775 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: and he got in the Heroin when he was in 776 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,520 Speaker 1: the the Vinyls, lost his position in the band there 777 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 1: because it just became Yeah, he thought he was hiding it, 778 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:46,919 Speaker 1: but he wasn't actually hiding it and left the band 779 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 1: and then got a second shot at it with the 780 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 1: Hodoo Gurus and gone on from success to success there. 781 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:56,480 Speaker 1: But he was saying in conversations with him, how it 782 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: creeps up on you. You think you've still got your 783 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,879 Speaker 1: shit together, it's all going well, no one knows, but yeah, 784 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 1: I'm dabbling in this, but that grabs hold of you. 785 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,000 Speaker 3: I think I did, and I thought for a really, 786 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 3: really long time that I would. 787 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 2: I could stop if I wanted to, And what you 788 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 2: said before, I really thought nobody knew had a really 789 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 2: humbling moment. Recently, I posted a video on TikTok got 790 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:23,239 Speaker 2: a bit of attention, and it was me talking about 791 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:25,279 Speaker 2: my experience with idol and drugs and blah blah blah 792 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 2: blah blah, and I had at least ten people come 793 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 2: back and say, yeah, I came across you during that time. 794 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,680 Speaker 2: You were awful with different choice language, and I was 795 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:37,439 Speaker 2: I was really taken back. I was like, oh my god, 796 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 2: like I've always tried to be or thought I was 797 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 2: trying to be really kind and approachable and all of 798 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,000 Speaker 2: these things, and I just thought during that time, I 799 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 2: was that person, like I was the cake that I 800 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:47,800 Speaker 2: am today, which is pretty down to earth. 801 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:48,359 Speaker 3: And easy going. 802 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,319 Speaker 2: And it was interesting that at least ten people came back, yeah, 803 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 2: I came across you in this situation and you were 804 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,759 Speaker 2: terrible or you were really rude, and that was you know, 805 00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,400 Speaker 2: you think that you've got yourself under control. 806 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,879 Speaker 1: But look, it would be hard night. You know where 807 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,640 Speaker 1: these young footballers go off track, you know, and we're 808 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: talking eight nine erinen year olds that you know, all 809 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: of a sudden become famous overnight because of their skills 810 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 1: of on the football field, and we judge them hard 811 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: if they misbehavior or whatever. But I reckon it takes 812 00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:20,920 Speaker 1: an exceptional person not to get caught up in your 813 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: own own ego. I spose I suppose the worth is 814 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 1: where everyone and I would imagine that that period of 815 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 1: your time when you're touring, everyone would have been saying, yes, Kate, 816 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,280 Speaker 1: you're great. Get out there and perform, and the audience 817 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 1: are there cheering, clapping, and you come off stage and 818 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 1: they're cheering. It would be hard to keep that in check, 819 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,239 Speaker 1: like keep you keep your balance, I would imagine, keep 820 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:44,040 Speaker 1: your feet firmly planted on the ground. 821 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:45,680 Speaker 3: Well, the thing that they do. 822 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,320 Speaker 2: And I just wish back those I wish there'd just 823 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,200 Speaker 2: been one person that would have told me the truth, 824 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,520 Speaker 2: one that would have said, you've lost your shit, Kate, 825 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,239 Speaker 2: or pull your shit together, or you know, everybody knows 826 00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,799 Speaker 2: or whatever, but you're right. Everyone's just like, yeah, OK, 827 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,520 Speaker 2: off you go, You're amazing, we love you. And I 828 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,319 Speaker 2: could have walked off stage and saying out of tune 829 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 2: for the whole show, and everybody would have still told 830 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,520 Speaker 2: me that I was great. And so you walk You're right, 831 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,840 Speaker 2: you're walking around on this false sense of amazingness and 832 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 2: and and just run by ego and it's not Ego 833 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,279 Speaker 2: never ends well for anybody. But yeah, one hundred percent, 834 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:21,080 Speaker 2: I just needed one person to be able to be 835 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:22,000 Speaker 2: straight up with me. 836 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, you said you pushed. Whether it was deliberately or 837 00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:28,400 Speaker 1: it might have just been in life style you're living 838 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,680 Speaker 1: at the time that you sort of stepped away from 839 00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:33,479 Speaker 1: your family and your old friends because they're they're they're 840 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:35,960 Speaker 1: a great source of bringing you back to reality if 841 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,600 Speaker 1: you've you've lost lost your way. Was that done deliberately 842 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:41,759 Speaker 1: because you didn't want anyone to rain you in or 843 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: it was just circumstances. 844 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,399 Speaker 2: Probably to Probably as time went on, it was because 845 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:48,080 Speaker 2: I didn't want them to see what I was doing. 846 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:53,440 Speaker 2: But initially it was because I got blindsided by the lights. 847 00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 3: I guess, you know. 848 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 2: Initially it was that I remember, I can't remember, might 849 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 2: have been management at the time. I think I went 850 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:01,879 Speaker 2: in and said, oh, I spoke to my dad, which 851 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:03,920 Speaker 2: I do every day and still do. I spoke to 852 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 2: my dad and he suggested this, and I remember one 853 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:08,440 Speaker 2: of them saying to me, yeah, but your dad's not 854 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:08,759 Speaker 2: in this. 855 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:10,520 Speaker 3: Industry, what would he know? And I was like, yeah, 856 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,040 Speaker 3: or actually, what would he know? And it was just 857 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:15,879 Speaker 3: stuff like that. I think they wanted to be able 858 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:17,560 Speaker 3: to sort of puppet. 859 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: I suppose, and I'm putting the accusations that people I've 860 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: never met, but I'm just theorizing here. I suppose it's 861 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:28,920 Speaker 1: in their interest to cut your way from people that 862 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: might pull you away from them, because it's in their 863 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:32,840 Speaker 1: interests just to have you and point you in the 864 00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 1: direction and keep pushing you if the money's coming in. 865 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,279 Speaker 3: Of course, and we were just money makers at that time. 866 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 2: And again, look, I've shared a lot of things in 867 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,359 Speaker 2: this in the last twenty minutes that I haven't really 868 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:45,279 Speaker 2: talked about before, again because no one's asked me. But 869 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,560 Speaker 2: I'm not bitter or angry about any of this stuff anymore. 870 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:51,200 Speaker 2: And I appreciate that it's just the way the industry 871 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:53,120 Speaker 2: was then. You know, It's not I wasn't the only 872 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,759 Speaker 2: one that had happened to and I'm not poor me 873 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 2: and you know, all that stuff. 874 00:39:57,719 --> 00:39:57,959 Speaker 3: Pity. 875 00:39:58,000 --> 00:39:59,600 Speaker 2: It's just the way that it's just the way that 876 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:03,920 Speaker 2: it works, and it was happening to everybody, but yeah, they. 877 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:05,040 Speaker 3: Had an outcome and they had a vision and they 878 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 3: did what they had to do to make it work 879 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:07,520 Speaker 3: that way. 880 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:09,840 Speaker 1: And there's a trade off for you, like the benefits 881 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,359 Speaker 1: for you as well as benefits for them. So it's 882 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:14,000 Speaker 1: not you know, it's not a one way street or 883 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 1: take take like you're getting benefits and living the dream 884 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:20,400 Speaker 1: as you said in the Pop Star traveling around the 885 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 1: country and yeah, enjoying yourself. Okay, drugs. Talk us through 886 00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:28,279 Speaker 1: the build up of it, like the start off at 887 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:33,080 Speaker 1: cocaine Okay, after party, after the concert, you do a 888 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,080 Speaker 1: couple of lines of cocaine. When did it become well, 889 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,359 Speaker 1: I can't enjoy myself if I haven't got cocaine. When 890 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:39,760 Speaker 1: did it get to that point. 891 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:44,600 Speaker 3: Instantly for me? Yep, it didn't. It was not a 892 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:46,200 Speaker 3: slow burn for me. 893 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,480 Speaker 2: It was I'd met this thing and it was might 894 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,440 Speaker 2: became my everything and I didn't know how to or 895 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,480 Speaker 2: I very rarely would go to any kind of social 896 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:01,799 Speaker 2: anything without drugs on me with cocaine, and it wasn't 897 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,800 Speaker 2: ever one or two lines. It was one or two bags, 898 00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:06,440 Speaker 2: and it was as much as I could. It was 899 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,280 Speaker 2: until I couldn't find anymore. 900 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,000 Speaker 1: Always And were you paying for it in these days 901 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,440 Speaker 1: or was this just that the industry? There was always 902 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:15,440 Speaker 1: stuff floating around. 903 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 2: I mean, you'd get a little bit like I'll call 904 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,320 Speaker 2: them the normal people that use cocaine. I shouldn't say that, 905 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,239 Speaker 2: but yes, there's normal people that can go out and 906 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:24,440 Speaker 2: have two lines of coke and go home and get 907 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:25,719 Speaker 2: back to their lives the next day. 908 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 3: Those people exist, and good on them, not me, But 909 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:31,160 Speaker 3: you know, I. 910 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:35,279 Speaker 2: Wanted to take it further always, so there was there 911 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:36,879 Speaker 2: might be a you know, I might get a line 912 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:38,640 Speaker 2: or two here, but there would I would always have 913 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 2: my own supply that I would bring and pay for it. 914 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:44,759 Speaker 1: Yeap. When did you ever have a moment to where 915 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,000 Speaker 1: and you don't have to go into all the gory details, 916 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 1: but have a moment when you're gone, oh shit, like 917 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,840 Speaker 1: look what I've done because yeah, I've been on the 918 00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: bendor for for the eight hours. Did you ever have 919 00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:59,000 Speaker 1: that moment where you're thinking, maybe this is not the 920 00:41:59,040 --> 00:41:59,879 Speaker 1: best thing to be doing. 921 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:03,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, yep, definitely. There would be a lot of There 922 00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:05,200 Speaker 2: would be times when I'd have to get to work 923 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:07,200 Speaker 2: and I hadn't been to bed, and I, you know, 924 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:10,759 Speaker 2: I was feeling it's you know, be up for two 925 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:12,880 Speaker 2: days and then have to try and gather myself and 926 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,719 Speaker 2: get my head in the game and turn up to 927 00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:19,160 Speaker 2: an important gig or an important whatever, or get to 928 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:19,840 Speaker 2: an airport. 929 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:23,440 Speaker 3: Yeah. I never felt good in those moments, but it 930 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:25,279 Speaker 3: was never enough to stop me. 931 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,840 Speaker 1: Sadly, any of the people you're performing, we've give you 932 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:31,920 Speaker 1: a nudge and say, hey, you know, we've got to perform. 933 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,680 Speaker 1: I read one article about you that someone that with 934 00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:39,160 Speaker 1: you said we didn't realize how bad it was because 935 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:41,719 Speaker 1: she always turned up and always was on time. Is 936 00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:46,479 Speaker 1: that just part of your masking? Or people anyone close 937 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: to you that you're touring with or living the lifestyle, 938 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:50,800 Speaker 1: we'd give you a tap on the shoulder. 939 00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:53,080 Speaker 2: I think I'm from memory and I couldn't tell you 940 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:56,520 Speaker 2: what she said, but I'm fairly sure Emily, who I 941 00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:59,160 Speaker 2: did my season of Idol with, and I you know her, 942 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:00,920 Speaker 2: and I have a lot of love for her and 943 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:01,560 Speaker 2: always will. 944 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure she pulled me aside. She did. 945 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:05,520 Speaker 2: I don't think she necessarily knew exactly what was going on, 946 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,200 Speaker 2: but she knew something wasn't right, and she pulled me 947 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:10,120 Speaker 2: up and said, you know, something's not right. 948 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,160 Speaker 3: Get your shit together like it was, you know, but no, 949 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:13,680 Speaker 3: not really. 950 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:18,480 Speaker 1: Okay, how long was the cocaine dream going for before 951 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,280 Speaker 1: you started other drugs? And what were those drugs? 952 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 3: I don't know. 953 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:24,560 Speaker 2: I guess the other ones just started to sprinkle their 954 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:26,759 Speaker 2: way in along the way, you know, you start taking 955 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:30,600 Speaker 2: a bit of ecstasy and different party drugs. But the 956 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:34,600 Speaker 2: one that got me, that I that really made me unwell, 957 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:36,560 Speaker 2: which is one that people don't talk about a lot, 958 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:38,040 Speaker 2: but I think it's a really dangerous one and one 959 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:40,720 Speaker 2: that needs to be spoken about, especially in younger kids, 960 00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:42,440 Speaker 2: is nitrous oxide. 961 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:44,080 Speaker 1: Okay, talk us through that. 962 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,960 Speaker 2: So nitros oxide is it's a gas, obviously, and it's 963 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,239 Speaker 2: the gas that you get at the dentist or when 964 00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:53,479 Speaker 2: you're having a baby, or you know, it's a medical gas. 965 00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 2: But it can be purchased pretty easily. I won't go 966 00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,880 Speaker 2: into the details of how because no, you know, I won't, 967 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:00,799 Speaker 2: But you know, it was something that I could accept 968 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:02,279 Speaker 2: and I didn't have to rely on anybody else to 969 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:07,440 Speaker 2: get it, and it was basically felt like an anesthetic, 970 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,200 Speaker 2: and it was something that I could have all day, 971 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:10,919 Speaker 2: every day with me, and it was something that became 972 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,520 Speaker 2: an extension of who I was. I had it all 973 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,160 Speaker 2: the time, and I breathed it like and I inhaled 974 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:20,120 Speaker 2: it like oxygen. And that's when the that's when the 975 00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:23,800 Speaker 2: wheels really started to fall off, because I it was 976 00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:29,200 Speaker 2: affecting my health, depleted my body of B twelve maybe 977 00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:34,160 Speaker 2: really sick and you know, I'm fairly sure, which basically 978 00:44:34,239 --> 00:44:36,040 Speaker 2: cuts off the oxygen to your brain for a short 979 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:40,560 Speaker 2: period of time. So I guess it's not dissimilar to 980 00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:43,839 Speaker 2: maybe chroming maybe what the kids do now. But yeah, 981 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:47,800 Speaker 2: it really did some damage to my life in all ways. 982 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:50,960 Speaker 2: That's when I started to lose things. I started to 983 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 2: lose friends, I started to lose relationships. I started to 984 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:58,000 Speaker 2: lose jobs because I couldn't. I stopped being able to 985 00:44:58,080 --> 00:44:58,480 Speaker 2: turn up. 986 00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:03,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, when those things were happening, did you just well, 987 00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,719 Speaker 1: I don't care, like I'm living my life. Don't try 988 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:08,400 Speaker 1: and ram me in. What was the attitude that you 989 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:12,600 Speaker 1: had that kept you not fully appreciating what you were doing? 990 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:16,480 Speaker 3: Oh, look, it's a bit of jecky. There's two parts 991 00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:18,759 Speaker 3: of me in this, and you know, I there's the 992 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:22,360 Speaker 3: addict part of me, and that is a part of me, 993 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:22,759 Speaker 3: I guess. 994 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:26,120 Speaker 2: But you know, there's also Kate and and I was 995 00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:28,360 Speaker 2: both of these people, and I was at war with myself. 996 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:30,240 Speaker 2: But I guess the addict part of me was getting 997 00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,440 Speaker 2: bigger and bigger and bigger. And of course when things 998 00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:34,640 Speaker 2: went wrong, I would be devastated and I'd cry, and 999 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:36,319 Speaker 2: I'd get hysterical and I'd play up. 1000 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:39,320 Speaker 3: But I just wasn't able to stop. 1001 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:43,359 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think unless I truly believe, unless you've 1002 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:48,080 Speaker 2: ever felt that feeling or been in that situation, or 1003 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:51,799 Speaker 2: truly been addicted to something, it's insanity. There's no two 1004 00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:53,880 Speaker 2: ways about it. Like from an outside of looking in, 1005 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,400 Speaker 2: you go, fuck excuse my lone, but just fucking stop it, 1006 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:57,120 Speaker 2: Like what. 1007 00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:57,600 Speaker 3: Are you doing? 1008 00:45:57,640 --> 00:46:00,239 Speaker 2: Look at your life crumbling to the ground, And I'm 1009 00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:03,680 Speaker 2: sitting there going I know, but I can't, can't stop. 1010 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:07,040 Speaker 1: So it was it can't it was it wasn't I 1011 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 1: don't want to stop. Part of you in the good case, 1012 00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:14,200 Speaker 1: part of the brains going you need to stop. I 1013 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,160 Speaker 1: want to stop. I want to stop this. But the 1014 00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:17,880 Speaker 1: addiction is you couldn't stop it. 1015 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:20,560 Speaker 3: I couldn't. I just couldn't. I didn't know how to 1016 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:23,799 Speaker 3: do life without it. I just didn't and it. Yeah, 1017 00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:24,480 Speaker 3: and like the. 1018 00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:27,799 Speaker 2: Relationships that I lost, you know, I lost a really 1019 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:32,719 Speaker 2: long term relationship with a beautiful human, you know, and 1020 00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:35,040 Speaker 2: I didn't want to lose that. And of course I 1021 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:36,919 Speaker 2: cared when I lost it, like it broke my heart 1022 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:38,920 Speaker 2: and it still breaks my heart today, you know. 1023 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:42,560 Speaker 1: But did that relationship end because of the ship way 1024 00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:44,320 Speaker 1: you were acting? Was that the part of it? 1025 00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:46,160 Speaker 3: Essentially? Essentially? 1026 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:48,719 Speaker 2: Essentially my parents came and got me out of that 1027 00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:52,279 Speaker 2: house with him and said, you need to let her go. Yeah, 1028 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,200 Speaker 2: you know, they broke up with my boyfriend for me essentially. 1029 00:46:56,320 --> 00:47:00,160 Speaker 1: But that's it. That's interesting, isn't it. So the breakicking 1030 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,160 Speaker 1: up on behalf of your boyfriend saving your boyfriend rather 1031 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:05,360 Speaker 1: than you like you say, yeah. 1032 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:07,600 Speaker 3: Okay, let it go mate. I remember they came and 1033 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:08,960 Speaker 3: got me and they said, just. 1034 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:13,520 Speaker 1: Let it go. Yeah. Heavy stuff, Okay, the drug ice? 1035 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:18,239 Speaker 1: When did you? And how and why? And I say this, 1036 00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,520 Speaker 1: and I say this to all people because there's different 1037 00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:26,719 Speaker 1: levels of drugs and there's even like a pecking order 1038 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,360 Speaker 1: of Okay, well someone does cocaine, and that's socially acceptable 1039 00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:34,719 Speaker 1: heroin in its day, just a junkie heroin. Why would 1040 00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,959 Speaker 1: you touch ice? How did that happen? Because you would 1041 00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:40,359 Speaker 1: have had the warnings and I'm sure when you were 1042 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,880 Speaker 1: going through the cake stage, I just do the lines 1043 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:45,800 Speaker 1: of cake. I wouldn't touch ice. You'd have to be 1044 00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:48,399 Speaker 1: mad to touch ice. How do you get to that point? 1045 00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:53,040 Speaker 3: You just do? You know, that's just the progression of it. 1046 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:54,719 Speaker 2: And as I said to you, by the time I 1047 00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:59,080 Speaker 2: met the time I tried ice, I was so far 1048 00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:02,360 Speaker 2: down the rabbit I wouldn't have cared what it was. 1049 00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:06,200 Speaker 3: I was so I was lost and just so. 1050 00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:12,240 Speaker 2: Filled with pain and just hatred for myself and for everything. 1051 00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:14,440 Speaker 2: I would have done anything to make the pain stop, 1052 00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,080 Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And I had no skills 1053 00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:19,320 Speaker 2: as to how to do life without drugs, and the 1054 00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,640 Speaker 2: drugs that I was doing weren't working anymore, and I 1055 00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:25,279 Speaker 2: couldn't afford the drugs that I was using. 1056 00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:25,880 Speaker 3: All that stuff. 1057 00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:29,680 Speaker 2: It was just and so of course, I'm sure, I'm 1058 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,160 Speaker 2: sure I knew on a subconscious level that ice probably 1059 00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:32,759 Speaker 2: wasn't going. 1060 00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:34,759 Speaker 3: To end well for me. But when I and I 1061 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,640 Speaker 3: was and I was really you know, strung out and 1062 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:41,400 Speaker 3: not well, and I didn't feel good and I was tired, 1063 00:48:41,920 --> 00:48:43,719 Speaker 3: and then I and then I had tried ICE for 1064 00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:45,200 Speaker 3: the first time. And I'm not going to lie to you, Like, 1065 00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:47,400 Speaker 3: initially Ice, I thought it made me a better person. 1066 00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:53,160 Speaker 2: That's a delusion, I know, initially, and I'm sure you've 1067 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:56,960 Speaker 2: seen it yourself, and you know Ice, the people on 1068 00:48:57,080 --> 00:49:01,120 Speaker 2: Ice are so deluded and remove from reality. But I 1069 00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:03,920 Speaker 2: really thought in the beginning that I was better. Like 1070 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:06,600 Speaker 2: I was able to function, I was able to get 1071 00:49:06,640 --> 00:49:09,600 Speaker 2: stuff done. I didn't look a mess, you know what 1072 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:13,200 Speaker 2: I mean. Like it changed the way I appeared for 1073 00:49:13,239 --> 00:49:16,560 Speaker 2: a little while, obviously, until it didn't. But by the 1074 00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:22,120 Speaker 2: time I met that drug, there was no consequential thinking 1075 00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:24,200 Speaker 2: left in me. I was just doing whatever I needed 1076 00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:26,600 Speaker 2: to do to get the outcome that I was chasing. 1077 00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:32,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's interesting hearing your story and appreciate you 1078 00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:35,640 Speaker 1: being so open with it that you've got into the coke. 1079 00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:39,879 Speaker 1: You're starting to hate yourself and so okay, well, what's 1080 00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:43,080 Speaker 1: the matter If I dabbling nice at this stage, you've 1081 00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,120 Speaker 1: hit low, I'll go lower. Who cares? Like, Look, yeah, 1082 00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:50,719 Speaker 1: were you still performing at that stage? No? 1083 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,319 Speaker 3: I lost the lot by then? Oh god, it's all 1084 00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:55,000 Speaker 3: such a mess. 1085 00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:56,120 Speaker 1: But in my mind. 1086 00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:59,560 Speaker 3: But look, I was hanging onto a career with the 1087 00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:03,600 Speaker 3: grim you know what I mean. Like I had also gone. 1088 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:06,359 Speaker 2: Into a deep depression after the Divas finished, and I'd 1089 00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:10,000 Speaker 2: put on about sixty kilos, you know, that food addiction. 1090 00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:12,239 Speaker 2: My parents had come and got me from Sydney and 1091 00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:13,880 Speaker 2: taken me out of my life and brought me back 1092 00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:17,000 Speaker 2: home to Bendigo to try and fix me up. So 1093 00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:19,359 Speaker 2: I guess the drugs and everything that I was doing 1094 00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:22,720 Speaker 2: weren't available anymore. 1095 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:23,800 Speaker 3: So I really got. 1096 00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:26,439 Speaker 2: Into drinking heavily. I just would move to whatever was next, 1097 00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:29,400 Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Drinking and food really played 1098 00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:31,719 Speaker 2: back up in my life. Food was what I just 1099 00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:35,040 Speaker 2: buried myself in overeating. But you know, I had a 1100 00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:37,200 Speaker 2: manager along the way, a different manager that i'd found 1101 00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:40,720 Speaker 2: that really always still believed in me. And I wrote 1102 00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:44,520 Speaker 2: some music and recorded some music and went I got 1103 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:47,360 Speaker 2: a gastric sleeve, so I lost all this weight and 1104 00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:53,200 Speaker 2: I got offered this radio job in Marucci Door, filling 1105 00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:55,960 Speaker 2: in for this breakfast show. And everybody said, Kate, this 1106 00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:59,200 Speaker 2: is the worst idea ever. Do not go to Marucci 1107 00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:02,279 Speaker 2: Door on your own for three months. 1108 00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:03,680 Speaker 3: And I was like, no, no, no, I've got it. 1109 00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:05,440 Speaker 3: I'm a grown up, I'm a grown ass woman. I'll 1110 00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:07,239 Speaker 3: do what i want to do. This is exactly what 1111 00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:08,200 Speaker 3: I need for my career. 1112 00:51:08,239 --> 00:51:11,320 Speaker 2: And that was I just become a full blown alcoholic 1113 00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:14,520 Speaker 2: and lost that job and then met this guy one 1114 00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:16,600 Speaker 2: night who had an ice pipe. 1115 00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:20,880 Speaker 3: Yep, and that was it. That was I'm used And 1116 00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:22,960 Speaker 3: that was the beginning of the end. 1117 00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:26,640 Speaker 1: Really it must have been like soul destroying for yourself, 1118 00:51:26,719 --> 00:51:28,840 Speaker 1: but you didn't have the proper perspective on that. But 1119 00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:32,279 Speaker 1: your family bringing you back to the farm, trying to 1120 00:51:32,560 --> 00:51:36,799 Speaker 1: really working hard to get the old Kate back all 1121 00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:39,359 Speaker 1: those steps and then it's blowing again. 1122 00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:41,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, and they were desperate, and you know, I look 1123 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,399 Speaker 2: back on those times and the desperation in their their 1124 00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:49,120 Speaker 2: eyes have just like just shut up, Kate and just listen, 1125 00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:52,000 Speaker 2: like just trust. But you know, as I said, I 1126 00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:54,279 Speaker 2: was just so far gone and I just was so 1127 00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:57,160 Speaker 2: unable to live without I was just mad. 1128 00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:00,719 Speaker 1: Was it harder having seen the bright lights of the 1129 00:52:01,200 --> 00:52:04,680 Speaker 1: stardom phase of your life and then stepping away from 1130 00:52:04,719 --> 00:52:06,960 Speaker 1: that at that point in time because you lost all 1131 00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:09,719 Speaker 1: that was that? Yeah, if you hadn't seen that side 1132 00:52:09,719 --> 00:52:11,719 Speaker 1: of life. You didn't even know it existed. You dream 1133 00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:15,439 Speaker 1: about it. That's a life that other people live having 1134 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:18,399 Speaker 1: seen that life? Was it hard when you lost that life? 1135 00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:24,360 Speaker 3: Of course, and incredibly embarrassing and shameful. And I was 1136 00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:26,440 Speaker 3: probably a bit delusional around that for a long time, 1137 00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:28,000 Speaker 3: held onto something that was gone. 1138 00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:31,680 Speaker 2: You know, I'd really burn a lot of bridges through 1139 00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:37,759 Speaker 2: that time. You know, my name had mud all over it. 1140 00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:40,279 Speaker 2: You know, I'd really done some damage in the within 1141 00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:42,200 Speaker 2: the industry. And it sounds like a big place to be, 1142 00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:44,840 Speaker 2: but it's not. You know, it's a small it's a 1143 00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:45,520 Speaker 2: small world. 1144 00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:49,880 Speaker 3: So yeah, of course it was. And I had to 1145 00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:51,840 Speaker 3: grieve it, and it took me years to do that. 1146 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:54,480 Speaker 2: It took me took me until I got clean this 1147 00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:57,360 Speaker 2: last time to be able to actually grieve the career 1148 00:52:57,440 --> 00:52:59,400 Speaker 2: that I had and lost and and the way that 1149 00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:01,040 Speaker 2: I thought my life life was going to play out. 1150 00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:04,359 Speaker 1: Okay, well, I can imagine that it would be hard 1151 00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:06,839 Speaker 1: coming to terms with it when those phone calls aren't 1152 00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:10,200 Speaker 1: returned and the messages aren't returned, and you're thinking, what 1153 00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:11,560 Speaker 1: have I done something wrong? 1154 00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:15,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, and not knowing why? Yeah, but yes, Kate, you 1155 00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:15,839 Speaker 3: did heats wrong. 1156 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:19,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, let us tell you we might. We might take 1157 00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:21,839 Speaker 1: a break now at part one and we'll come back 1158 00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:24,759 Speaker 1: to part two. I'd like to say it's all all 1159 00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:27,800 Speaker 1: the way up from here, but we do go to 1160 00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:31,479 Speaker 1: lower grounds. When you're addicted to ice for seven years? 1161 00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:32,879 Speaker 1: Is it seven years? 1162 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:33,719 Speaker 3: About that? 1163 00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:36,000 Speaker 1: Hell of a long time? You're looking good now, someone 1164 00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:38,000 Speaker 1: that's come through that. So I think there's there's a 1165 00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:40,000 Speaker 1: happy ending at the end of this story. 1166 00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 3: But I promise it gets good. I promise it gets good. 1167 00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:44,879 Speaker 1: We're going to get a little bit lower than we're 1168 00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:48,080 Speaker 1: going to come up for. Okay, we'll take a break 1169 00:53:48,120 --> 00:53:49,640 Speaker 1: and we'll be back for part two shortly