Speaker 1: You're listening to Amma mea podcast. Mama Mia acknowledges the
Speaker 1: traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is
Speaker 1: recorded on.
Speaker 2: Jimmy and I have known each other for like twenty
Speaker 2: five thirty years, I think, so there was no feelings
Speaker 2: for a really, really long time. So I was shocked
Speaker 2: when I started having feelings.
Speaker 1: From Mamma Mia. You're listening to No Filter and I'm
Speaker 1: Meya Friedman. You know, a few weeks ago I went
Speaker 1: to the logis and you may have heard about it
Speaker 1: because I posted so much on my socials and I
Speaker 1: talked about it on Mama Mea out loud because well,
Speaker 1: I don't get out much. And there's something about the cheesy,
Speaker 1: homegrown nature of the logies that appeals to everyone over
Speaker 1: the age of I don't know, probably around twenty five.
Speaker 1: Gen Z's meanwhile, probably couldn't name a single person who
Speaker 1: was on that Logi's red carpet, or locate a commercial
Speaker 1: TV channel on their TV if they even have TV.
Speaker 1: They probably just watch on their phones. But stop any
Speaker 1: Australian on the street, no matter how well they are,
Speaker 1: and I bet they will have heard of the show
Speaker 1: Home and Away to Get You and there is no
Speaker 1: more iconic star of this show than Nata Nikodimo, the
Speaker 1: actress who's played the character of Leah for twenty four years,
Speaker 1: since she was twenty three years old, so more than
Speaker 1: half her life and a lot has happened to Leah
Speaker 1: the character in that time. Can you imagine, so piers
Speaker 1: are like dog years. Her character has had a few
Speaker 1: husbands dye in her She's had many love interests. She's
Speaker 1: experienced racism and anxiety and single parenthood. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: been a busy time. And in the eight years that
Speaker 1: her co star James Stewart has been playing the role
Speaker 1: of Justin on Home and Away, AIDA's character and James's
Speaker 1: characters have interacted and kind of circled each other in
Speaker 1: the great tradition of soap operas, until they became romantically
Speaker 1: involved and then had a very big romantic TV wedding
Speaker 1: earlier this year.
Speaker 2: I will always love you. You never gave ups, even
Speaker 2: when I asked you to.
Speaker 1: If you don't watch Home and Away, but you are
Speaker 1: around my age. Probably the best comparison would be Scott
Speaker 1: and Charlene in Neighbours in the eighties or the nineties.
Speaker 1: In real life, Ada was married for many years to
Speaker 1: the father of her twelve year old son, a guy
Speaker 1: called Chris, and after they divorced, she was in another
Speaker 1: long term relationship with a guy called Adam. And neither
Speaker 1: of these men were famous. You probably don't even know
Speaker 1: their names. I had to look them up because her
Speaker 1: private life was not the stuff of gossip columns. It
Speaker 1: was very much on the down low. But after Ada
Speaker 1: split with her partner a while ago and James Stewart
Speaker 1: got divorced from his wife, there had been rumors that
Speaker 1: they're on screen shep had spilled over to their real life.
Speaker 1: So when Aida walked onto the Logi stage with James
Speaker 1: that night a few weeks ago and they were holding
Speaker 1: hands with big grins on their faces, I did a
Speaker 1: big whoo from the audience because I'm very immature, but
Speaker 1: also because this was one hell of a hard launch.
Speaker 1: The last time I spoke to Ada, three years ago
Speaker 1: on No Filter, she was still with her long term
Speaker 1: partner Adam, and James was just her co star. But
Speaker 1: a lot can change in a woman's life when she
Speaker 1: makes some hard choices and puts herself first. And that's
Speaker 1: what this conversation is about. Ada looked more comfortable in
Speaker 1: her skin than I'd ever seen her when she walked
Speaker 1: into the studio to record this episode of No Filter,
Speaker 1: and I began our conversation by asking how she felt
Speaker 1: walking onto the stage and effectively announcing to the whole
Speaker 1: industry and the whole world, yeah, it is on.
Speaker 2: I was like, I think I skipped it. You see
Speaker 2: me skip. I don't know why I skipped, because I'm
Speaker 2: an idiot. I was really excited. I was really excited.
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously we were going to go to the
Speaker 2: Logis anyway, because it's a work event, so we're always going.
Speaker 2: And it is the first time that we were photographed
Speaker 2: together and all that. I didn't realize that we're going
Speaker 2: to be presenting together until probably a month before. But
Speaker 2: it was just really nice to share that moment with
Speaker 2: him and just to finally go, yeah, we're together, Like
Speaker 2: no big deal.
Speaker 1: Guys, like except for me in the audience.
Speaker 2: So you know, not that I'm comparing myself to Meryl
Speaker 2: Streep here, but I was. I think I was listening
Speaker 2: to you guys the other day, and you know, it
Speaker 2: was the Spill, and you guys were talking about Meryl
Speaker 2: Streep maybe being together with Martin Sure, Martin Sure and
Speaker 2: Star and only Murders in the building. And there is
Speaker 2: something really exciting when coast stars get together. So I
Speaker 2: get it. I totally get.
Speaker 1: Do you mean exciting for the fans or exciting for
Speaker 1: the co stars?
Speaker 2: No, well, hopefully for the coast, yeah, but no for
Speaker 2: the fans. And I really get into TV shows like
Speaker 2: I totally do, and I totally go. I wonder if
Speaker 2: they're together, we all do, like if Yeah, that's just
Speaker 2: what you do. But yes, it was I guess a
Speaker 2: little bit of a hard launch, so to speak. But
Speaker 2: it was just about us hanging out and having a
Speaker 2: great time and we had a great weekend and we
Speaker 2: went out for dinner the night before and it was
Speaker 2: just really fun.
Speaker 1: How do you decide when to talk about it publicly?
Speaker 1: You're not someone who usually gets stalked by paparazzi, not
Speaker 1: too much. You do when there's something going on in
Speaker 1: your life, but you manage to mostly live your life
Speaker 1: out of that spotlight, perhaps because you've been in it
Speaker 1: for so many years and you've not before dated anyone
Speaker 1: famous that we know of. Yeah, like, how long did
Speaker 1: you have to take steps to keep things quiet?
Speaker 2: I don't think it was that strategic. I just think
Speaker 2: it was very new. We were just getting together. We
Speaker 2: just wanted to do our thing. Unfortunately, when we were papped,
Speaker 2: then got out there and we didn't want that again,
Speaker 2: so we got papped kissing. I mean it was a
Speaker 2: really hot flow was actually where were you? Oh my god?
Speaker 2: It looked like we so was anazac day. We were
Speaker 2: like played two up and just like at around We're
Speaker 2: excited literally no literally like the dorkiest par but we're
Speaker 2: like the best day. And we were just getting in
Speaker 2: an uber to go back. But we were out the
Speaker 2: front of the Ritz and the lights were like, you know,
Speaker 2: the lights are on at the Ritz, and he just
Speaker 2: gave me a bit of a kiss. We were waiting
Speaker 2: for Uber and then next minute we were papped.
Speaker 1: Did you know that at the time that you'd been papped?
Speaker 1: When you get papped as a famous person, are you
Speaker 1: aware or you only know when you see the pictures on.
Speaker 2: Arm It depends. In that case. We didn't know until
Speaker 2: once we sort of we're not kissing, and then James
Speaker 2: saw the car like the pap like sort of further away.
Speaker 2: So I think we've been followed all day and which.
Speaker 1: You get thinking feeling it's really really creepy.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean okay, everyone knew who needed to
Speaker 2: know anyway, Like, it wasn't like we were hiding it
Speaker 2: from anyone.
Speaker 1: Who was a person you told?
Speaker 2: Oh geez, oh my best friends to mine? Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: my best friends of mine? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Was she shocked?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah I was shocked.
Speaker 1: You were shocked?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was shocked. Jimmy and I have known each
Speaker 2: other for like twenty five thirty years, I think, so
Speaker 2: there was no feelings for a really really long time.
Speaker 2: So I was shocked when I started having feelings. But yeah,
Speaker 2: someone was shocked because she knew how I felt about him,
Speaker 2: like all this time. So yes, like he was a
Speaker 2: brother yeah, like a friend yeah, like a yeah, like
Speaker 2: a work yeah, like a work friend yeah yeah, yeah
Speaker 2: was there?
Speaker 1: I mean you had to kiss and stuff as work friends, yeah,
Speaker 1: which is not what most people do with their work friends.
Speaker 1: It's weird, but acting is weird.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, what's.
Speaker 1: That like kissing someone who is just your mate? Is
Speaker 1: it just like you feel nothing or you're a human
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh yeah it's a nice kiss or
Speaker 1: not a nice kiss.
Speaker 2: I think it's kind of weird how I don't feel anything.
Speaker 2: I think it's because I've been doing that for nearly
Speaker 2: thirty years, Like I've been acting that it is just
Speaker 2: choreography and you're in a room, you know what it's like.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it's like.
Speaker 2: Well, like I said, no, but you've been you know
Speaker 2: producing now, you know, like TV shit, like when you're
Speaker 2: filming something or have you seen a kissing scene been filmed?
Speaker 1: I've seen a kissing scene.
Speaker 2: Isn't that hilarious?
Speaker 1: That? Yeah? No, I don't like I haven't been on
Speaker 1: set that much. I'm more on set for the office
Speaker 1: scenes with Strata, so I haven't been on set for
Speaker 1: the more intimate scene. Okay, is there isn't an intimacy
Speaker 1: coordinator on Home and Aways? There the launchy there is
Speaker 1: now it's even just for kissing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I've never had an intimacy coordinator,
Speaker 2: and I would have liked to throughout the years. I
Speaker 2: think it's a real it's a recent thing and I
Speaker 2: think gets better, absolutely better. I think it's great that
Speaker 2: there's rules. I think it's and again understanding the boreography,
Speaker 2: understanding where the other person's going to go, and you
Speaker 2: know at this point your hand's going to go here,
Speaker 2: and at that point your arm's gonna get like so.
Speaker 1: Before there was an intimacy coordinator. I love how you
Speaker 1: call it choreography. That's such an interesting way to put it.
Speaker 1: Because you are your actors, You're moving and doing things
Speaker 1: in a certain order for a camera and an audience.
Speaker 1: How did it used to happen before there was an
Speaker 1: intimacy coordinator? How did you work out the choreography?
Speaker 2: I think sometimes you just didn't. It was sort of
Speaker 2: in the moment. I think it depends, it depends who
Speaker 2: the director was. I think it was a little bit rogue.
Speaker 2: I don't think we had all of this. We didn't
Speaker 2: have all of this beforehand. And you either talk to
Speaker 2: your fellow actor beforehand and this is what I'm comfortable with,
Speaker 2: this is not what I'm comfortable with. This is what
Speaker 2: we need from the scene as well, and with the director.
Speaker 2: But other than that, there wasn't a lot of talk.
Speaker 2: Like I think it's great that there is now I'm
Speaker 2: forty seven, so I can say I'm not comfortable with this,
Speaker 2: or I am comfortable with whatever.
Speaker 1: What might you not be comfortable with? What's an example
Speaker 1: of what you wouldn't.
Speaker 2: Be comfortable, Well, I wouldn't do any nudity that's.
Speaker 1: Not a home and away thing like.
Speaker 2: That would never be proposed to you know, No, but
Speaker 2: there might be I don't know, turning up to work
Speaker 2: with you know, you could have just little pasty things
Speaker 2: on your boobs and you know, I've never done that,
Speaker 2: so actually I have. Oh there's something coming up where
Speaker 2: our characters skinny dip. But again we were I was
Speaker 2: wearing like a full swimming costume and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: That's the first time I've ever done something like that
Speaker 2: as well. But yeah, I wouldn't be comfortable with being
Speaker 2: touched in paces that I'm just not comfortable being touched
Speaker 2: in with. Is that the right grammar? You know? And
Speaker 2: I don't want to be doing like full on sex
Speaker 2: scenes and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: No, can I ask when there's kissing, is there like
Speaker 1: rules that like no tongue, no tongue? Is that an
Speaker 1: explicit rule or do you do you beforehand just go
Speaker 1: just to be clear no tongue or does every reactor
Speaker 1: just know that there's never a tongue.
Speaker 2: So every actor knows that there's no tongue. But when
Speaker 2: you're just working with an actor for the first time,
Speaker 2: you will say that, you will say no tongue Like obviously,
Speaker 2: once I worked with Jimmy for a long time, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't have to say that because you would just know.
Speaker 2: But yeah, when you first tart out with someone, you.
Speaker 1: Now that you're actually dating, is their tongue?
Speaker 2: No, it's still like it's choreography. Like it's so weird
Speaker 2: because again, going back to my point earlier, you're in
Speaker 2: a room full of people, Well that's true, do you
Speaker 2: know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like I forgot about that.
Speaker 2: And actually it's probably even weirder now because I don't
Speaker 2: want people think that because we're together, Like it's very professional.
Speaker 1: So you've got a way that your characters kiss, and
Speaker 1: then you had to find a way that Aida and
Speaker 1: Jimmy kisses Aida and Jimmy.
Speaker 2: I don't think we think about it this point.
Speaker 1: What do you think my overthinking it?
Speaker 2: But do you think about how you kiss your husband?
Speaker 1: No? But I don't have to pretend kiss him when
Speaker 1: he was my mate for twenty years, when I was
Speaker 1: with someone else and he was too, and then it's
Speaker 1: like it's very different.
Speaker 2: Look I know, but okay, it's kind of like you
Speaker 2: have feelings and then you don't like as in it
Speaker 2: is just like doing dance moves. So I don't know
Speaker 2: whether every other actor feels at me, but I just
Speaker 2: turn on. I'm just dancing. Yeah, So like for example,
Speaker 2: when I do Dance with the Stars and I'm like
Speaker 2: very close dancing with the other dancer.
Speaker 1: Also no tongue though, no tongue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, everyone knows that it is just choreography, right, and
Speaker 2: you can be like very close to someone. Now. I
Speaker 2: don't know whether this is normal that you can just
Speaker 2: turn off and turn on like this.
Speaker 1: I don't know, But tell me about catching feelings for
Speaker 1: someone and the awkwardness of knowing someone really well, because
Speaker 1: for most people, and I know it was like this
Speaker 1: for you and your past two long term relationships, it's
Speaker 1: like the feelings come first before anything happens, before you
Speaker 1: get to know the person. It's like either the physical
Speaker 1: attraction or the feelings, and then you get to know
Speaker 1: them afterwards. But when you do it in reverse and
Speaker 1: you fall in love with a friend, yeah, yeah, is
Speaker 1: there like one just moment in the movies, like when
Speaker 1: you look at him and it's done, Like what, Yeah.
Speaker 2: It was like it was for me all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: I'm like, huh, Like.
Speaker 1: What made you go huh?
Speaker 2: It's kind of like, do you know everything has to
Speaker 2: be aligned? But it's like when you, I don't know,
Speaker 2: you see things differently. How to explain it, Like it's
Speaker 2: like you have chemistry for the first I don't know
Speaker 2: what it is. It's just this there's this spark that
Speaker 2: happens that wasn't there before, Like it was just a
Speaker 2: weird Yeah, it was just a weird like thing that
Speaker 2: happened in that moment, Like it was a weird it
Speaker 2: was just weird spark.
Speaker 1: After this short break outgrowing old relationships, starting new ones,
Speaker 1: navigating blended families with Aida Nicotino. When we last spoke,
Speaker 1: you were still with your partner Adam, and you been
Speaker 1: divorced from Chris, your husband and the father of your son,
Speaker 1: who was at the time nine he's now twelve. Yeah, Jonas,
Speaker 1: you had a blended family. I don't know if Adam
Speaker 1: did Adam have kids? No, So I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you without delving into your private life. But that's exactly
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. But you know, benefits in the news
Speaker 1: at the moment, and I've got a lot of friends
Speaker 1: who've been part of blended families brought their kids together
Speaker 1: with either a step parent and step siblings often and
Speaker 1: then when that relationship ends, how do you deconstruct it? Well,
Speaker 1: because Jonas spent a lot of his life with Adam.
Speaker 2: With Adam, yeah, and that's still a relationship, you know,
Speaker 2: and that's a very important relationship. You know, Adam loves
Speaker 2: Jonas and Jonas loves Adam, and they lived together for
Speaker 2: a really long time, and you know, you take him
Speaker 2: to school and you know, he brought him up as well.
Speaker 1: Does he still see Chris as well? His father, his biology,
Speaker 1: so we share custody you father's Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, no, he's got one father, he's got and I've
Speaker 2: always made that really clear. But he's got like I
Speaker 2: guess like a step parent or another adult in his
Speaker 2: life that has helped to bring him up as well.
Speaker 1: What a great thing for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, And that's the way I've always
Speaker 2: put that. You know, I think he's very lucky to
Speaker 2: have Adam in his life. And he's very different to Chris,
Speaker 2: so he gets different stuff out of Adam that he
Speaker 2: would from Chris. But yeah, that relationship definitely should still
Speaker 2: keep going. I think that's really important.
Speaker 1: The decision to end that relationship after quite a long time.
Speaker 1: Glennon Doyle talks about this thing about when you've got
Speaker 1: a choice between disappointing other people and disappointing yourself, you've
Speaker 1: always got to choose to disappoint other people. Was it
Speaker 1: a difficult decision?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2: Of course it was. Yeah, And I'm not really good
Speaker 2: at disappointing other people. I always disappoint myself. Absolutely, is it.
Speaker 2: It's nothing that just happens overnight when you know the
Speaker 2: end of a relationship. It's over a really long period
Speaker 2: of time. But yeah, life is short, and you do
Speaker 2: you have to be happy. And I did choose myself. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And what like would your friends say, is different about
Speaker 1: you now as opposed to maybe three years ago when
Speaker 1: we had a conversation.
Speaker 2: Jeez, I don't know, because I'm not trying to think
Speaker 2: about what I was like three years ago. What I
Speaker 2: can say is me now as opposed to me, say
Speaker 2: last year or the year beforehand, is like, I think
Speaker 2: I'm more ater again. I feel open, freer. Not saying
Speaker 2: that Adam, I was just okay. So it's so hard
Speaker 2: when you're you're at different stages of your life, and
Speaker 2: you're just different in different stages of your life, and
Speaker 2: you need different things and you sometimes just attract different
Speaker 2: people in different stages of your life. But I do
Speaker 2: feel like I'm more myself than I have been in
Speaker 2: a really long time. I laugh a lot. I'm really happy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm really happy.
Speaker 1: You seem really happy. It's easy to lose your identity
Speaker 1: in a long term relationship, isn't it. And it's not
Speaker 1: to say that you can't get it back again within
Speaker 1: that relationship, and I think there are times, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it can be really tricky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's and it's both your faults, Like it's always,
Speaker 2: like you know, it's not just it just happens.
Speaker 1: So Jonas was nine when we last spoke. He's now twelve.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty interesting age for a boy because it's
Speaker 1: when you and he have always been so close. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I know that, like twelve thirteen was when my
Speaker 1: son's started to pull away from me or you're getting to.
Speaker 2: Arsed, Yeah, I know, because it's yeah, he's going into
Speaker 2: high school next year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how are you managing with.
Speaker 2: I don't know, Like every time you say that and
Speaker 2: I say this to people. You know, my buddy Mia
Speaker 2: always says that, you know, you're slowly breaking up with
Speaker 2: them every day, and it's I don't know how I'm
Speaker 2: going to cope because I'm already studying. Even though we're
Speaker 2: really close, I can see he's just growing up and
Speaker 2: I can see he's changing. Like and we to the
Speaker 2: Swans a few weeks ago, and we were catching public
Speaker 2: transport like we always do, and I said to him,
Speaker 2: do you know what, buddy, You're gonna work out what bus?
Speaker 2: You know, the tram blah blah blah. And he did
Speaker 2: it so well like he was, which is great. It's
Speaker 2: actually a really good thing. And then like even when
Speaker 2: we got to our seats, people were sitting in our
Speaker 2: seats and sorry, I'm so sorry, you're just sitting in
Speaker 2: our seats. Like he just knew how to get himself
Speaker 2: right now. That's lovely, it's actually really great. But he's
Speaker 2: needing me less and less, and that's hard. It's really hard.
Speaker 1: It's a weird thing when your job is to make
Speaker 1: yourself redundant, and that's the mark of you doing a
Speaker 1: good job. Yeah, as a mother, particularly of a son
Speaker 1: and a daughter, as well, but with girls it's just different.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: Ah, girls, you've got a mum. Girls and their relationships
Speaker 1: with their mums. We push each other's buttons. Also, you
Speaker 1: know that old saying A daughter is a daughter for life,
Speaker 1: a son is best friend until he gets a wife,
Speaker 1: or so I've mailed it, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And it's like what I always found hardest was that
Speaker 1: the way I love my sons and my daughter, but
Speaker 1: particularly my sons for this reason it's different, is the
Speaker 1: same as when they were two.
Speaker 2: Totally.
Speaker 1: The way they love me is different. Like my eyes
Speaker 1: light up still when I see them, even my son
Speaker 1: who's twenty seven, and their eyes don't light up in
Speaker 1: that same way, and that is hard. But if their
Speaker 1: eyes didn't light up, you probably wouldn't be have done
Speaker 1: such a great job because they need to move away
Speaker 1: from you a little bit and find themselves in the
Speaker 1: biggest gift you can give them is letting them, not
Speaker 1: letting them go completely. But they do come back if
Speaker 1: the foundation is there. I'm here to tell you that
Speaker 1: they do come back. But it's almost like you've had
Speaker 1: all access, all areas, and then the war comes down, slowly, slowly, Yeah.
Speaker 1: The other thing I've noticed your social is just your
Speaker 1: human sunshine on social media when when you flick through
Speaker 1: Instagram and there's just shouting people and Instagram's becoming increasingly
Speaker 1: like Twitter in some places. But you seem to have
Speaker 1: really found yourself on social in a way that not
Speaker 1: many famous people do. Yeah, yeah, tell me about how
Speaker 1: you're finding that.
Speaker 2: Like so, okay, well what do I like to see?
Speaker 2: I like to see people being dickheads, you know, and
Speaker 2: I just want to laugh, and I want to relate.
Speaker 2: I want to see pretty things as well. Don't get
Speaker 2: me wrong. I love all the fashion stuff. I love
Speaker 2: all the makeup stuff, such a girl, but I just
Speaker 2: like all the dorky real stuff as well. And also,
Speaker 2: you know, I like relating to people, and I want
Speaker 2: people to relate to me as well, and just you know,
Speaker 2: show people what I'm struggling with, like not understanding the
Speaker 2: terminology that the kids are saying these days, like what
Speaker 2: the hell like this is gibbitty toilet.
Speaker 1: The reel that you made with Jonas was so funny
Speaker 1: and he loved it. He's very good.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you some words, and you need
Speaker 2: to explain what they are Okay, Sigma, you're cool. You're like,
Speaker 2: what's so, I've got a lot of risks. No, I'm
Speaker 2: going to put it in a centers. I woke up
Speaker 2: today and I was so reals, I'm just gonna slay
Speaker 2: the day at home away.
Speaker 1: And I want to ask you about that three years
Speaker 1: ago you said to me, because I was asking you
Speaker 1: what it's like for him when you're recognized in public,
Speaker 1: and you said something that surprised me. You said, he
Speaker 1: really likes it now because he understands it and it's
Speaker 1: kind of exciting to him that his mum's famous. Even
Speaker 1: though he's never known anything different, he can see the
Speaker 1: benefits of it now. And you said something like he's
Speaker 1: got a real camera eye or his camera hungry or something. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, well, I think back then what I was worried
Speaker 2: about was that he was fame hungry like that. We
Speaker 2: like liked it so much, but it was like really
Speaker 2: important to it and he didn't understand. I don't want
Speaker 2: him to grow up and go I want to be
Speaker 2: a YouTube star, yeah, which he was saying that back then.
Speaker 1: Because they're the celebrities that the kids have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I've seen watching YouTube or time what are
Speaker 2: you watching Like it's weird what they watch?
Speaker 1: But I was.
Speaker 2: I don't think he was developed enough to understand all
Speaker 2: of that. And I still he still doesn't have a phone.
Speaker 2: That's the next thing that tigh school. Maybe I'm struggling
Speaker 2: with really hard. Yeah, he just got the watch yesterday
Speaker 2: where I can ring him. He doesn't have a phone,
Speaker 2: so I'm still sort of trying to navigate all of that.
Speaker 2: I now do some videos with him because I think
Speaker 2: he understands the difference. Don't let him see the likes,
Speaker 2: don't let him understand all the other stuff that comes
Speaker 2: with it. But it's how we behave at home. I'm
Speaker 2: literally like, we laugh all the time and we do
Speaker 2: the dumbest stuff and I kind of like really harassing
Speaker 2: him as well.
Speaker 1: Isn't it the best?
Speaker 2: It's the best. So any opportunity where I can embarrass him.
Speaker 1: By saying I actually find it really lay all day
Speaker 1: on home and away because I know.
Speaker 2: That that's really dorky. He was so embarrassing mum. But yeah,
Speaker 2: so I find that stuff really funny. But I still
Speaker 2: do live in it. I mainly do it because it
Speaker 2: is our relationship, but also I get to embarrass him,
Speaker 2: and it's so much.
Speaker 1: Of who you are. Like, I don't put my kids
Speaker 1: on social I didn't when they were little, not because
Speaker 1: I judge anyone who does, but because not so much now.
Speaker 1: But in the past, there's swirled quite a bit of
Speaker 1: hate around me from certain places and trolls and stuff,
Speaker 1: and I've just never wanted to expose them to that,
Speaker 1: so I've just kept them away. But like, there's so
Speaker 1: much a part of who I am and my identity
Speaker 1: and my life that it feels like I'm not showing
Speaker 1: my whole self. So I understand for you, because just
Speaker 1: everyone loves you. It's beautiful to be able to show
Speaker 1: that side of yourself, which is you as a mother.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I still think I have to guard it
Speaker 2: a little bit. Like you know, sometimes at school people
Speaker 2: do look me up, and there has been sort of
Speaker 2: those moments where he gets really upset and they'll show
Speaker 2: him stuff that they shouldn't be showing him.
Speaker 1: What's the worst thing someone could google about you?
Speaker 2: Oh? Well, the worst thing that happened to Jonas was
Speaker 2: that they googled me and they found stuff about Harrison
Speaker 2: and then they were talking to him about it, and
Speaker 2: that came up again because we had the anniversary of
Speaker 2: his passing not that long ago, and it happened again.
Speaker 1: Harrison is Jonas's brother who you tragically lost when he
Speaker 1: was still born. And Jonas knows about Harrison obviousness, of
Speaker 1: course he does, but it's not something that he wants
Speaker 1: to talk.
Speaker 2: About, No, And he was really upset about it, and
Speaker 2: and I was so upset that that happened again. But
Speaker 2: I said, buddy, Wit, unfortunately, that's going to happen, you know,
Speaker 2: and as you go into high school, it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: There's the kids being mean about it or they were
Speaker 1: just like it just felt inappropriate, and he didn't want
Speaker 1: to talk about about it.
Speaker 2: I think it was a bit of both, Yeah, yeah
Speaker 2: and yeah. So I just said, this's going to happen.
Speaker 2: I think as he goes into high school, there's going
Speaker 2: to be teenage boys that are going to google stuff
Speaker 2: and they're going to say stuff to him.
Speaker 1: At least there aren't nouds out of you around, you know,
Speaker 1: like they could have been. Imagine that that.
Speaker 2: Would exactly exactly. But we need a few lines. We
Speaker 2: need a few lines that you say and that you're
Speaker 2: prepared like that's going to happen, So let's prepare you
Speaker 2: for it. But it's awful, like I've chosen this job
Speaker 2: like he hasn't. But yeah, it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: After this short break. How does they navigate fame the
Speaker 1: perhaps and what do you do when your life becomes clickbait?
Speaker 1: How it's fame changed. You've been famous for so long,
Speaker 1: since you're a kid. And like back in the day,
Speaker 1: it was very there were rules or there were guardrails
Speaker 1: for it. Like famous people would sell stories about their
Speaker 1: weddings or about their baby and they would be paid
Speaker 1: for those and they were nice. Pictures would be done
Speaker 1: and they would give an interview and the interview would
Speaker 1: be nice, and it was all very controlled. Yes, and
Speaker 1: now was it or wasn't it. No, that's how it
Speaker 1: was from the outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like yes, there was. But also like there was
Speaker 2: more paps around. I think back then, and I think
Speaker 2: there was more money to be made because there was
Speaker 2: more mags out.
Speaker 1: Before there was social media and you could control your
Speaker 1: own Yeah, have your own voice out there.
Speaker 2: So in one respect, now at least you can control
Speaker 2: a little bit of it. There's less paps and unless
Speaker 2: you know you're kissing your co star father Ritz. You're
Speaker 2: not really getting followed, so it is quite controlled, I
Speaker 2: think now as opposed to then. But you know everyone
Speaker 2: didn't have camera phones back then. Oh yeah as well,
Speaker 2: thank god?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine?
Speaker 2: Thank god? Like when we were growing up, you know,
Speaker 2: we were all sixteen seventeen eighteen, like we all went
Speaker 2: to nightclub like, thank god that there isn't. But now
Speaker 2: wherever you are people can take Like you're in Coles,
Speaker 2: people are taking a photo of you.
Speaker 1: What do you do when that happens?
Speaker 2: I always take a photo?
Speaker 1: What do you mean? Oh no, I don't mean when
Speaker 1: they come up. But if do people come up and
Speaker 1: say can I have a selfie? Or are they do
Speaker 1: people do that sneaky thing?
Speaker 2: I do see the sneaky thing? Is that shit you
Speaker 2: you'll get? Does? I think it's a little bit rude,
Speaker 2: But I never say anything, do you know? I don't
Speaker 2: know if I've told you this story last time? But okay,
Speaker 2: So my beautiful friend li Ma Grangeer plays Irene on
Speaker 2: Home and Away. Love her to bits, but she gets
Speaker 2: the shits a lot. Like you know, if people just
Speaker 2: she'll say no, if she's not up for a photo.
Speaker 2: It's so great. She'll say no, we'll be at the
Speaker 2: airport waiting for our lugi.
Speaker 1: How does she do it? Nah?
Speaker 2: Nah, I'm just not up for it, darb n not
Speaker 2: doing it. Stuff like that, And I'm like, oh, I'll
Speaker 2: do it. Whatever you want. You want to take a photo,
Speaker 2: I'll take a photo.
Speaker 1: Can I carry a bag to it? I'll do it.
Speaker 2: I always over compensate. Or if they call her Irene,
Speaker 2: my name's Lynn, I'm like, oh, I don't care what
Speaker 2: you call Literally could call me whatever you want. I'm
Speaker 2: always doing that. Anyway, we were in Melbourne watching Wicked
Speaker 2: and I think it's a Princess Theater or something. Anyway, intermission,
Speaker 2: we're waiting for the loop and there's one line. It's
Speaker 2: a long line and it's like this narrow corridor right,
Speaker 2: you can't move, And there was these girls in front
Speaker 2: of us and they were doing the sly little thing
Speaker 2: taking a photo. Lynn lost her ship, like she lost
Speaker 2: her ship. You know, I can see what you're doing.
Speaker 2: Do you realize how rhythm? And she's lost her ship.
Speaker 2: The problem was then we had nowhere to go. We
Speaker 2: were still in the line. We could through and then
Speaker 2: she's like, oh, I should have done that. You shouldn't
Speaker 2: have done that.
Speaker 1: People must lose their ship when they see the two
Speaker 1: of you together, because I imagine when you buy yourself,
Speaker 1: it's easier for you to get around, is it or not?
Speaker 1: I meantinctive.
Speaker 2: So I've got this tunnel vision thing where I don't see.
Speaker 1: All of that, and you don't see people seeing you.
Speaker 2: I don't. So it's annoying actually because you're not looking
Speaker 2: at everything. But that's what I love. When I go
Speaker 2: to Europe or the States or whatever, I could just
Speaker 2: I just look. I look at everything, and people are
Speaker 2: rude to me. But people not rude, but they're just normal.
Speaker 1: That must feel refreshing.
Speaker 2: It away so good, it's so good. But also I
Speaker 2: realize how much I get away with, like how nice
Speaker 2: people are.
Speaker 1: So you get excellent customer service. You're like, so, what
Speaker 1: do you mean it's bad customer service?
Speaker 2: Adam driving say with this because he's so nice and
Speaker 2: it's because you're beautiful. No, it's not, it's not. You're
Speaker 2: a girl, and you know he was just being nice.
Speaker 2: I understand what that means. Now, So look I don't
Speaker 2: I don't notice it. As she was saying to you
Speaker 2: the other day, so now it's like a Davil wormy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like when you go out together people laying.
Speaker 2: The other week, it was actually quite interesting how different
Speaker 2: it was. Again, we don't realize here in city so much,
Speaker 2: but yeah, it was. This is a double whemming.
Speaker 1: Does that make you think twice before you go out?
Speaker 2: No, I'm never gonna do that. No, no, I'm never
Speaker 2: gonna do that. Never have done that. The only thing
Speaker 2: that does give me the shits is when the paps
Speaker 2: take photos of our kids. I don't like that. All
Speaker 2: the other day we were like getting out of an
Speaker 2: uber so being a Queensland had a really late night,
Speaker 2: like still had eight hours. I'm like, literally my eyes
Speaker 2: take I don't know until mid day to wake up
Speaker 2: these days, like i'me so puffy anyway, got out of
Speaker 2: the uber and I can't see properly anymore. I really
Speaker 2: need glasses all the time. So I was just like
Speaker 2: looking across the road at something going that's a really
Speaker 2: interesting come I realized that it was photo.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't laugh. I should never have clicked on that.
Speaker 2: St it was so bad and it was like eating
Speaker 2: Nicko Demo reveals those shoes have puffy face After surgery
Speaker 2: and body transformation. I'm like, what was my body like beforehand?
Speaker 1: I was looking at the only way I was looking
Speaker 1: at that today because I was like doing my research.
Speaker 1: And firstly, it was so unfair. I mean, that's why
Speaker 1: Mum and Me doesn't ever publish capa photos, which looks
Speaker 1: terrible though, because it's just about humiliating women and stalking them,
Speaker 1: which is mess up. Yeah, and then monetizing that, which
Speaker 1: is just awful. And with the whole story was that
Speaker 1: you were puffy and that something body transformation. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what surgery? And then it was all about how you'd
Speaker 1: acknowledged years ago that you'd had a boob job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm like years ago, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: And the occasionally you get botox yeeah yeah, and I do.
Speaker 2: I did get botox, same, but I wasn't puffy from
Speaker 2: anything that I did to my face. I was just tired,
Speaker 2: and it was so they.
Speaker 1: Once called my stomach confronting, and it's like, it's just
Speaker 1: my stomach. I'm sorry if it's confronting. It's so awful
Speaker 1: the way they talk about women, it.
Speaker 2: Really is awful. And actually I showed Simone, my best friend,
Speaker 2: the photos and she's like, oh, oh, I mean first
Speaker 2: she was angry. She's like, can't you sue them? Like
Speaker 2: oh really, I mean as if like which, because how
Speaker 2: do you they you were just tired, And I'm like,
Speaker 2: but I do not really bad. It's actually quite funny,
Speaker 2: like you do look bad. Yeah, you have to laugh.
Speaker 2: But then the scout was in that photo. And that's
Speaker 2: what I don't like because I'm thinking, say, Jimmy's scared
Speaker 2: daughter and she's twelve as well, Jonas is twelve. I
Speaker 2: just don't like that stuff. But again, it is what
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 1: There are laws in some countries that you have to
Speaker 1: blur out the faces of the kids.
Speaker 2: I don't you're not here. When Jonas was really young
Speaker 2: and perhaps would follow me and it was like quite
Speaker 2: dangerous or or like he'd be in my front yard
Speaker 2: and there'd be photos and I'd ring the police because
Speaker 2: there was like three cars, two cars, like it's actually
Speaker 2: quite scary. It's stalk or they follow they're following us
Speaker 2: and he's getting scared. They can't do anything about it,
Speaker 2: which is so weird to me that that can't happen.
Speaker 2: Take photos of me, just don't take photos of my kids.
Speaker 1: It's almost like if someone was doing that without a
Speaker 1: camera and selling the photos, it would be called stalking. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because they've got a camera and they're selling the photos
Speaker 1: and making money out of it, it's suddenly just a job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's so when the.
Speaker 1: Police can't do anything. I've heard this from a lot
Speaker 1: of women.
Speaker 2: Weird and also very threatening. Lends stuff as well. How
Speaker 2: long have you been watching me?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What have you seen? Like anyway? Again, I mean the industry.
Speaker 2: I once, you know, it was one of those celebrities
Speaker 2: that sold stories, sold my wedding, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: But at what point do I have to keep making
Speaker 2: excuses for that?
Speaker 1: But you're right, like it's your right to decide if
Speaker 1: you're going to sell a picture of yourself or publish
Speaker 1: a picture of yourself. When someone does it without your consent, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's yucky.
Speaker 2: It's really yucky. It really is yuckyh Yeah. And even
Speaker 2: at work there was a day where because you know,
Speaker 2: Lea doesn't wear bikinis. But I was like about three
Speaker 2: or four years ago, I mean, oh okay, the odd
Speaker 2: time you can put me in a bikini. And then
Speaker 2: there was this one.
Speaker 1: Day, how do you decide Lee's your character, of course, yeah,
Speaker 1: how do you decide? But you're at the position where
Speaker 1: you can say, do you ever get a script and
Speaker 1: just go, I'm not wearing that. I'm not saying that,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that to a point, Yeah, what is
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that you would because it's your character,
Speaker 1: but it's also you, right, So what are the kinds
Speaker 1: of things that you would draw the line?
Speaker 2: Oh, look, if I was feeling uncomfortable, for example, if
Speaker 2: there was any sort of nud or anything that I
Speaker 2: wasn't comfortable with, if there was a bikini scene. And also, look,
Speaker 2: we are the keeper of our characters. I mean I've
Speaker 2: been playing me or I think for twenty three years. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so there'll be some things that might come out of
Speaker 2: written with that down, I go.
Speaker 1: Oh. I had more questions for Ada. I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask her about getting older and perimenopause. She's forty seven now,
Speaker 1: and also trying to relate to teenage kids that feeling
Speaker 1: of your parents aging, your kids are aging away from you,
Speaker 1: And what was it like when Ada and James really
Speaker 1: did start seeing each other, and how did they tell
Speaker 1: their castmates? Do they have to disclose it to hr.
Speaker 1: You can find all of this out in Part two
Speaker 1: of our conversation. There's a link in the show notes