Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kuric and welcome to next question today,
Speaker 1: the comedian who is gleefully shattering Instagram's illusion of the
Speaker 1: perfect self and the perfect life. So much of what
Speaker 1: we say is BS like, there's something in that, there's
Speaker 1: a real funny idea behind the fact that this is
Speaker 1: all b S. I talked with thee Less Barber, an
Speaker 1: Australian actress and comedian who has become famous for her
Speaker 1: Instagram feed, a stream of not particularly flattering photos and
Speaker 1: videos of herself. That feed, which is seen by six
Speaker 1: point eight million people, got her a TV special, a
Speaker 1: world tour, a book deal, and yes, a podcast, but
Speaker 1: Instagram is still her go to destination for comedy. Because
Speaker 1: I am Australian, I leave in Australia. I don't have
Speaker 1: to be on the road all the time. I feel
Speaker 1: as though I can put out a sketch or a
Speaker 1: post and it's seen as a show, a stand up show.
Speaker 1: So my next question for Celeste and this highly curated
Speaker 1: hashtag no filter world, what does it take to be
Speaker 1: real when we're all just faking it? A social media
Speaker 1: only has the power you give it. You can turn
Speaker 1: it off, you can physically and literally turn it off
Speaker 1: and walk away from it, or you can use it.
Speaker 1: Use it if you want to use it to talk
Speaker 1: to someone. If you don't want to see something, you
Speaker 1: can turn it off or use it as powerfully as
Speaker 1: you want to. Celeste Barbara realized a long time ago
Speaker 1: that our culture feeds on a certain level of artifice.
Speaker 1: I remember before social media, when we'd get you know, magazines.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of magazines always. I love fashion
Speaker 1: InStyle was always my bible. And you know, you'd see
Speaker 1: a photo of a model in their cape Moss for example,
Speaker 1: or whatever, Cindy Crawford a gorgeous model in there. But
Speaker 1: you well, for me, I knew that that was for
Speaker 1: them to do. That was that was Cindy Crawford on
Speaker 1: a motorbike on a rooftop in a bikini on a Wednesday,
Speaker 1: because that's all that that's Cindy Crawford's thing to do.
Speaker 1: And we kind of knew that there was photoshop and
Speaker 1: that it was just very heightened reality. It was. It
Speaker 1: was art, if you will, and I've always respected kind
Speaker 1: of that art form. But then when social media came
Speaker 1: around and it was being sold that similar image, for example,
Speaker 1: was being sold as an attainable life or as something
Speaker 1: that just actually does happen on a Wednesday for everyone, right,
Speaker 1: and something that was truly authentic, yeah, and living my
Speaker 1: best life or living my best self. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this isn't real. But the thing, the scary thing is
Speaker 1: it was getting to a point where like, oh, people
Speaker 1: don't know that though, people are thinking that this is real.
Speaker 1: And it was like a bit of a snake in
Speaker 1: the grass for me because it kind of steeps in
Speaker 1: when you're at your at your weakest. I guess you know,
Speaker 1: you have three in the morning and your breastfeeding and
Speaker 1: you haven't slept for what feels like fifteen years, and
Speaker 1: you're flicking through your phone and you see these images
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, that hurts. In two thousand fifteen,
Speaker 1: Celesque posted a photo on her Instagram. On one side
Speaker 1: was a picture of a model in a ballet studio
Speaker 1: wearing sleek athletic wear, her hair elegantly pulled back, doing
Speaker 1: an incredibly flexible yoga pose. On the other side a
Speaker 1: picture of Celeste on the floor of her home. You
Speaker 1: can even see a baby in the background. She's wearing
Speaker 1: gray sweats and is also trying to do the same
Speaker 1: yoga pose but getting nowhere close. She tagged the photo
Speaker 1: hashtag challenge accepted, and then I posted it with the
Speaker 1: caption underneath it, I'm starting something because I just I
Speaker 1: just knew, I knew it was funny, and it hadn't
Speaker 1: been tapped into I might take the pisce out of
Speaker 1: people all the time. It was a visual joke Celeste
Speaker 1: had with her sister and on Instagram. It was an
Speaker 1: immediate hit. Celest did another, and then another, and by
Speaker 1: now she's created hundreds of these photos and video parodies.
Speaker 1: The best way I describe it is I take inappropriate,
Speaker 1: half naked, unflattering photos of myself and put them next
Speaker 1: to models and celebrities. But first comes the models. I
Speaker 1: see a photo that they have posted, and then I
Speaker 1: do my version of it. But it's a parody, so
Speaker 1: something's added to it. It's not I'm not mimicking them,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm adding to it. I'm doing a satire. Give
Speaker 1: me some example, Celest, of some of the funny posts
Speaker 1: you've done. Well. The first one that comes to mind,
Speaker 1: which I think is probably the easiest to describe, is
Speaker 1: Cindy Crawford doing her Pepsi commercial where she's so beautifully
Speaker 1: opens a can of pepsi. Oh, she's so beautiful and
Speaker 1: has a drink of it, and I think it was
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl ad. Yeah, but then she's done a
Speaker 1: reboot right exactly for I think Vogue seventy three questions
Speaker 1: she did it. Can you show me how Cindy Crawford
Speaker 1: drinks pepsi? Well, I'll sure try. So what I did
Speaker 1: was I had like a massive bottle of pepsi and
Speaker 1: I opened it and so the pepsi then spread all
Speaker 1: over me because that's what happens. And usually do this
Speaker 1: in a split screen. Yeah, I use it in a
Speaker 1: split screen or with a fear with a video. I
Speaker 1: go forward and back um, and then yes, so the
Speaker 1: pepsi goes all over me. Then I try and sip
Speaker 1: up and I'm burping because it's fizzy and it's all through.
Speaker 1: But then at the end I just try and be
Speaker 1: really sexy and like Cyndy and yet that I actually
Speaker 1: interviewed Cindy on my podcast and she was such a
Speaker 1: good sport. She loved it. Yeah, she loved it, And
Speaker 1: I was like, can you let PEPSI know? And we
Speaker 1: can do something together. I'm still waiting for that call.
Speaker 1: And then you take sort of fashion spreads and it
Speaker 1: might be somebody in this ridiculous situation posing in a
Speaker 1: beating suit, like on a some kind of contraption on
Speaker 1: the be each, and then you do it on a
Speaker 1: little rickety wagon. Bring I bring on my wagon like
Speaker 1: that was one of um IRENA's shake. I think the
Speaker 1: beautiful model where she's just she's got a gorgeous chair
Speaker 1: down by the beach and she's in like these amazing
Speaker 1: like little swimmers and she's just putting the chair out
Speaker 1: and sitting down and flicking her hair around and being gorgeous.
Speaker 1: And then cut to me and I'm trying to put
Speaker 1: up a beach umbrella and it's trapping me underneath it
Speaker 1: and I'm kicking it, and there's a wagon that's in
Speaker 1: the sands in my face, and then at the end,
Speaker 1: I just got to stand next to it, defeated. It's funny,
Speaker 1: but it's also I think, you know, you're you're tapping
Speaker 1: into how many women feel when they do look at
Speaker 1: these images that are unattainable and unrealistic. And it's been
Speaker 1: shown that social media really does contribute to anxiety and depression,
Speaker 1: not only for adults, but particularly for for kids. And um,
Speaker 1: is that something that that you yourself, we're thinking about
Speaker 1: and worried about in the back of your head as
Speaker 1: you kind of poked a hole in all this manufacturing
Speaker 1: of an image. Well, that was a very long winded question.
Speaker 1: It was good though. I like to thank you arms
Speaker 1: and everything it was. It was lovely. Um, I to
Speaker 1: be completely honest with you, I did this because I
Speaker 1: thought it was funny. My I primarily just want to
Speaker 1: make people laugh, always have and the fact that I
Speaker 1: am cutting through all and I've always just cut through crap.
Speaker 1: People are never unsure of where they stand with me
Speaker 1: because I don't fluff around and go people. I'm always
Speaker 1: very honest and I've just kind of always been like that.
Speaker 1: So to tie that in with wanting to make people laugh,
Speaker 1: I think that's why it hit a nerve, because it
Speaker 1: was kind of truth talking and calling it out and
Speaker 1: really funny. I think that's how it kind of cut through.
Speaker 1: It also seemed to dovetail Celeste with the body positivity movement.
Speaker 1: You know that that women can be beautiful and be
Speaker 1: great and all sheeps and sizes, so you almost actually
Speaker 1: cut that trend as well. Yeah, and that that was
Speaker 1: unintentional as well. I never started this to be a
Speaker 1: body positive thing. I'm very happy to be caught up
Speaker 1: in that movement or whatever, like, very very happy to
Speaker 1: be but it was never an intention of mine. Because
Speaker 1: when we talk about beauty, it seems so much of
Speaker 1: how we see beauty is literally how we see it
Speaker 1: and what it looks like. How I look makes up
Speaker 1: a very very small percentage of who I am. I
Speaker 1: believe that for a lot of us, and I so like,
Speaker 1: you know, some of the things I post I won't
Speaker 1: look at again because I'm like, oh, that's that's a lot.
Speaker 1: But most of the time I see it for the
Speaker 1: funny joke that it is. I feel like people are
Speaker 1: laughing with me. There are people who are laughing at
Speaker 1: me and hate it and then again go nuts, whatever
Speaker 1: blows your hair back. But for me it was just
Speaker 1: not even a celebration of how I looked, But it's
Speaker 1: a celebration of something else, your spirit, other, my sense
Speaker 1: of humor, my understanding of what's funny, my understanding of
Speaker 1: knowing that that is unattainable lifestyle that we need to
Speaker 1: stop trying to strive for and how funny is it
Speaker 1: if I try and do it? That's that's the main
Speaker 1: main point to it. I mean I do get if
Speaker 1: I lose weight or whatever, I do get comments going
Speaker 1: You're looking too good now for this to work, And
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, no, comedy, beauty, not oil and water,
Speaker 1: smush that all in together and it makes up who
Speaker 1: we are and saying with you know, smart and beautiful.
Speaker 1: Where it just just showing the other the other side
Speaker 1: of social media as well, trying to use it for
Speaker 1: good and so you said that you are using it
Speaker 1: in a positive way. But also two I think get
Speaker 1: more opportunities. Have other people reached out to you, celest
Speaker 1: and said, we think you're really funny. We'd like to
Speaker 1: talk to you about a absolutely yeah. Well tom Ford
Speaker 1: is a fine example. Yes, exactly when we made out
Speaker 1: and now we're a boyfriend and girlfriend forever and always
Speaker 1: tell the story of tom Ford and what happened. Well,
Speaker 1: he emailed, well, his people emailed me three years ago
Speaker 1: maybe and it was the subject line was tom Ford
Speaker 1: for tom Ford and Seleste or something like that, and
Speaker 1: in the email it said tom Ford adores you. He
Speaker 1: thinks that you are amazing and would love to collaborate
Speaker 1: one day best And you know the sound and email
Speaker 1: makes when it comes into your inboxes. That sound had
Speaker 1: barely finished by the time I wrote, yes, what does
Speaker 1: you need? When does he want it? On my way?
Speaker 1: Like I just and see seed, my publicist, my publicist, publicist,
Speaker 1: my mom, my dad, my nana, everyone that bullied me
Speaker 1: at school, Like I just see seed. Everyone in on
Speaker 1: it and sent it back and went, yes, what do
Speaker 1: you need? And we collaborate before a show where it
Speaker 1: was a campaign that he has for Boys and Girls
Speaker 1: Lipstick where two incredibly offensively attractive models are sitting at
Speaker 1: an airport and then they just make out and there's
Speaker 1: lipstick all over them. And tom Ford said to me,
Speaker 1: I thought we could do one of it where you
Speaker 1: and I make out. And I was like, yeah, that
Speaker 1: works for me. That's fine, that's that's that's fine for me.
Speaker 1: So we did it with them. I just did a
Speaker 1: parody of being a model and walking down to tom
Speaker 1: Ford catwalk, So we need to just walk here do
Speaker 1: it again so I can tell you what you need
Speaker 1: to change. It's just liquid sunshine. That man, he really is.
Speaker 1: He had all the models come down and me come
Speaker 1: down as well, and they got in my way and
Speaker 1: I was like, get them out of the way, and
Speaker 1: you know, and then when we were doing a fitting
Speaker 1: three sucking, I'm cramping. It's on, it's on. Just we
Speaker 1: had some tape. Do we have some duct take? We
Speaker 1: cut it together in a way that hey, win, okay,
Speaker 1: thank you so last and he walked out and I
Speaker 1: then just started to try and steal things. It's almost
Speaker 1: like a tom Forde smaller sport. I think you're going
Speaker 1: to take your things, and then we cut it that.
Speaker 1: He came back in and he was like, Selest, as
Speaker 1: someone trying to steal things. And I've got like eighteen
Speaker 1: pairs of sunglasses on and handbags with like one shoe
Speaker 1: in it. Well, it's so exciting to have all of
Speaker 1: this happened to you. And when we come back, I
Speaker 1: want to find out about your childhood how you got
Speaker 1: into this crazy line of work, but we'll talk about
Speaker 1: that right after this. You grew up in New South
Speaker 1: Wales far North coast. Good, Yes, we did our research, Selest,
Speaker 1: So what was your childhood like? Was that a very
Speaker 1: sort of quaint, remote, rugged, beautiful place to grow up?
Speaker 1: What was it like all of those things, but not rugged. No.
Speaker 1: I grew up. I grew up right on the border
Speaker 1: of New South Wales and Queensland, so right on the
Speaker 1: beach Rainbow Bay, Kira or um Dieba, Like that's where
Speaker 1: all some of the best surfers in the world come from.
Speaker 1: Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmour, Michael Klupo, Rabbit buff
Speaker 1: follow me. They're all world champion surfers and they've come
Speaker 1: from there. Um And I never surfed in my life.
Speaker 1: I was a dancer when I was little, so um.
Speaker 1: But it was just a really beautiful area. I grew
Speaker 1: up in it, specifically in a place called Terranora, beautiful
Speaker 1: house that my dad built and my mom designed. So.
Speaker 1: I have an older sister, Olivia, who was three and
Speaker 1: a half years older than me. That people always ask
Speaker 1: who's older, and I'm like, she is older, she's three
Speaker 1: and out she loves it. Um. Yeah, And I danced
Speaker 1: a lot as a kid and just was always quite atmatic.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like your parents. I read a sweet
Speaker 1: story about how they didn't want to medicate you even
Speaker 1: though because I've got a d and that they and
Speaker 1: Eldan you a certain confidence and loving who you are
Speaker 1: for who you are, and not wanting to alter kind
Speaker 1: of your your thing, your chemistry, your persona, your spirit. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And um, I also don't really think they had much
Speaker 1: of a choice because I was I'm a lot and
Speaker 1: I like being a lot. Is your sister a lot? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Both of you. Yeah, we are a lot, But so
Speaker 1: is my mom, and then when she's not, so is
Speaker 1: my dad. So we're all it's a lot, big personality. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean my dad's a lot more kind of quiet
Speaker 1: and subtle with his humor. And my mom is so
Speaker 1: funny when she knows she has an audience and she
Speaker 1: knows people are listening. She's a bit sassy like that.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, I remember hearing them talk to the doctor.
Speaker 1: So I was diagnosed with a d D. And they
Speaker 1: were talking to the doctor about me being medicated. And
Speaker 1: I was sixteen when I was diagnosed. That's quite late
Speaker 1: to be medicated for a d D. It usually happens young.
Speaker 1: Go well, I think, so, you know, younger in your life,
Speaker 1: earlier in your life. I'm quite grateful that it didn't
Speaker 1: for me because I struggled a bit. I struggled. I
Speaker 1: was bullied a little bit at school, and I, like
Speaker 1: I say, I was a lot. I couldn't sit still
Speaker 1: for five minutes. And it got to a point where
Speaker 1: teachers when I'd go to walk into class and go,
Speaker 1: let's just not worry about it today, and I go sure,
Speaker 1: and I'd just sit outside. Really yeah, because it was
Speaker 1: I was distracting and disruptive. Yeah, absolutely, So I heard
Speaker 1: my parents saying, well, you know, when we did the
Speaker 1: test and I was very much had um and I
Speaker 1: had to sit in the waiting room. I heard my
Speaker 1: mom saying, we just don't want her to change. We
Speaker 1: don't want drugs to change her. We just wanted to
Speaker 1: be a bit easier for her at school. And the
Speaker 1: doctor's like, you know, this won't change her in any way.
Speaker 1: And I remember my mom saying, we know she's full on,
Speaker 1: but we like that about her. I'm getting emotional thinking
Speaker 1: about it, and I'll never forget that as a sixteen
Speaker 1: year old girl hearing at it was so lovely. And then, honestly,
Speaker 1: I took the first tablet of Writtlan different like a sorry,
Speaker 1: same person, just I could. I sat and read a
Speaker 1: paragraph in this book about a d D and mom
Speaker 1: and dad just watched me and they cried because I've
Speaker 1: never sat and read anything in my life. When this
Speaker 1: was around the same time that your your mom said,
Speaker 1: we like the way she is, but yeah, they put
Speaker 1: you on medication anywhere. Well, yes, but they put me
Speaker 1: on medication. And sorry, they put me on medication because
Speaker 1: the doctor said it all it will It's not going
Speaker 1: to change her. It's just going to make her focus,
Speaker 1: and it's going to make up that chemical in her
Speaker 1: brain that she doesn't have that will help her to
Speaker 1: sit and listen in class and know how to read
Speaker 1: a story or write a story. It's just going to
Speaker 1: help her. And exactly what happened, I didn't change at all.
Speaker 1: I could just focus, and that's when I started writing jokes,
Speaker 1: and that's when I could kind of sit and really
Speaker 1: get into what it is I wanted to do. So
Speaker 1: tell me what it is you wanted to do and
Speaker 1: how you did it. Um. I went to drama school,
Speaker 1: so I've always written jokes and just always been funny
Speaker 1: and loud, and I always thought it's not really because
Speaker 1: I think comedy comes quite easily to me. I find
Speaker 1: it quite easy. So for some silly reason, I think, well,
Speaker 1: that's not acting. It needs to be hard and torturous
Speaker 1: and really you know the challenge every night or every
Speaker 1: day on set. So I went to drama school for
Speaker 1: three years, graduated and started doing it like a few
Speaker 1: little comedy shows, not stand up but acting, because I'm
Speaker 1: a trained actor first and foremost an actor. And then um,
Speaker 1: I got a role on a television show in Australia
Speaker 1: called All Saints, which was kind of like The Gray's
Speaker 1: Anatomy without the doctor, without the McDreamy. Um unfortunately. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I was on that for five years and
Speaker 1: kind of played a bit of a lighter character to
Speaker 1: everyone else, but it was a drama. It was a
Speaker 1: d on the show absolutely. And then it was my
Speaker 1: beautiful friend Mark Priestley, who has since passed away. He's
Speaker 1: so sad. I read about that. He was a very
Speaker 1: very close friend of your tattoo to his took his
Speaker 1: own life. Yeah, he killed himself. Yeah, it was that
Speaker 1: was a lot to deal with that. He was he
Speaker 1: an actor, yes, one, I thought, I tell his name.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he was quite well known in Australia. He was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is before all Ozzie started coming over and taking
Speaker 1: over Hollywood. Um, he was incredible, and he was the one.
Speaker 1: He used to just come around to my house. I'd
Speaker 1: like three am with a video camera and go, let's
Speaker 1: just shoot stuff. And I'm like, yes, let's do that.
Speaker 1: And we just ship stupid sketches and we think they
Speaker 1: were the funniest things in the world. And I always
Speaker 1: thought he was so funny and so wonderful, and then
Speaker 1: and so did everyone. He was very well known in
Speaker 1: the industry and loved and sought after. And then the
Speaker 1: fact that he said to me, I'll never forget this conversation.
Speaker 1: We're sitting on set in between takes of you know,
Speaker 1: someone's dying on their hospital bed and this show really dramatic,
Speaker 1: but in between you know, lighting setups or something, Mark,
Speaker 1: and I was saying there just like writing, like a
Speaker 1: little sketch, and he went, maybe you should say and
Speaker 1: then you just stopped, looked at me, went no, you
Speaker 1: know what you're doing and I was like, no, no write.
Speaker 1: He goes, no, you know what you're doing, and then
Speaker 1: he went, you know that, right, You're you're amazing at comedy.
Speaker 1: No one can do what you do. And He's like,
Speaker 1: because I was always like, ohm, whatever, it's just boring,
Speaker 1: and he goes, no, that's boring. You not understanding what
Speaker 1: you can do is boring now, so just get on
Speaker 1: with it, and that chang bang that day on at
Speaker 1: least lent into it, lent into my strengths, lent into
Speaker 1: what I loved and kind of knew I was good at.
Speaker 1: So where did your career take you after that? Unemployment?
Speaker 1: For a little while, I was then a writer on
Speaker 1: a show, a really bad show that we don't need
Speaker 1: to talk about, and then um, I had babies, and
Speaker 1: then it was when I had my second son, first time,
Speaker 1: first son. But my friend called me and said she's
Speaker 1: doing some stand up and I was like, good on you,
Speaker 1: because I'd always been told I should do stand up.
Speaker 1: And I was like, yes, you are, tell me where
Speaker 1: you're doing it. I'll send flowers. I'm so excited. And
Speaker 1: I was like, I know what's happening, I know what's coming.
Speaker 1: And she said, I want you to open for me,
Speaker 1: and I was she got me at a good time
Speaker 1: because I was sleep deprived. I had a newborn, and
Speaker 1: I went. She goes, it's like five minutes, it's in
Speaker 1: a small space. It's in the Sydney Fringe Festival five
Speaker 1: minutes and I went okay, no, yeah, no, I wan't
Speaker 1: shut yeah, yes, hang up, and she just hung up
Speaker 1: because the last thing I said was yes. And so
Speaker 1: then I went dad, And so I had five minutes
Speaker 1: and I got up and I did it. And it
Speaker 1: was one of you know, I hear those stories like
Speaker 1: Shirley Temple or whatever. You're terrified, but then you open
Speaker 1: the curtain and you see the microphone and the spotlight
Speaker 1: and you think, I'm never leaving. I will die up here.
Speaker 1: This is amazing. And I was supposed to be five minutes.
Speaker 1: And after fifteen minutes she was kind of side stage
Speaker 1: going get off. And then that was it. That was
Speaker 1: me done, and and and obviously you wouldn't feel this
Speaker 1: way if the reception wasn't incredible to your humor, and
Speaker 1: you did you and then did you sort of transition
Speaker 1: to stand up? Well? No. Then Instagram started coming more
Speaker 1: and more, like I did more, and I was posting
Speaker 1: twice a day every day on Instagram because I knew
Speaker 1: it was good. I knew I wanted it out there.
Speaker 1: I wanted people. I sent to some of my friends
Speaker 1: who had like ten thousand followers, who were well known actors.
Speaker 1: I was like, can you repost this for me? I
Speaker 1: really want to. I think it's something good and it's fine.
Speaker 1: All my friends thought it was hilarious, and so I had,
Speaker 1: you know, excellent friends going shock, this is my friend
Speaker 1: Celeste and posting out for me. And then I kind
Speaker 1: of got to a point where I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: very I'm very proactive, always have been. I'm a hustler.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a hustler. And I remember sitting at
Speaker 1: my computer and just went, well, there's nothing really coming in,
Speaker 1: and I'm there's a lot I'm putting out and I'm
Speaker 1: getting a lot of people wanted to interview me about it,
Speaker 1: and it was really great instant gratification, and I was
Speaker 1: like cracking. I mean, I may have been at a
Speaker 1: million followers by now. It grew really quickly, and I went,
Speaker 1: I want to I want to prove myself. I'm I
Speaker 1: know what I'm doing. And I just in that moment,
Speaker 1: went to and just booked a theater in Sydney in Australia.
Speaker 1: I was living just out of Sydney at that time.
Speaker 1: I had just had my second baby, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I want to book a theater. So I booked two
Speaker 1: nights at this theater called the Giant Dwarf in Red
Speaker 1: Phone in Sydney, and then went shit, oh god, Now
Speaker 1: it was three months from that date when I've got
Speaker 1: nothing on, I want to do a show, and I
Speaker 1: didn't assault it out and it killed and I toured
Speaker 1: it and now I'm making out tom Ford when we
Speaker 1: come back. How Celesque gave back to her native land
Speaker 1: in its time of need. Now to Australia, where they're
Speaker 1: facing those massive fires already among the worst in that
Speaker 1: country's history. Haunting images flames, plumes of smoke, and firefighters
Speaker 1: desperately battling walls of fire. Another costly and deadly day
Speaker 1: in this month longer testrophe, the terrifying scale of Australia's
Speaker 1: Bush five as Austro is beginning to image. Bush Fires
Speaker 1: are not new to Australia, but this fire season has
Speaker 1: proved to be one of the country's worst ever. By
Speaker 1: some estimates, as many as twenty eight people have died,
Speaker 1: more than twelve million acres that burned to the ground,
Speaker 1: and thousands of homes have been destroyed. And then, of
Speaker 1: course there were all the animals. Because the devastation was
Speaker 1: so personal for Celest, she did the only thing she
Speaker 1: could think of. She turned to her Instagram following, you raised,
Speaker 1: I believe and correct me if I'm wrong, Celest, thirty
Speaker 1: million dollars maybe more. Well, I raised fifty one and
Speaker 1: a half million dollars Australian, so that might be like
Speaker 1: forty eight American dollars. I don't know, because well it's
Speaker 1: it's an amazing amount of money because of the wildfires
Speaker 1: in Australia and this this affected you very personally, not
Speaker 1: only because you're from Australia, but you had friends and
Speaker 1: family members and you watched their homes go up and small. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: so my mother in law. It is in Eden, which
Speaker 1: is the complete other end of the state from where
Speaker 1: we live. It's the far South coast of New South
Speaker 1: Wales and we're on the far North coast, and so
Speaker 1: it's where RP my husband is France his home and
Speaker 1: we were there for Christmas and I remember going up
Speaker 1: up the street or something and going, God, this some
Speaker 1: smile and everyone we knew there were fires kind of
Speaker 1: around and then it was terrible and terrible like in Canberra,
Speaker 1: our capital in South Australia and over on Kangaroo Island,
Speaker 1: like it wasn't good. But I was like, oh, what
Speaker 1: is bad? And then kind of going the smoke's really
Speaker 1: full on here. And then we left. After Christmas, I
Speaker 1: went home and it swung. It came really really badly,
Speaker 1: and my husband's cousin lost her home. We've lost a
Speaker 1: billion wildlife. So I saw my mother in law, who
Speaker 1: was a very very strong woman, like I had sixteen
Speaker 1: years with this excellent woman and she is a strong lady,
Speaker 1: and she was not okay and she was panicking, and
Speaker 1: that really it really struck me. And the thing is
Speaker 1: she's so she's so well informed and so hands on
Speaker 1: joy that she was like, no one's here. There isn't
Speaker 1: a helicopter in the sky, there isn't any a d
Speaker 1: F on the on the ground, which is not the
Speaker 1: fault of the a d F. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: government thing. There's no one here, and and I that's
Speaker 1: when I went, oh my gosh. And that's when I
Speaker 1: started the fundraiser and I just said, please help anyway
Speaker 1: you can. This is terrifying, and started a goal of
Speaker 1: thirty dollars. Because I also saw people internationally going how
Speaker 1: can we help because I've got a big following, especially internationally,
Speaker 1: people I don't people wanted to they didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do exactly. And I mean there's obviously other ways
Speaker 1: they are the places they could have donated to it,
Speaker 1: but the way I ended up doing it was just
Speaker 1: really straightforward. It was just a kind of so I click, donate, done,
Speaker 1: and I think that's kind of what people needed as well. Um.
Speaker 1: And then yet we also my husband and I kept
Speaker 1: everyone very updated on my Instagram stories, which we're getting
Speaker 1: millions of views my stories because people like this is
Speaker 1: how we're staying updated, which is a really daunting thing
Speaker 1: because you're like, god, I need to make sure I
Speaker 1: know what I'm talking about. And it's a big responsibility, absolutely,
Speaker 1: but it does show how media consumption has changed absolute ramatically.
Speaker 1: It's instantaneous. It's it's um, you know what do they
Speaker 1: call it, uh, citizen created? You know it's not you're
Speaker 1: not a journalist, no, And it's power to the people.
Speaker 1: I keep saying that I keep with the amount of
Speaker 1: money raised, and also I would post about it. I
Speaker 1: had so many people going, oh, this is also happening.
Speaker 1: I'm like Okay, cool, that's good to know. When I'll
Speaker 1: make sure that people know about that, or you'll add
Speaker 1: that to your story exactly, and then you could give
Speaker 1: a very much a three sixty view of the country.
Speaker 1: And I was also acutely aware of letting people know
Speaker 1: that I am not the face of this, I'm not
Speaker 1: the savior of this. I'm I'm you. I'm that person
Speaker 1: over there. I'm scared, and this is my kind of
Speaker 1: experience of the whole thing. And then we end up
Speaker 1: getting to, oh my god, fifty one and a half
Speaker 1: million dollars. That's amazing. And then it turns out I've
Speaker 1: saved the world. No, that's not true. Well, but I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you you helped a great deal. Well, it
Speaker 1: was extraordinary as in Australia, our firefighters, majority of our
Speaker 1: firefighters a volunteer, and there were stories coming through of
Speaker 1: I'm talking eighty foot flames in the sky coming that
Speaker 1: will go through over a few kilometers in fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: and you can't. You can't put that out of human being.
Speaker 1: Can't put that out that has to burn, You can't.
Speaker 1: But they're standing there in shoes that I've got on,
Speaker 1: just sneakers, and like some of them putting just putting
Speaker 1: their hand over their mouth because they don't have the equipment.
Speaker 1: So that's why I that's why I chose the New
Speaker 1: South Wales RFS to it was the trust of RFS,
Speaker 1: the yeah, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, um, so
Speaker 1: the volunteers can. Then all the money then goes to
Speaker 1: the brigade, so then they go out and get the
Speaker 1: equipment that they need. Hopefully finally the fires got under
Speaker 1: control and are now out. Celest they're out because now
Speaker 1: we're underwater. Well tell everyone listening what has replaced the problem,
Speaker 1: because now it's flooding. Obviously we're flooded in I showed
Speaker 1: you a photo before we started middle of Sydney. The
Speaker 1: sea he and water is up to the windows of
Speaker 1: the cars were flooded. The fires are all out, but
Speaker 1: now we're flash flooding. It's it's the deforestation and nothing
Speaker 1: there to kind of I think. So I haven't I've
Speaker 1: been here since. I mean, it was torrential rain when
Speaker 1: I left to fly here to the States, so I
Speaker 1: haven't been home to see exactly what it is. But
Speaker 1: it looks as though, yeah, that's that's what it is.
Speaker 1: It's it's terrifying. It's terrifying, and I'm all, I now
Speaker 1: goes all right, I'll start another fundraiser. I'll raise another
Speaker 1: fifty one million dollars, and said, I don't know what
Speaker 1: to do. I really don't. It's quite scary. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like the world is a scary place right now?
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's it's great to have moments of
Speaker 1: levity and relief through people like you and your humor,
Speaker 1: but so many friends of mine feel that we're in
Speaker 1: such dire streets in so many different ways. I agree.
Speaker 1: I think it's a very scary time. I do. However,
Speaker 1: I feel that there is a bit of a ground
Speaker 1: swell going on at home in Australia, and I'm here
Speaker 1: a lot, and I've been here a lot in the
Speaker 1: past few years when you now have a different president
Speaker 1: and everything. And when I first came over when he
Speaker 1: was first in office, I was like, oh, this is terrifying,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a real you just feel
Speaker 1: it was very hostile. But since coming back more and
Speaker 1: going home, you know, back and forth and over to
Speaker 1: the UK as well, I feel like there's a real
Speaker 1: ground swell happening. And I think the Internet has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with that because we can all you
Speaker 1: and I can sit here and talk now, and we
Speaker 1: can all reach out to each other more. But I'm
Speaker 1: just having this thing where I'm like, like I said before,
Speaker 1: power to the people, and I feel like that's really
Speaker 1: starting to bubble, which it needs to bubble quicker. So
Speaker 1: before we go, what is your dream man? Where do
Speaker 1: you want to go from here? Celeste Barber? My goal
Speaker 1: in life is to play the King in Hamilton's. I
Speaker 1: would love to play. I can't think um and I'm
Speaker 1: not a man, but I want to. I want to
Speaker 1: try and find a way to make that a character
Speaker 1: choice for that character to play the King, and I
Speaker 1: think it's the most incredible role ever. And everything I
Speaker 1: do I do from the ground up, and that's really
Speaker 1: exciting and and amazing and exhausting. So I'm really like
Speaker 1: the idea of just being given a script and a
Speaker 1: call sheet now and just turning up to a film
Speaker 1: that would be lovely. And because you have a busy
Speaker 1: life and two little boys that are still seven and
Speaker 1: eight and nearly six, eight and six, so you've got
Speaker 1: a you've got a busy life. With your hashtag hard husband.
Speaker 1: It's so hot he is isn't heat? It makes me
Speaker 1: people come and say to you, like, good on your
Speaker 1: for a snag, and yeah, well done, congratulations because he's hot. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But it's also interesting when my husband drops our sons
Speaker 1: at school, when someone in grade three walks paston guys,
Speaker 1: hi hot husband. My husband's like, no, no, that's weird.
Speaker 1: That's it's appy or it's Mr Robin. Please don't say that.
Speaker 1: That's very weird for me, like you know, a ten
Speaker 1: year old saying it. Yeah, so funny. Well, I'm really
Speaker 1: happy to meet you. Thank you so much for doing this.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. This trait for me,
Speaker 1: an absolute trait. Well, thank you, thank you. And that
Speaker 1: does it for this week's episode of Next Question Everyone.
Speaker 1: I have to say I it's so much fun talking
Speaker 1: with Celeste Barber. She's so delightful and if you like
Speaker 1: a laugh, she's a must follow on Instagram, especially during
Speaker 1: these troubling times. Oh and so Less also interviewed me
Speaker 1: for her podcast called Celeste and Her Best I love
Speaker 1: her friend Tom by the way, who does this podcast
Speaker 1: with her. You can find that on the Luminary podcast app.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure when that's coming out, but keep a
Speaker 1: listen out for it, and while you're at it, keep
Speaker 1: an eye on Next Question. We've got a lot of
Speaker 1: good stuff coming, so make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, or really wherever you listen.
Speaker 1: And if you'd like some help keeping up with all
Speaker 1: the news, check out my morning newsletter. It's called Wake
Speaker 1: Up Call. Just go to Katie Currek dot com to subscribe.
Speaker 1: And of course you can find me on Instagram, just
Speaker 1: like Celeste and all the other social media channels. Although
Speaker 1: I'm not nearly funny, she is. Until next time and
Speaker 1: my Next question, I'm Katie Curic. Thanks for listening. Next
Speaker 1: Question with Katie Couric is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Katie Currik Media. The executive producers are Katie Currik,
Speaker 1: Courtney Litz, and Tyler Klang. The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen.
Speaker 1: Our show producer is Bethan Macaluso. The associate producers are
Speaker 1: Emily Pinto and Derek Clemens. Editing by Derrek Clements, Dylan
Speaker 1: Fagin and Lowell Berlante, Mixing by Dylan Fagan. Our researcher
Speaker 1: is Gabriel Lo Sir For more information on today's episode,
Speaker 1: go to Katie Couric dot com and follow us on
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