WEBVTT - When MID Doesn't Come With Money 0:00:10.287 --> 0:00:14.927 You're listening to Amma Mia podcast. Mamma Mere acknowledges the 0:00:14.927 --> 0:00:17.687 traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is 0:00:17.727 --> 0:00:25.007 recorded on the midlife woman of Hollywood's imagination lives in 0:00:25.047 --> 0:00:29.927 a windswept beach house or in a chic Brooklyn brownstone, 0:00:30.567 --> 0:00:34.407 maybe a tasteful Hampton style home with a kitchen island 0:00:34.407 --> 0:00:37.287 the size of a pool table, an ape burn, a stove, 0:00:37.607 --> 0:00:41.207 and a butler's pantry out the back. She wears tasteful 0:00:41.287 --> 0:00:43.527 roll necks as she dips in and out of a 0:00:43.607 --> 0:00:47.287 fulfilling career at will, usually something she can work on 0:00:47.327 --> 0:00:50.967 at that home. Billowing with the smell of freshly baked bread, 0:00:51.927 --> 0:00:54.847 she returns from the farmer's market with arms full of 0:00:54.887 --> 0:00:59.207 freshly cut daffodils, and she brunches like she lunches often 0:00:59.327 --> 0:01:01.727 and without ever lowering her eyes to the bottom of 0:01:01.767 --> 0:01:07.367 the bill. Maybe you live like that, More likely you don't. 0:01:07.847 --> 0:01:10.567 There's something we don't like to talk about that matters 0:01:10.567 --> 0:01:15.727 more than almost anything when you're mad money, because it's 0:01:15.727 --> 0:01:18.447 a time of life when choices you weren't even aware 0:01:18.487 --> 0:01:21.247 you were making at twenty and thirty can come home 0:01:21.527 --> 0:01:24.207 and build a stinky nest on your shoulder like a 0:01:24.287 --> 0:01:29.487 squawking raven or a sweary parrot. Chose a career for love, 0:01:29.727 --> 0:01:35.327 not money. Squawk decided to study another few years. Squawk 0:01:36.087 --> 0:01:42.487 saved travel spent. Saved travel spent. Squawk got blindsided by 0:01:42.487 --> 0:01:46.487 the call to care for someone you love. Squawk seduced 0:01:46.487 --> 0:01:49.327 by the free money promise of a shiny new credit card. 0:01:49.767 --> 0:01:53.007 Squawk didn't push for that pay rise because it's not 0:01:53.127 --> 0:01:57.487 what good girls do. Squawk stopped working to be with 0:01:57.567 --> 0:02:00.687 your little kids and put your financial security in the 0:02:00.727 --> 0:02:05.367 hands of someone you thought you could always trust. Squawk Squawk. 0:02:05.647 --> 0:02:12.927 Squawk worked in a caring profession. Squawk. None of those 0:02:13.087 --> 0:02:17.167 non decisions were wrong. The very idea that there are 0:02:17.247 --> 0:02:19.847 years ahead when times will change and it might be 0:02:19.967 --> 0:02:22.967 harder to get a job, earn money, get yourself out 0:02:22.967 --> 0:02:26.127 of a difficult spot seems like science fiction. When you're 0:02:26.167 --> 0:02:29.327 young and happy to toddle a high wire without even 0:02:29.407 --> 0:02:32.727 asking about a safety net. We don't like to talk 0:02:32.767 --> 0:02:36.087 about it because of what happens when you fall. By 0:02:36.207 --> 0:02:39.207 mid we're meant to know what's what, be mature and 0:02:39.407 --> 0:02:42.687 careful and planned. We're supposed to see a clear path 0:02:42.687 --> 0:02:46.527 ahead that promises comfort and choice. But we're not immune, 0:02:46.807 --> 0:02:50.247 no matter what gen Z tell us daily from the 0:02:50.287 --> 0:02:53.487 pressures and problems of an ever more expensive world as 0:02:53.487 --> 0:02:57.807 our perceived value falls. We have mortgages and rent to make. 0:02:58.607 --> 0:03:01.247 We have families of all ages and stages to feed 0:03:01.327 --> 0:03:04.327 and care for. The cost of caring for your parents, 0:03:04.327 --> 0:03:07.127 for yourself when you need it, sales ever higher and 0:03:07.207 --> 0:03:09.927 taps you awake at night as you add and subtract 0:03:10.167 --> 0:03:13.807 and shift in your head. For one parent families, those 0:03:13.847 --> 0:03:18.207 maths get heavier and more complex. You've heard, I'm sure 0:03:18.367 --> 0:03:21.487 about the fifty something women living in their cars, that 0:03:21.567 --> 0:03:24.167 it's the group of us most likely to find themselves 0:03:24.167 --> 0:03:27.767 without a home. Maybe it's closer for you than a 0:03:27.807 --> 0:03:32.527 report on the news. And then also, we're maybe the 0:03:32.607 --> 0:03:36.167 first generation of women to have earned well en mass, 0:03:37.207 --> 0:03:40.047 the first to have serious choice about this phase of 0:03:40.047 --> 0:03:42.847 our lives to build wealth. We need to thank no 0:03:42.927 --> 0:03:46.607 one for our rebellious generation is all over the place 0:03:46.647 --> 0:03:50.047 and at all the extremes, which is for us pretty standard. 0:03:50.847 --> 0:03:53.767 Perhaps the most goal post shifting thing we can do 0:03:53.887 --> 0:03:57.407 right here is to do what our mothers didn't show 0:03:57.447 --> 0:04:04.367 each other as sweary parrots and talk about money, money, money. Hello, 0:04:04.767 --> 0:04:09.367 I am Holly Wainwright and I am Mid Mid Hi 0:04:09.567 --> 0:04:13.887 for Midfamily, Mid Overwhelm. Welcome to our show for gen 0:04:14.007 --> 0:04:16.647 X women who are anything but Mid. And I want 0:04:16.687 --> 0:04:19.047 to say that we get quite a lot of messages 0:04:19.167 --> 0:04:21.647 here at MID from people who don't fall into that 0:04:21.767 --> 0:04:25.887 specific generation but love the conversations we're having here, and 0:04:26.007 --> 0:04:28.527 I want to say to you welcome. Mid is a 0:04:28.527 --> 0:04:31.087 state of mind, friends, as well as a very real 0:04:31.167 --> 0:04:34.847 place as the generation sometimes referred to as the forgotten 0:04:34.887 --> 0:04:38.487 one between the much maligned boomers and millennials. We're always 0:04:38.487 --> 0:04:40.687 happy when we're noticed and people want to sit with us. 0:04:41.127 --> 0:04:44.407 You can sit with us. So take a seat, because 0:04:44.447 --> 0:04:48.287 today we're talking about money with someone who knows as 0:04:48.287 --> 0:04:51.367 well as many that not everyone over thirty or forty 0:04:51.607 --> 0:04:54.927 is rich. Not even everyone who's well known is rich. 0:04:55.367 --> 0:04:58.167 Not even everyone who was in an iconic TV show 0:04:58.207 --> 0:05:03.087 in the Nordies is rich. See where I'm going, Simone 0:05:03.167 --> 0:05:08.007 Jade McKinnon was and is to many Stevie from McLeod's Daughters. 0:05:08.687 --> 0:05:11.167 If You're not for Millie, that show about a family 0:05:11.207 --> 0:05:15.527 of rural women in Australia's telegenic Outback was massive in 0:05:15.567 --> 0:05:19.927 the noughties, and Simone, originally from rural Queensland herself was 0:05:20.047 --> 0:05:21.127 massive along with it. 0:05:21.487 --> 0:05:25.047 I promise I will continue to love you in good 0:05:25.087 --> 0:05:30.807 times and in bad and when I'm old and gray, 0:05:31.607 --> 0:05:33.767 you will still be the honest woman I've ever seen 0:05:33.807 --> 0:05:36.247 in my life. 0:05:36.767 --> 0:05:40.167 She joined fresh from the Baywatch Hawaii cast, with a 0:05:40.207 --> 0:05:43.727 Hollywood sta fiance on her arm and a creative career 0:05:44.007 --> 0:05:51.007 very well established, and then everything changed. Simone and her 0:05:51.047 --> 0:05:54.087 beautiful son Madigan have been living in a caravan and 0:05:54.127 --> 0:05:56.727 then a shed in her family's back paddock for the 0:05:56.767 --> 0:06:00.127 best part of a decade. She's been making Eden's meet 0:06:00.207 --> 0:06:03.807 with care as subsidy on jobs like Jillaroo, and by 0:06:03.847 --> 0:06:07.207 starting her own small business which has ridden the roller 0:06:07.247 --> 0:06:10.167 coaster of COVID many of you all late, I'm sure 0:06:10.847 --> 0:06:13.287 when she decided to step out of a dark time 0:06:13.407 --> 0:06:14.927 and back in front of a camera to go on 0:06:14.967 --> 0:06:18.087 a reality show earlier this year, it was very clearly 0:06:18.127 --> 0:06:21.687 with one goal in mind, the prize money. You'll hear 0:06:21.727 --> 0:06:25.167 how that went, and in our conversation you'll hear what 0:06:25.207 --> 0:06:26.847 it was like to be on one of the biggest 0:06:26.887 --> 0:06:29.287 shows in the world and to get fired for what 0:06:29.327 --> 0:06:32.447 you refuse to do. In Lingerie on a beach, you'll 0:06:32.487 --> 0:06:35.247 hear how she came back from crippling panic attacks during 0:06:35.247 --> 0:06:38.287 a high profile breakup to film wedding scenes for our 0:06:38.367 --> 0:06:42.247 viewing pleasure. And most importantly, you'll hear how she's kept 0:06:42.327 --> 0:06:46.127 moving and dreaming and pushing on as she's been parenting 0:06:46.167 --> 0:06:50.487 her son alone on a very minimal income. Simone is famous, 0:06:50.487 --> 0:06:52.927 but she's not rich, and we often assume those things 0:06:52.967 --> 0:06:56.407 go together. Her story might not be yours, but there's 0:06:56.447 --> 0:07:01.247 plenty of familiar territory here for all of us mids. 0:07:02.647 --> 0:07:07.407 Welcome to Mid's very first conversation about money with Simone 0:07:07.567 --> 0:07:17.567 Jade McKinnon. Simone, everyone assumes that well known people are rich, right, 0:07:18.007 --> 0:07:20.167 You've got to face that's familiar from one of the 0:07:20.207 --> 0:07:24.567 most beloved Australian TV shows of all time. But you've 0:07:24.567 --> 0:07:27.967 been very open about the fact that you're not rich. 0:07:28.207 --> 0:07:30.487 Is it a strange disconnect that people are like, there's 0:07:30.527 --> 0:07:33.927 that famous lady, she must have it all sorted out. Uh. 0:07:34.127 --> 0:07:36.847 Yeah, you know, I think a lot of people, not 0:07:36.887 --> 0:07:38.447 just because I'm a single mummy, that I think a 0:07:38.487 --> 0:07:41.727 lot of people think actors in general because they see 0:07:41.727 --> 0:07:44.367 the American actors, so they think Aussie actors are on 0:07:44.487 --> 0:07:48.247 the same pay. We get the same kind of residuals 0:07:48.327 --> 0:07:52.087 that other people maybe in America get, but yeah, you know, 0:07:52.607 --> 0:07:54.767 once you've done and dusted on a show here, there 0:07:54.807 --> 0:07:58.287 is some residuals that trickle feed, But if you haven't 0:07:58.607 --> 0:08:02.847 worked for as long as I haven't worked, then they're 0:08:02.967 --> 0:08:07.087 used up very quickly. And I guess it does shock 0:08:07.247 --> 0:08:10.247 people that we're not like America, that we can't live 0:08:10.287 --> 0:08:13.567 off one show as great as McLeod's was. We just 0:08:13.567 --> 0:08:14.647 don't get paid that much. 0:08:15.807 --> 0:08:17.927 You mean you weren't quite the Friends cast, is what 0:08:17.967 --> 0:08:18.487 you're saying. 0:08:18.807 --> 0:08:22.527 It's not even quos to what those guys got for 0:08:22.647 --> 0:08:26.327 half an hour work. Yeah, no, we're just nothing like that. 0:08:26.407 --> 0:08:30.167 So I think people they assume that it's the same 0:08:30.167 --> 0:08:32.527 as America, but I think they'd be really shocked to 0:08:32.567 --> 0:08:35.047 know what we get paid compared to what they get paid. 0:08:35.047 --> 0:08:39.007 And that's why once you gig ins it ends, Yeah, 0:08:39.007 --> 0:08:39.367 which is. 0:08:39.367 --> 0:08:42.647 Why I mean, actors always very honestly talk about living 0:08:42.647 --> 0:08:45.207 from job to job and that isn't as glamorous as 0:08:45.207 --> 0:08:47.847 it all appears. But I think people still kind of 0:08:47.887 --> 0:08:50.007 imagine that they've got it all sorted out. Tell me 0:08:50.047 --> 0:08:52.047 a bit about what your real life, as I always 0:08:52.087 --> 0:08:54.847 like to call life away from work, Tell me a 0:08:54.847 --> 0:08:57.047 bit about what your real life looks like now. 0:08:57.807 --> 0:09:02.527 My real life now is definitely different to any other lives. 0:09:02.567 --> 0:09:04.607 I feel like I've had lots of lives. There was 0:09:04.647 --> 0:09:07.007 the dancer life, there was an actor life, there's a 0:09:07.047 --> 0:09:09.847 single mum life, and now there's this kind of small 0:09:09.847 --> 0:09:15.247 business life. And the small business life is hard. So 0:09:15.287 --> 0:09:18.207 I'm in a caravan and a shed, and I've been 0:09:18.567 --> 0:09:22.687 in a caravan since twenty sixteen and I was solidly 0:09:22.727 --> 0:09:28.047 in that caravan until end of twenty and nineteen when 0:09:28.047 --> 0:09:31.487 the shed was finally built and wicked kind of spread 0:09:31.487 --> 0:09:32.207 out a little bit. 0:09:32.527 --> 0:09:34.487 And is this on a property? And I know you 0:09:34.527 --> 0:09:36.767 live in northern New well mid northern New South Wales. 0:09:36.887 --> 0:09:39.127 So is your shed in your caravan on a property? 0:09:39.407 --> 0:09:44.247 Yees? So it's on our old family land, which so 0:09:44.327 --> 0:09:47.007 I sold up. I did have. I had enough money 0:09:47.007 --> 0:09:49.087 to buy myself a nice little house. And so when 0:09:49.167 --> 0:09:53.127 Madigan was born, I relocated from South Australia to Coffs 0:09:53.127 --> 0:09:56.207 Harbor to Beanie family. Being a single mum. I knew 0:09:56.207 --> 0:09:58.767 that I needed help, and so it did. Like I 0:09:58.807 --> 0:10:02.407 had a nice house back then because of thanks to 0:10:02.487 --> 0:10:05.327 McLeod's for the years of work I put that into there. 0:10:05.367 --> 0:10:09.087 But I realized after six years in that house that 0:10:09.367 --> 0:10:10.847 I wasn't going to be able to stay. So that's 0:10:10.847 --> 0:10:13.887 why I sold up. And I wanted to do this 0:10:13.967 --> 0:10:18.607 bucket list dream, which was the round Oz run the lab. 0:10:18.807 --> 0:10:23.247 So you and your son together doing like around Australia 0:10:23.607 --> 0:10:25.887 sort of odyssey in your caravan. 0:10:26.167 --> 0:10:29.527 Right, Yeah, well I didn't. I wasn't in the acting world. 0:10:29.807 --> 0:10:31.847 You know. I thought I was nailing it as a 0:10:31.887 --> 0:10:34.967 single mum, loving it. Madigan was about to start school 0:10:35.007 --> 0:10:38.767 and I was like, this is the perfect time to 0:10:38.967 --> 0:10:41.967 do it. I'll sell up. I didn't need that big 0:10:41.967 --> 0:10:45.447 house that I had. I realized that wasn't it for me. 0:10:46.287 --> 0:10:49.087 I would rather the adventure than the things. It was 0:10:49.167 --> 0:10:51.847 great for that first six years, you know, a great 0:10:51.927 --> 0:10:55.367 home base. Madigan's first memories were in this amazing old 0:10:55.447 --> 0:10:57.447 Queenslander and you know it was lovely. 0:10:58.127 --> 0:11:01.127 You've always leant towards adventure a bit and travel. 0:11:01.127 --> 0:11:05.567 Yeah, I do. My parents traveled with me from I 0:11:05.607 --> 0:11:06.727 was two and a half. So I was born in 0:11:06.727 --> 0:11:09.047 Mount Isa, my sister was born, and then when she 0:11:09.127 --> 0:11:11.007 was six months, I was two and a half, they 0:11:11.127 --> 0:11:14.087 hit the road in a little tiny caravan. So my 0:11:14.327 --> 0:11:17.407 first memories I don't remember Mount Isa, but my first 0:11:17.447 --> 0:11:20.887 memories were in a van. Sorry it's two and a 0:11:20.887 --> 0:11:23.487 half years. So by the time I went into kindy, 0:11:23.567 --> 0:11:26.247 that's when we stopped. So I always say that it 0:11:26.327 --> 0:11:30.087 was those guys that put the sort of gypsy. They 0:11:30.127 --> 0:11:32.767 gave me the wanderlus. It just has been that way. 0:11:32.807 --> 0:11:35.367 And then I went into two different careers, you know, 0:11:35.607 --> 0:11:38.687 my dancing career. That again you're just on the move. 0:11:38.807 --> 0:11:39.967 I was out of home at sixteen. 0:11:40.047 --> 0:11:41.647 You were a ballet dancer, is that right? 0:11:42.007 --> 0:11:45.487 I was, So I auditioned and then I actually ran 0:11:45.527 --> 0:11:48.487 away kind of from the ballets to the Gold Coast. 0:11:48.927 --> 0:11:50.767 But I was still under eighteen at that point, so 0:11:50.847 --> 0:11:53.807 my mum and dad came and took me and brought 0:11:53.847 --> 0:11:57.007 me back home to Coughs. And you know, I wasn't eighteen, 0:11:57.047 --> 0:12:00.047 so I wasn't allowed to do anything until then anyway, 0:12:00.047 --> 0:12:01.967 so I had to sit around. But in that time, 0:12:02.447 --> 0:12:04.887 dance Encore gets a hold of me and says, guess 0:12:04.927 --> 0:12:07.607 what we would love to have you. We know you're 0:12:07.647 --> 0:12:10.287 not turning eighteen till March, but we can put you 0:12:10.327 --> 0:12:13.407 in rehearsals in February and the beginning of March, and 0:12:13.407 --> 0:12:16.047 you can be on a plane to Japan the day 0:12:16.047 --> 0:12:17.327 after your eighteenth birthday. 0:12:17.487 --> 0:12:19.567 The adventure begins, I know. 0:12:19.687 --> 0:12:21.687 But then I had to convince Mom and Dad are like, come, 0:12:22.727 --> 0:12:25.127 this is it? Like, because I was still that means 0:12:25.127 --> 0:12:28.527 I was going to be seventeen in Sydney while myself 0:12:28.767 --> 0:12:30.887 and I'd just run away, you know, up the coast. 0:12:31.127 --> 0:12:33.207 Did they let you do it? I assumed they did. 0:12:33.367 --> 0:12:37.847 Yeah. I somehow convinced them that it was what I wanted. 0:12:37.967 --> 0:12:41.367 And you know, I'm not going to ruin a job opportunity. 0:12:41.367 --> 0:12:43.807 It's different. I felt it would be different if I 0:12:43.847 --> 0:12:46.007 was going to be paid, you know, I'd be accountable, 0:12:46.047 --> 0:12:50.247 I'd be responsible. And I was like, I have never worked. 0:12:50.687 --> 0:12:56.007 That company taught me determination and discipline way more than 0:12:56.047 --> 0:12:59.847 the ballet school did. Like, I really learned to work 0:12:59.927 --> 0:13:03.167 my ass off in that company. And I worked for 0:13:03.207 --> 0:13:05.327 them for two years, back and forth to Japan, and 0:13:05.487 --> 0:13:06.927 it was amazing. 0:13:07.367 --> 0:13:10.287 It sounds like an incredible adventure for a young woman. 0:13:10.847 --> 0:13:13.407 It was, and you know, it was not the dancing 0:13:13.487 --> 0:13:17.127 that I had in my head as a kid, but 0:13:17.247 --> 0:13:19.487 it was just it was a great adventure and like 0:13:19.527 --> 0:13:21.767 I said, it just taught me so much. And then 0:13:21.807 --> 0:13:23.687 I came back and then I ended up doing Cats. 0:13:23.767 --> 0:13:26.367 I auditioned for Cats, and then I felt like more 0:13:26.367 --> 0:13:30.327 of a proper dancer. But I loved both just the same. 0:13:30.887 --> 0:13:32.927 Just thinking about when, I mean, we're going to obviously 0:13:32.967 --> 0:13:35.807 get to all this later, but when you choose a 0:13:35.887 --> 0:13:39.727 creative career, very few of us who choose creative careers 0:13:39.727 --> 0:13:42.967 of all different kinds and necessarily driven by money. You know, 0:13:43.047 --> 0:13:47.087 if you were driven by money and the idea of stability, 0:13:47.807 --> 0:13:54.127 steady paychecks, regular increases, investment portfolios and stuff like, it's 0:13:54.167 --> 0:13:57.607 the wrong career to choose, let's be honest, right. But 0:13:58.047 --> 0:13:59.687 one of the things when I talked to lots of 0:13:59.687 --> 0:14:02.287 midlife women now who sort of have realized later in 0:14:02.287 --> 0:14:05.847 life sometimes that, oh, like financial independence is so important. 0:14:06.727 --> 0:14:08.647 Did you ever think about that kind of stuff or 0:14:08.647 --> 0:14:11.087 were you always chasing the adventure and the experience and 0:14:11.127 --> 0:14:12.607 the creativity. 0:14:12.407 --> 0:14:16.287 Are always chasing the adventure. I definitely didn't think about that. 0:14:16.407 --> 0:14:19.007 I'm not like a material kind of girl. I don't 0:14:19.007 --> 0:14:21.647 think I have been. I think that's probably come from 0:14:21.647 --> 0:14:23.367 my parents. They're not like that. Well, we never had 0:14:23.367 --> 0:14:25.567 money to be like that, so you know, you kind 0:14:25.567 --> 0:14:28.647 of have forced to be that way. And no, I didn't. 0:14:28.687 --> 0:14:31.887 I just lived and I would work whatever other jobs 0:14:32.127 --> 0:14:34.527 I had to to keep afloat so I could keep 0:14:34.527 --> 0:14:37.647 that dream alive. So you know, I would wait tables. 0:14:37.927 --> 0:14:40.087 I mean that's the main thing when you're a dancer. 0:14:40.127 --> 0:14:42.407 You learn how to wait tables, make coffee, do all 0:14:42.447 --> 0:14:45.447 of that. But then when I did get like Cats, 0:14:45.487 --> 0:14:48.687 I thought Cats was the best thing. Now we got 0:14:49.327 --> 0:14:51.287 seven hundred dollars a. 0:14:51.367 --> 0:14:54.567 Week, yeah, you would have been like, I'm rich. 0:14:54.967 --> 0:14:57.567 So rich, and then you also got your per diem 0:14:57.807 --> 0:15:01.687 and you're staying in these hotels all around. Well we 0:15:01.727 --> 0:15:05.687 did Asia, and then all of Australia's saying, in great accommodation, 0:15:05.807 --> 0:15:07.607 you're getting this pa diem. You can live off the 0:15:07.607 --> 0:15:10.967 pa diem if you're smart, which I did, and so 0:15:11.127 --> 0:15:13.207 I felt like, yeah, I felt like I was winning 0:15:13.407 --> 0:15:15.567 at that point with my seven hundred dollars a week. 0:15:16.087 --> 0:15:19.567 But then after Cats, I somehow sort of fell into 0:15:19.647 --> 0:15:23.847 acting and then money kind of did become slightly more 0:15:23.847 --> 0:15:28.527 appealing because it blew like a whole week of really 0:15:28.567 --> 0:15:32.407 really hard work, eight shows a week, three hour shows. 0:15:33.207 --> 0:15:36.007 You know, that's a lot plus rehearsals, all for your 0:15:36.047 --> 0:15:39.087 seven hundred bucks. But then you go and do a 0:15:39.127 --> 0:15:42.007 TV commercial and you're there for two hours and you 0:15:42.047 --> 0:15:46.087 get six grand. It sort of acting opened my eyes, 0:15:46.127 --> 0:15:48.927 and probably, if I'm being really honest and truthful, I 0:15:48.967 --> 0:15:53.127 would say money certainly suaded me into the acting world. 0:15:53.727 --> 0:15:56.327 I mean, obviously your life took lots of turns, but 0:15:56.407 --> 0:16:00.007 when you were sort of in a Hollywood adjacent period, 0:16:00.047 --> 0:16:01.647 did you have your head turned that you know how 0:16:01.687 --> 0:16:04.647 you were saying before, I've never been a materialistic person, 0:16:04.647 --> 0:16:07.047 and that's obvious that your values are not that right, 0:16:07.127 --> 0:16:09.047 it's obvious, and the choices you've made, the way you 0:16:09.047 --> 0:16:11.567 live your life. Did you have your head turned when 0:16:11.607 --> 0:16:15.087 you were almost adjacent to that kind of big, glitzy world. 0:16:15.127 --> 0:16:18.087 Did it seem attractive then? Were you seduced by it 0:16:18.127 --> 0:16:18.447 at all? 0:16:18.807 --> 0:16:19.367 In America? 0:16:19.487 --> 0:16:20.047 Yeah? 0:16:20.247 --> 0:16:24.607 Oh yeah. Look, so my first proper acting job, you know, 0:16:24.647 --> 0:16:28.087 I did twenty three TV commercials from a dancer. I 0:16:28.167 --> 0:16:31.847 was taking some time off and I had an agent, 0:16:31.927 --> 0:16:34.647 and I said to that agent, you know, I need 0:16:34.687 --> 0:16:36.487 a break. And she called like in a week in 0:16:36.567 --> 0:16:38.167 and said, hey, I've got an audition for you. And 0:16:38.207 --> 0:16:39.527 I was like, no, I need a rest and she's like, no, 0:16:39.607 --> 0:16:42.567 it's an acting job. You just got to look longingly 0:16:42.727 --> 0:16:45.287 at a chip like it's a KFC. You just got 0:16:45.287 --> 0:16:46.727 to look at a chip. And I was like, no, 0:16:46.807 --> 0:16:48.367 I'm not an actor. And she's like, you just pretended 0:16:48.367 --> 0:16:49.727 to be a cap for two years. Yes you are. 0:16:50.967 --> 0:16:53.567 And it pays two grand. And I was like two 0:16:53.567 --> 0:16:55.687 grand for how long? They're like two grand for maybe 0:16:55.727 --> 0:16:58.207 half a day if you're there that long. Anyway, I 0:16:58.247 --> 0:17:00.447 was like, okay, I'll do that. So I did all 0:17:00.487 --> 0:17:05.247 these TV commercials and they paid really really well. I 0:17:05.287 --> 0:17:08.247 did them for probably three years. But then anyway, Baywatch 0:17:08.847 --> 0:17:11.847 came to town. Yeah, and it was my first I've 0:17:11.887 --> 0:17:15.127 done sort of a couple of little roles. I think 0:17:15.167 --> 0:17:18.647 i'd done water at anyway, a couple of little roles, 0:17:18.847 --> 0:17:23.527 sort of one liners, not real scenes as such. Anyway, 0:17:23.567 --> 0:17:26.527 bay Watch came to town. I auditioned. That's a whole 0:17:26.607 --> 0:17:29.647 nother story. They watching me was just bizarre. 0:17:29.927 --> 0:17:32.447 But what a thing, Like what a thing to come 0:17:32.487 --> 0:17:35.087 to town. You know, when you're I don't know if 0:17:35.127 --> 0:17:36.647 you relate to this or not, but you know we're 0:17:36.687 --> 0:17:39.247 similar ages. Now you look back at life and you 0:17:39.287 --> 0:17:43.327 go that decision, that job, that relationship, that moment. Like 0:17:43.367 --> 0:17:46.207 the things that change your path, you can see them 0:17:46.327 --> 0:17:50.127 very clearly from where we're sitting now, right, and that 0:17:50.167 --> 0:17:53.007 obviously was one of those moments they watch. 0:17:53.167 --> 0:17:57.367 Definitely changed the path. That first audition. You know, I 0:17:57.447 --> 0:18:00.567 went in there. I was doing my TV commercials, but 0:18:00.647 --> 0:18:03.527 I was mainly working in the restaurants at that point 0:18:03.567 --> 0:18:05.567 in time, and you know, a bit of a night 0:18:05.647 --> 0:18:09.127 hour partying, so I was lily white, short red hair. 0:18:09.807 --> 0:18:11.287 My agent's like, you're gonna go in for this bay 0:18:11.287 --> 0:18:15.087 Watch audition. I was like, are you mental? Like no, no, 0:18:16.007 --> 0:18:19.207 And well I agreed, and then sure enough I get there. Everyone's, 0:18:19.607 --> 0:18:22.767 you know, either blonde like the Kimberly. 0:18:22.767 --> 0:18:25.927 Yes, Kimberly Davis is that what she was called as well? 0:18:26.007 --> 0:18:26.647 The two of them? 0:18:27.367 --> 0:18:30.567 Yeah, And that was very much an aesthetic at that time. 0:18:31.167 --> 0:18:34.327 There was like a Pamea Anderson obviously the bay Watch connection, 0:18:34.407 --> 0:18:36.847 but a very blonde, beautiful, curvy. 0:18:36.767 --> 0:18:40.807 Definitely long haired, definitely beach Babe, beach board, all of that, 0:18:41.047 --> 0:18:46.287 and then there was me. But for whatever reason, you 0:18:46.327 --> 0:18:49.047 know that Alexandra Paul, who had been on the show prior, 0:18:49.087 --> 0:18:50.967 had the short hair. She was a bit boonboyish, you know, 0:18:51.047 --> 0:18:53.967 she was the different one she had left the show. 0:18:54.127 --> 0:18:57.327 So that's I guess how I got my start because 0:18:57.327 --> 0:18:59.407 they were looking for something just different. 0:18:59.567 --> 0:18:59.807 Yeah. 0:18:59.967 --> 0:19:03.567 No, so they was definitely put me on a different path. 0:19:03.727 --> 0:19:07.087 And when I got to Hawaii, they gave us a convertible. 0:19:07.207 --> 0:19:10.327 I was at the Hilton Hawaiian Villa with one hundred 0:19:10.327 --> 0:19:14.967 and eighty k Waikiki beach views. You go into the 0:19:15.047 --> 0:19:18.167 best parties, you people are giving you clothes, so you 0:19:18.287 --> 0:19:22.767 do get a little bit carried away with that kind 0:19:22.767 --> 0:19:24.927 of life, Like it was so new, it was so different. 0:19:24.927 --> 0:19:27.127 So I went from my seven hundred dollars as you 0:19:27.127 --> 0:19:29.407 know as a dancer and the commercials that paid well 0:19:29.807 --> 0:19:32.567 to now this was minimum, but it was three grand 0:19:32.927 --> 0:19:37.407 US in ninety nine and your PERDM and you accommodation again, 0:19:37.807 --> 0:19:42.007 so that was huge. Our dollar was so weak at 0:19:42.047 --> 0:19:45.887 that point, so my three grand American was massive money 0:19:45.927 --> 0:19:47.247 to me. Massive. 0:19:47.687 --> 0:19:49.367 So there are times in your life where you're like 0:19:49.807 --> 0:19:52.607 I'm nailing it. And was that one? Did you love it? 0:19:52.647 --> 0:19:56.207 Did you love all that? The parties, the convertible, the glamour. 0:19:56.367 --> 0:19:58.647 Was that very exciting or did you quickly kind of 0:19:58.647 --> 0:19:59.567 go I don't know. 0:20:00.687 --> 0:20:06.847 Yeah, both, I loved all of it. With Baywatch comes 0:20:07.407 --> 0:20:10.887 bay Watch, you know, and this that's around a show 0:20:11.007 --> 0:20:13.007 like that. That acting wasn't good. I mean I learned 0:20:13.047 --> 0:20:15.367 so much, so I would never ever slam it for 0:20:15.407 --> 0:20:19.407 that because it taught me all the things about camera 0:20:19.487 --> 0:20:24.607 angles and sizes and lighting and just learning lines. You know, 0:20:24.727 --> 0:20:27.607 I hadn't really done that before, so you know, it 0:20:27.727 --> 0:20:30.127 taught me a lot. But then there's also the other 0:20:30.167 --> 0:20:33.087 side of Baywatch, which was the weight. Yeah. 0:20:33.127 --> 0:20:34.687 I was going to say, what was it like being 0:20:34.687 --> 0:20:37.047 in your cozi all the time? Did you feel pressure 0:20:37.087 --> 0:20:38.767 around other women? 0:20:39.567 --> 0:20:41.887 Yeah? One hundred percent. And because the girls out there 0:20:41.887 --> 0:20:45.287 were absolutely extraordinary. I went in there the smallest I've 0:20:45.327 --> 0:20:47.487 ever been. I think I was weighing in it. This 0:20:47.607 --> 0:20:51.967 is horrible, forty five kilo and I'm five seven When 0:20:52.007 --> 0:20:54.447 I first got there, because I was so paranoid before 0:20:54.487 --> 0:20:59.567 I went that, I just trained like nothing else and 0:20:59.607 --> 0:21:02.447 all I ate was protein and I stripped down and 0:21:02.527 --> 0:21:04.527 I thought I was looking okay, But I looked back 0:21:04.567 --> 0:21:07.127 at those first few episodes of Baywatch and I'm like 0:21:07.647 --> 0:21:10.287 so thin, like A couldn't see it in real life. 0:21:10.367 --> 0:21:13.887 But when I watched it back, it was also. 0:21:13.647 --> 0:21:18.887 Though that nineties esthetic was tiny right like sometimes when 0:21:18.927 --> 0:21:21.767 you look. But I mean, and I was watching TV 0:21:21.927 --> 0:21:25.007 at that time and very much immersed in that. It definitely, 0:21:25.207 --> 0:21:26.887 as I say, seems to have been a time when 0:21:26.927 --> 0:21:29.967 we decided that women needed to be absolutely tiny in that. 0:21:30.007 --> 0:21:32.767 With that, so you're in Hawaii, you're getting paid money 0:21:32.767 --> 0:21:35.167 that to you is like wow, and living the life. 0:21:35.327 --> 0:21:36.847 There's a lot of shit that comes along with it, 0:21:36.887 --> 0:21:40.447 like you're not allowed to eat, but you're going to 0:21:40.527 --> 0:21:42.727 all the parties, you're meeting Hollywood stars and all the 0:21:42.767 --> 0:21:43.247