WEBVTT - Extra: When MID Doesn't Come With Money 0:00:10.405 --> 0:00:15.005 You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. Mama Miya acknowledges 0:00:15.045 --> 0:00:17.685 the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast 0:00:17.765 --> 0:00:22.125 is recorded on. Hello, it's Mia here, and I wanted 0:00:22.165 --> 0:00:25.045 to share with you a podcast interview that I didn't 0:00:25.125 --> 0:00:27.885 do but I wish I had. It's from our sister 0:00:27.925 --> 0:00:32.485 podcast Mid where Holly Wainwright interviews incredible gen X women 0:00:32.565 --> 0:00:35.885 with incredible stories, and this is one that I particularly 0:00:35.925 --> 0:00:39.725 think you're gonna love. So my Jade McKinnon was a big, 0:00:39.925 --> 0:00:43.485 famous TV star in Australia. You might know her better 0:00:43.525 --> 0:00:46.605 as Stevie, the character she played in McLeod's Daughters that 0:00:46.805 --> 0:00:51.765 was such a beloved part of Australian entertainment and was 0:00:51.845 --> 0:00:55.245 such a huge thing on our TV screens. She then 0:00:55.325 --> 0:00:58.925 went to Hollywood. She was Ali in Baywatch and that's 0:00:58.965 --> 0:01:03.485 where she worked alongside her fiance at the time, Jason Momoa, 0:01:04.125 --> 0:01:07.405 before everything changed. He went on to marry a big 0:01:07.405 --> 0:01:11.525 Hollywood star. Then he became a Hollywood star. He now 0:01:11.685 --> 0:01:16.045 makes millions and is incredibly famous. But simone, Jade's life 0:01:16.405 --> 0:01:20.005 was very, very different. She didn't stay in Hollywood, she 0:01:20.045 --> 0:01:23.045 didn't make millions. Instead, she became a single mother, and 0:01:23.085 --> 0:01:26.165 for a long time she was really really broke. It's 0:01:26.205 --> 0:01:28.765 such a fascinating story because I think so often we 0:01:28.805 --> 0:01:32.005 think that just because someone's face is recognizable and they 0:01:32.045 --> 0:01:35.205 were famous once, that their life will be happily ever after. 0:01:35.325 --> 0:01:37.885 And her story is actually so much more interesting than that, 0:01:38.285 --> 0:01:41.485 and so much more meaningful. Enjoy this episode of Mid 0:01:41.685 --> 0:01:45.125 with Simone Jade McKinnon interviewed by hollywain Right. And if 0:01:45.125 --> 0:01:47.725 you want to hear more amazing stories like this, go 0:01:47.765 --> 0:01:49.925 follow Mid wherever you get your podcasts. 0:01:54.165 --> 0:01:58.205 The midlife woman of Hollywood's imagination lives in a windswept 0:01:58.245 --> 0:02:03.485 beach house, or in a chic Brooklyn brownstone, maybe a 0:02:03.525 --> 0:02:07.045 tasteful Hampton style home with a kitchen island the size 0:02:07.045 --> 0:02:09.925 of a pool table, an ape burn, a stone, and 0:02:09.965 --> 0:02:13.725 a butler's pantry out the back. She wears tasteful roll 0:02:13.845 --> 0:02:16.445 necks as she dips in and out of a fulfilling 0:02:16.485 --> 0:02:19.685 career at will, usually something she can work on at 0:02:19.725 --> 0:02:23.245 that home. Billowing with the smell of freshly baked bread, 0:02:24.205 --> 0:02:27.085 she returns from the farmer's market with arms full of 0:02:27.125 --> 0:02:31.485 freshly cut daffodils, and she brunches like she lunches often 0:02:31.565 --> 0:02:33.965 and without ever lowering her eyes to the bottom of 0:02:34.005 --> 0:02:39.205 the bill. Maybe you live like that, More likely you don't. 0:02:40.085 --> 0:02:42.805 There's something we don't like to talk about that matters 0:02:42.845 --> 0:02:47.965 more than almost anything when you're mid money, because it's 0:02:48.005 --> 0:02:50.725 a time of life when choices you weren't even aware 0:02:50.765 --> 0:02:53.525 you were making at twenty and thirty can come home 0:02:53.765 --> 0:02:56.485 and build a stinky nest on your shoulder like a 0:02:56.525 --> 0:03:01.765 squawking raven or a sweary parrot. Chose a career for love, 0:03:01.965 --> 0:03:07.525 not money. Squawk decided to study another few years. Squawk 0:03:08.365 --> 0:03:14.565 saved travels spent, save to travel spent. Squawk got blindsided 0:03:14.565 --> 0:03:17.405 by the call to care for someone you love. Squawk 0:03:18.165 --> 0:03:20.885 seduced by the free money promise of a shiny new 0:03:20.925 --> 0:03:24.925 credit card. Squawk didn't push for that pay rise because 0:03:24.925 --> 0:03:29.445 it's not what good girls do. Squawk stopped working to 0:03:29.485 --> 0:03:32.365 be with your little kids and put your financial security 0:03:32.725 --> 0:03:35.085 in the hands of someone you thought you could always 0:03:35.165 --> 0:03:42.765 trust Squawk. Squawk. Squawk worked in a caring profession. Squawk. 0:03:44.405 --> 0:03:48.805 None of those non decisions were wrong. The very idea 0:03:48.965 --> 0:03:51.685 that there are years ahead when times will change and 0:03:51.765 --> 0:03:54.245 it might be harder to get a job, earn money 0:03:54.445 --> 0:03:57.565 get yourself out of a difficult spot seems like science 0:03:57.605 --> 0:04:00.365 fiction when you're young and happy to toddle a high 0:04:00.365 --> 0:04:04.365 wire without even asking about a safety net. We don't 0:04:04.405 --> 0:04:06.805 like to talk about it because of what happens when 0:04:06.805 --> 0:04:10.605 you fall. By mid women to know what's what, be 0:04:10.765 --> 0:04:14.365 mature and careful and planned. We're supposed to see a 0:04:14.405 --> 0:04:18.125 clear path ahead that promises comfort and choice. But we're 0:04:18.165 --> 0:04:21.005 not immune, no matter what gen Z tell us daily 0:04:22.165 --> 0:04:25.085 from the pressures and problems of an ever more expensive 0:04:25.125 --> 0:04:29.445 world as our perceived value falls. We have mortgages and 0:04:29.485 --> 0:04:32.525 rent to make. We have families of all ages and 0:04:32.605 --> 0:04:35.805 stages to feed and care for. The cost of caring 0:04:35.885 --> 0:04:38.445 for your parents, for yourself when you need it, sales 0:04:38.485 --> 0:04:40.885 ever higher and taps you awake at night as you 0:04:40.965 --> 0:04:44.925 add and subtract and shift in your head. For one 0:04:45.005 --> 0:04:49.565 parent families, those maths get heavier and more complex. You've 0:04:49.565 --> 0:04:52.565 heard I'm sure about the fifty something women living in 0:04:52.605 --> 0:04:55.445 their cars, that it's the group of us most likely 0:04:55.525 --> 0:04:59.325 to find themselves without a home. Maybe it's closer for 0:04:59.405 --> 0:05:03.645 you than a report on the news. And then also, 0:05:04.125 --> 0:05:07.085 we're maybe the first generation of women to have earned 0:05:07.165 --> 0:05:11.685 well en mass the first to have serious choice about 0:05:11.725 --> 0:05:14.485 this phase of our lives. To build wealth, we need 0:05:14.485 --> 0:05:18.165 to thank no one for our rebellious generation is all 0:05:18.165 --> 0:05:20.485 over the place and at all the extremes, which is 0:05:20.525 --> 0:05:25.205 for us pretty standard. Perhaps the most goal post shifting 0:05:25.245 --> 0:05:27.725 thing we can do right here is to do what 0:05:27.805 --> 0:05:32.125 our mothers didn't show each other as sweary parrots and 0:05:32.285 --> 0:05:39.085 talk about money. Hello. I am Holly Wainwright and I 0:05:39.485 --> 0:05:45.325 am Mid mid Life, mid Family, mid overwhelm. Welcome to 0:05:45.365 --> 0:05:47.965 our show for gen X women who are anything but mid. 0:05:48.405 --> 0:05:50.405 And I want to say that we get quite a 0:05:50.405 --> 0:05:53.205 lot of messages here at mid from people who don't 0:05:53.245 --> 0:05:57.325 fall into that specific generation but love the conversations we're 0:05:57.325 --> 0:05:59.765 having here, and I want to say to you welcome. 0:06:00.325 --> 0:06:02.645 Mid is a state of mind, friends, as well as 0:06:02.685 --> 0:06:06.325 a very real place. As the generation sometimes referred to 0:06:06.365 --> 0:06:10.005 as the forgotten one between the much maligned boomers and millennials. 0:06:10.245 --> 0:06:12.365 We're always happy when we're noticed and people want to 0:06:12.365 --> 0:06:15.805 sit with us. You can sit with us, So take 0:06:15.845 --> 0:06:19.805 a seat, because today we're talking about money with someone 0:06:19.845 --> 0:06:22.485 who knows as well as many that not everyone over 0:06:22.565 --> 0:06:26.405 thirty or forty is rich, not even everyone who's well 0:06:26.445 --> 0:06:29.045 known is rich. Not even everyone who was in an 0:06:29.245 --> 0:06:32.525 iconic TV show in the Nordies is rich. See where 0:06:32.525 --> 0:06:37.765 I'm going. Simone Jade McKinnon was and is to many 0:06:38.245 --> 0:06:42.605 Stevie from McLeod's Daughters if you're not familiar. That show 0:06:42.725 --> 0:06:46.205 about a family of rural women in Australia's telegenic outback 0:06:46.565 --> 0:06:51.925 was massive in the Nordies, and Simone, originally from rural Queensland, herself, 0:06:52.085 --> 0:06:53.405 was massive along with it. 0:06:53.765 --> 0:06:57.285 I promise I will continue to love you in good 0:06:57.365 --> 0:07:02.565 times and in bad, and when I'm old and gray, 0:07:03.885 --> 0:07:04.525 you will still. 0:07:04.365 --> 0:07:08.445 Be the honest woman I've ever seen in my life. 0:07:09.005 --> 0:07:12.405 She joined fresh from the Baywatch Hawaii cast, with a 0:07:12.445 --> 0:07:15.965 Hollywood sta fiance on her arm and a creative career 0:07:16.245 --> 0:07:23.245 very well established, and then everything changed. Simone and her 0:07:23.285 --> 0:07:26.325 beautiful son Madigan have been living in a caravan and 0:07:26.365 --> 0:07:28.965 then a shed in her family's back paddock for the 0:07:29.005 --> 0:07:32.405 best part of a decade. She's been making edend's meet 0:07:32.445 --> 0:07:36.525 with cares, subsidy on jobs like Jillaroo, and by starting 0:07:36.565 --> 0:07:39.805 her own small business which has ridden the roller coaster 0:07:39.925 --> 0:07:43.285 of COVID. Many of you will relate. I'm sure when 0:07:43.325 --> 0:07:45.805 she decided to step out of a dark time and 0:07:45.845 --> 0:07:47.325 back in front of a camera to go on a 0:07:47.325 --> 0:07:50.445 reality show earlier this year. It was very clearly with 0:07:50.565 --> 0:07:54.125 one goal in mind, the prize money. You'll hear how 0:07:54.165 --> 0:07:57.565 that went, and in our conversation you'll hear what it 0:07:57.645 --> 0:07:59.445 was like to be on one of the biggest shows 0:07:59.445 --> 0:08:01.645 in the world and to get fired for what you 0:08:01.725 --> 0:08:04.925 refuse to do in lingerie on a beach. You'll hear 0:08:04.965 --> 0:08:07.565 how she came back from crippling panic attacks during a 0:08:07.605 --> 0:08:11.325 high profile breakup to fill wedding scenes for our viewing pleasure. 0:08:11.845 --> 0:08:15.485 And most importantly, you'll hear how she's kept moving and 0:08:15.605 --> 0:08:18.805 dreaming and pushing on as she's been parenting her son 0:08:19.045 --> 0:08:22.805 alone on a very minimal income. Simone is famous, but 0:08:22.885 --> 0:08:25.765 she's not rich, and we often assume those things go together. 0:08:26.285 --> 0:08:29.125 Her story might not be yours, but there's plenty of 0:08:29.125 --> 0:08:35.685 familiar territory here for all of us mids. Welcome to 0:08:35.805 --> 0:08:45.765 Mid's very first conversation about money with Simone Jade McKinnon. Simone, 0:08:45.925 --> 0:08:49.245 everyone assumes that well known people are rich. 0:08:49.645 --> 0:08:49.845 Right. 0:08:50.245 --> 0:08:52.445 You've got a face that's familiar from one of the 0:08:52.485 --> 0:08:56.805 most beloved Australian TV shows of all time. But you've 0:08:56.845 --> 0:09:00.205 been very open about the fact that you're not rich. 0:09:00.485 --> 0:09:02.765 Is it a strange disconnect that people are like, there's 0:09:02.765 --> 0:09:05.365 that famous lady, she must have it all sorted out. 0:09:06.045 --> 0:09:08.085 I yeah, you know, I think a lot of people, 0:09:09.005 --> 0:09:10.605 not just because I'm a single mummy that I think 0:09:10.645 --> 0:09:13.765 a lot of people think actors in general because they 0:09:13.765 --> 0:09:16.445 see the American actors, so they think Aussie actors are 0:09:16.485 --> 0:09:19.165 on the same pay. We get the same kind of 0:09:19.845 --> 0:09:24.085 residuals that other people maybe in America get, But yeah, 0:09:24.125 --> 0:09:26.685 you know, once you've done and dusted on a show here, 0:09:26.805 --> 0:09:29.965 there is some residuals that trickle feed. But if you 0:09:30.165 --> 0:09:33.605 haven't worked for as long as I haven't worked, then 0:09:34.925 --> 0:09:39.005 they're used up very quickly. And I guess it does 0:09:39.045 --> 0:09:42.165 shock people that we're not like America, that we can't 0:09:42.285 --> 0:09:45.645 live off one show as great as McLeod's was. We 0:09:45.725 --> 0:09:46.925 just don't get paid that much. 0:09:48.045 --> 0:09:50.205 You mean you weren't quite the Friends cast, is what 0:09:50.245 --> 0:09:50.725 you're saying. 0:09:51.045 --> 0:09:54.365 It was not even close to what those guys got 0:09:54.405 --> 0:09:58.205 for half an hour work. Yeah. No, we're just nothing 0:09:58.285 --> 0:10:02.045 like that. So I think people they assume that it's 0:10:02.085 --> 0:10:04.365 the same as America. But I think they'd be really 0:10:04.365 --> 0:10:06.525 shocked to know what we get paid compared to what 0:10:06.605 --> 0:10:10.965 they get paid. And that's why once you gigens it iss. 0:10:11.045 --> 0:10:13.525 Yeah, which is why I mean, actors always very honestly 0:10:13.605 --> 0:10:16.605 talk about leaving from job to job, and that isn't 0:10:16.645 --> 0:10:19.445 as glamorous as it all appears. But I think people 0:10:19.485 --> 0:10:21.965 still kind of imagine that they've got it all sorted out. 0:10:22.005 --> 0:10:23.885 Tell me a bit about what your real life, as 0:10:23.925 --> 0:10:26.685 I always like to call like life away from work. 0:10:26.725 --> 0:10:28.725 Tell me a bit about what your real life looks 0:10:28.805 --> 0:10:29.325 like now. 0:10:30.045 --> 0:10:34.765 My real life now is definitely different to any other lives. 0:10:34.805 --> 0:10:36.845 I feel like I've had lots of lives. There was 0:10:36.925 --> 0:10:39.285 the dancer life, there was an actor life, there's a 0:10:39.285 --> 0:10:42.085 single mum life, and now there's this kind of small 0:10:42.085 --> 0:10:46.045 business life. And the small business life is hard to 0:10:47.525 --> 0:10:50.445 I'm in a caravan and a shed, and I've been 0:10:50.845 --> 0:10:54.965 in a caravan since twenty sixteen, and I was solidly 0:10:54.965 --> 0:11:00.245 in that caravan until end of twenty and nineteen when 0:11:00.285 --> 0:11:03.725 the shed was finally built and wicked kind of spread 0:11:03.725 --> 0:11:04.445 out a little bit. 0:11:04.765 --> 0:11:06.725 And is this on a property, And I know you 0:11:06.765 --> 0:11:09.005 live in northern new Well, Mid Northern New South Wales. 0:11:09.485 --> 0:11:11.405 Is your shadd and your caravan on a property? 0:11:11.685 --> 0:11:16.485 Yes, so it's on our old family land, which so 0:11:16.605 --> 0:11:19.245 I sold up. I did have. I had enough money 0:11:19.285 --> 0:11:21.405 to buy myself a nice little house and so when 0:11:21.405 --> 0:11:25.365 Madigan was born, I relocated from South Australia to Coffs 0:11:25.405 --> 0:11:28.405 Harbor to Beanie family. Being a single mum, I knew 0:11:28.445 --> 0:11:31.045 that I needed help and so it did. Like I 0:11:31.085 --> 0:11:34.645 had a nice house back then because of thanks to 0:11:34.765 --> 0:11:37.565 McLeod's for the years of work I put that into there. 0:11:37.605 --> 0:11:41.285 But I realized after six years in that house that 0:11:41.605 --> 0:11:43.085 I wasn't going to be able to stay. So that's 0:11:43.085 --> 0:11:46.165 why I sold up. And I wanted to do this 0:11:46.245 --> 0:11:50.885 bucket list dream which was the round Oz run the Lab. 0:11:51.045 --> 0:11:55.485 So you and your son together doing like around Australia 0:11:55.845 --> 0:11:58.125 sort of odyssey in your caravan. 0:11:58.405 --> 0:12:01.765 Right, Yeah, well I didn't. I wasn't in the acting world, 0:12:02.085 --> 0:12:04.085 you know. I thought I was nailing it as a 0:12:04.125 --> 0:12:07.205 single mum, loving it. Madigan was about to start school 0:12:07.285 --> 0:12:11.045 and I was like, this is the perfect time to 0:12:11.205 --> 0:12:14.205 do it. I'll sell up. I didn't need that big 0:12:14.245 --> 0:12:17.685 house that I had. I realized that wasn't it for me? 0:12:18.565 --> 0:12:21.365 I would rather the adventure than the things. It was 0:12:21.445 --> 0:12:24.125 great for that first six years, you know, a great 0:12:24.165 --> 0:12:27.645 home base. Madigan's first memories were in this amazing old 0:12:27.685 --> 0:12:29.765 Queenslander and you know it was lucky. 0:12:30.365 --> 0:12:33.365 You've always led towards adventure a bit and travel. 0:12:33.365 --> 0:12:37.805 Yeah, I do. My parents traveled with me from I 0:12:37.845 --> 0:12:38.965 was two and a half. So I was born in 0:12:38.965 --> 0:12:41.365 Mount Is my sister was born, and then when she 0:12:41.405 --> 0:12:43.285 was six months, I was two and a half. They 0:12:43.365 --> 0:12:46.325 hit the road in a little tiny caravan. So my 0:12:46.605 --> 0:12:49.645 first memories I don't remember Mount iSER, but my first 0:12:49.685 --> 0:12:53.605 memories were in a van. It's two and a half years. 0:12:53.605 --> 0:12:56.205 So by the time I went into KINDI that's when 0:12:56.205 --> 0:12:58.965 we stopped. So I always say that it was those 0:12:58.965 --> 0:13:02.685 guys that put the sort of gypsy. They gave me 0:13:02.725 --> 0:13:05.285 the wanderlus. It just has been that way. And then 0:13:05.285 --> 0:13:08.405 I went into two different careers, you know, my dancing 0:13:08.485 --> 0:13:11.405 career that you're just on the move. I was out 0:13:11.445 --> 0:13:12.205 of home at sixteen. 0:13:12.285 --> 0:13:13.885 You were a ballet dancer, is that right? 0:13:14.245 --> 0:13:17.725 I was, so I auditioned and then I actually ran 0:13:17.765 --> 0:13:20.725 away kind of from the ballets to the Gold Coast. 0:13:21.165 --> 0:13:23.005 But I was still under eighteen at that point, so 0:13:23.085 --> 0:13:26.085 my mum and dad came and took me and brought 0:13:26.085 --> 0:13:29.245 me back home to Coughs. And you know, I wasn't eighteen, 0:13:29.325 --> 0:13:32.285 so I wasn't allowed to do anything until then anyway, 0:13:32.325 --> 0:13:34.245 so I had to sit around. But in that time, 0:13:34.685 --> 0:13:37.165 dance Encore gets a hold of me and says, guess 0:13:37.165 --> 0:13:39.885 what we would love to have you. We know you're 0:13:39.885 --> 0:13:42.525 not turning eighteen till March, but we can put you 0:13:42.565 --> 0:13:45.645 in rehearsals in February and the beginning of March, and 0:13:45.685 --> 0:13:48.285 you can be on a plane to Japan the day 0:13:48.325 --> 0:13:49.565 after your eighteenth birthday. 0:13:49.725 --> 0:13:51.805 The adventure begins, I know. 0:13:51.925 --> 0:13:53.525 But then I had to convince mom and dad. I 0:13:53.565 --> 0:13:56.405 was like, come on, this is it like? Because I 0:13:56.485 --> 0:13:58.405 was still that means I was going to be seventeen 0:13:58.605 --> 0:14:02.245 in Sydney while myself and I'd just run away, you know, 0:14:02.365 --> 0:14:03.125 up the coast. 0:14:03.365 --> 0:14:05.445 Did they let you do it? I assumed they did. 0:14:05.605 --> 0:14:05.845 Yeah. 0:14:06.045 --> 0:14:10.085 I somehow convinced them that it was what I wanted. 0:14:10.205 --> 0:14:13.605 And you know, I'm not going to ruin a job opportunity. 0:14:13.645 --> 0:14:16.045 It's different. I felt it would be different if I 0:14:16.125 --> 0:14:18.285 was going to be paid. You know, I'd be accountable, 0:14:18.325 --> 0:14:22.525 I'd be responsible, And I was, like, I have never worked. 0:14:22.925 --> 0:14:28.205 That company taught me determination and discipline way more than 0:14:28.325 --> 0:14:32.085 the ballet school did. Like I really learned to work 0:14:32.205 --> 0:14:35.445 my ass off in that company. Then I worked for 0:14:35.445 --> 0:14:37.565 them for two years, back and forth to Japan, and 0:14:37.725 --> 0:14:39.285 it was amazing. 0:14:39.645 --> 0:14:42.525 It sounds like an incredible adventure for a young woman. 0:14:43.085 --> 0:14:45.645 It was, and you know, it was not the dancing 0:14:45.725 --> 0:14:49.365 that I had in my head as a kid, but 0:14:49.525 --> 0:14:51.725 it was just it was a great adventure. And like 0:14:51.765 --> 0:14:54.005 I said, it just taught me so much. And then 0:14:54.045 --> 0:14:55.925 I came back and then I ended up doing Cats. 0:14:56.005 --> 0:14:58.605 I auditioned for Cats, and then I felt like more 0:14:58.645 --> 0:15:02.605 of a proper dancer, but I loved both just the same. 0:15:03.125 --> 0:15:05.205 Just thinking about when I mean, we're going to obviously 0:15:05.245 --> 0:15:08.045 get to all this later, but when you choose a 0:15:08.125 --> 0:15:11.965 creative career, very few of us who choose creative careers 0:15:11.965 --> 0:15:15.205 of all different kinds and necessarily driven by money. You know, 0:15:15.285 --> 0:15:19.325 if you were driven by money and the idea of stability, 0:15:20.045 --> 0:15:26.405 steady paychecks, regular increases, investment portfolios and stuff like, it's 0:15:26.445 --> 0:15:29.885 the wrong career to choose, Let's be honest, right, But 0:15:30.325 --> 0:15:31.925 one of the things when I talked to lots of 0:15:31.965 --> 0:15:34.525 midlife women now who sort of have realized later in 0:15:34.565 --> 0:15:38.085 life sometimes that, oh, like financial independence is so important. 0:15:38.965 --> 0:15:40.885 Did you ever think about that kind of stuff or 0:15:40.925 --> 0:15:43.325 were you always chasing the adventure and the experience and 0:15:43.365 --> 0:15:44.845 the creativity. 0:15:44.645 --> 0:15:48.565 Are always chasing the adventure. I definitely didn't think about that. 0:15:48.645 --> 0:15:51.245 I'm not like a material kind of girl. I don't 0:15:51.285 --> 0:15:53.925 think I have been. I think that's probably come from 0:15:53.925 --> 0:15:55.605 my parents. They're not like that. Well, we never had 0:15:55.645 --> 0:15:57.845 money to be like that, so you know, you kind 0:15:57.845 --> 0:16:00.845 of have forced to be that way. And no, I didn't. 0:16:00.925 --> 0:16:04.165 I just lived and I would work whatever other jobs 0:16:04.405 --> 0:16:06.765 I had to to keep afloat so I could keep 0:16:06.765 --> 0:16:10.245 that dream alive. So you know, I would wait. I 0:16:10.245 --> 0:16:12.405 mean that's the main thing when you're a dancer. You 0:16:12.485 --> 0:16:15.005 learn how to wait tables, make coffee, do all of that. 0:16:15.645 --> 0:16:18.125 But then when I did get like Cats, I felt 0:16:18.165 --> 0:16:23.565 Cats was the best thing. Now we got seven hundred dollars. 0:16:23.445 --> 0:16:26.805 A week, Yeah, you would have been like rich. 0:16:27.205 --> 0:16:29.845 So rich, and then you also got your per diem 0:16:30.045 --> 0:16:33.965 and you're staying in these hotels all around. Well, we 0:16:34.005 --> 0:16:37.045 did Asia, and then all of Australia's saying in like 0:16:37.085 --> 0:16:39.565 great accommodation. You're getting this pa diem. You can live 0:16:39.605 --> 0:16:42.485 off the Pa dieum if you're smart, which I did, 0:16:42.965 --> 0:16:44.885 and so I felt like, yeah, I felt like I 0:16:45.005 --> 0:16:47.445 was winning at that point in my seven hundred dollars 0:16:47.445 --> 0:16:51.005 a week. But then after Cats, I somehow sort of 0:16:51.045 --> 0:16:55.205 fell into acting, and then money kind of did become 0:16:55.565 --> 0:17:00.165 slightly more appealing because it blew like a whole week 0:17:00.205 --> 0:17:03.885 of really really hard work, eight shows a week, three 0:17:03.925 --> 0:17:08.045 hour shows. You know, that's a lot plus rehearsals, all 0:17:08.045 --> 0:17:10.805 for your seven hundred bucks, But then you go and 0:17:10.845 --> 0:17:14.045 do a TV commercial and you're there for two hours 0:17:14.045 --> 0:17:17.965 and you get six grand. It sort of acting opened 0:17:17.965 --> 0:17:21.005 my eyes and probably, if I'm being really honest and truthful, 0:17:21.085 --> 0:17:25.405 I would say money certainly swayed me into the acting world. 0:17:25.965 --> 0:17:28.565 I mean, obviously your life took lots of turns, but 0:17:28.645 --> 0:17:32.285 when you were sort of in a Hollywood adjacent period, 0:17:32.285 --> 0:17:33.885 did you have your head turned that you know how 0:17:33.925 --> 0:17:36.885 you were saying before, I've never been a materialistic person, 0:17:36.885 --> 0:17:39.325 and that's obvious that your values are not that right. 0:17:39.365 --> 0:17:41.365 It's obvious, and the choices you've made the way you 0:17:41.405 --> 0:17:43.845 live your life. Did you have your head turned when 0:17:43.845 --> 0:17:47.365 you were almost adjacent to that kind of big, glitzy world. 0:17:47.365 --> 0:17:50.325 Did it seem attractive then? Were you seduced by it 0:17:50.365 --> 0:17:50.645 at all? 0:17:51.045 --> 0:17:51.605 In America? 0:17:51.725 --> 0:17:52.325 Yeah? 0:17:52.525 --> 0:17:56.845 Oh yeah. Look so my first proper acting job, you know, 0:17:56.885 --> 0:18:00.325 I did twenty three TV commercials from a dancer. I 0:18:00.445 --> 0:18:04.085 was taking some time off and I had an agent 0:18:04.205 --> 0:18:06.925 and I said to that agent, you know, I need 0:18:06.925 --> 0:18:08.725 a break, and she called like in a week in 0:18:08.805 --> 0:18:10.445 and said, hey, I've got an audition for you. And 0:18:10.445 --> 0:18:11.765 I was like, no, I need a rest, and she's like, no, 0:18:11.845 --> 0:18:14.845 it's an acting job. You just got to look longingly 0:18:14.965 --> 0:18:17.525 at a chip, like it's a KFC. You just got 0:18:17.565 --> 0:18:19.005 to look at a chip. And I was like, no, 0:18:19.045 --> 0:18:20.645 I'm not an actor. And she's like, you just pretended 0:18:20.645 --> 0:18:21.965 to be a cap for two years, Yes you are. 0:18:23.205 --> 0:18:25.765 And it pays two grand. And I was like two 0:18:25.805 --> 0:18:28.165 grand for how long? They're two grand for maybe half 0:18:28.165 --> 0:18:31.045 a day if you're there that long. Anyway, I was like, okay, 0:18:31.085 --> 0:18:34.365 I'll do that. So I did all these TV commercials 0:18:35.485 --> 0:18:38.085 and they paid really really well. I did them for 0:18:38.165 --> 0:18:42.365 probably three years. But then anyway, Baywatch came to town. Yeah, 0:18:42.605 --> 0:18:45.285 and it was my first I've done sort of a 0:18:45.365 --> 0:18:49.605 couple of little roles. I think i'd done water at anyway, 0:18:49.605 --> 0:18:52.925 a couple of little rolls, sort of one liners, not 0:18:53.165 --> 0:18:57.645 real scenes as such. Anyway, bay Watch came to town. I auditioned. 0:18:58.165 --> 0:19:01.925 That's a whole nother story. Bay Watching me was just bizarre. 0:19:02.205 --> 0:19:04.725 But what a thing, Like, what a thing to come 0:19:04.765 --> 0:19:07.325 to town. You know, when you're I don't know if 0:19:07.365 --> 0:19:09.245 you relate to this or not, but you know we're similar. 0:19:10.165 --> 0:19:12.445 Now you look back at life and you go that decision, 0:19:12.685 --> 0:19:16.205 that job, that relationship, that moment, like the things that 0:19:16.485 --> 0:19:19.925 change your path, you can see them very clearly from 0:19:19.925 --> 0:19:23.285 where we're sitting now, right, and that obviously was one 0:19:23.325 --> 0:19:24.405 of those moments. 0:19:24.765 --> 0:19:29.485 They were definitely changed the path that first audition. You know, 0:19:29.525 --> 0:19:32.765 I went in there. I was doing my TV commercials, 0:19:32.765 --> 0:19:35.485 but I was mainly working in the restaurants at that 0:19:35.525 --> 0:19:37.525 point in time, and you know, a bit of a 0:19:37.605 --> 0:19:41.405 night our partying. So I was lily white, short red hair. 0:19:42.045 --> 0:19:43.325 My agent's like, you're going to go in for this 0:19:43.365 --> 0:19:47.325 bay Watch audition. I was like, are you mental? Like no, no, 0:19:48.285 --> 0:19:50.605 And well I agreed, and then sure enough I get 0:19:50.605 --> 0:19:55.085 there everyone's you know, either blonde like the Kimberly. 0:19:55.045 --> 0:19:58.165 Yes, Kimberly Davis is that what she was called as well, 0:19:58.245 --> 0:20:00.925 the two of them. Yeah, and that was very much 0:20:01.005 --> 0:20:04.605 an esthetic at that time. There was like a Pamela 0:20:04.645 --> 0:20:09.085 Anderson obviously the bay Watch connection, but a very blonde, beautiful, curvy. 0:20:09.645 --> 0:20:13.085 Long haired, definitely beach babe, beach bod all of that. 0:20:13.285 --> 0:20:18.525 And then there was me. But for whatever reason, you 0:20:18.565 --> 0:20:21.285 know that Alexandra Paul who had been on the show prior, 0:20:21.365 --> 0:20:23.245 had the short hair. She was a bit boonboyish, you know, 0:20:23.285 --> 0:20:26.245 she was the different one she had left the show. 0:20:26.365 --> 0:20:29.565 So that's I guess how I got my start because 0:20:29.565 --> 0:20:32.485 they were looking for something just different. Yeah, no, so 0:20:32.565 --> 0:20:36.085 they was definitely put me on a different path. And 0:20:36.125 --> 0:20:39.365 when I got to Hawaii, they gave us a convertible. 0:20:39.445 --> 0:20:42.565 I was at the Hilton Hawaiian Village with one hundred 0:20:42.565 --> 0:20:47.285 and eighty k Waikiki beach views. You go into the 0:20:47.285 --> 0:20:50.445 best parties, you people are giving you clothes, so you 0:20:50.525 --> 0:20:55.005 do get a little bit carried away with that kind 0:20:55.045 --> 0:20:57.165 of life. Like it was so new, it was so different. 0:20:57.205 --> 0:20:59.365 So I went from my seven hundred dollars, as you 0:20:59.405 --> 0:21:01.685 know as a dancer, and the commercials that paid well 0:21:02.085 --> 0:21:04.845 to Now this was minimum, but it was three grand 0:21:05.165 --> 0:21:09.645 US in ninety nine and your perdem and you accommodation again, 0:21:10.045 --> 0:21:14.285 so that was huge. Our dollar was so weak at 0:21:14.285 --> 0:21:18.165 that point, so my three grand American was massive money 0:21:18.205 --> 0:21:19.485 to me. Massive. 0:21:19.925 --> 0:21:21.605 So there are times in your life where you're like, 0:21:22.085 --> 0:21:24.845 I'm nailing it. And was that one? Did you love it? 0:21:24.885 --> 0:21:28.405 Did you love all that, the parties, the convertible, the glamour. 0:21:28.605 --> 0:21:30.885 Was that very exciting or did you quickly kind of 0:21:30.885 --> 0:21:31.725 go I don't know. 0:21:32.965 --> 0:21:40.205 Yeah, both, I loved all of it. With Baywatch comes Baywatch, 0:21:40.805 --> 0:21:43.525 you know, and the stigma that's around a show like that. 0:21:43.525 --> 0:21:45.645 That acting wasn't good. I mean I learned so much 0:21:45.685 --> 0:21:48.285 so I would never ever slam it for that because 0:21:48.325 --> 0:21:52.525 it taught me all the things about camera angles and 0:21:53.205 --> 0:21:57.285 sizes and lighting and just learning lines. You know, I 0:21:57.325 --> 0:22:00.245 hadn't really done that before, so you know, it taught 0:22:00.285 --> 0:22:02.605 me a lot. But then there's also the other side 0:22:02.645 --> 0:22:04.405