I’d like to thank the woman who called me a “failed actress” today.
You’re right. I am “un-Australian” and no, I don’t always love Australia, or Aussie’s, or the group that you’re in.
Yes, I was a child actor. No, I don’t act anymore.
Maybe you missed it, but I left the highest rating sitcom in the country of my own choice.
You see, the lead actor was a pedophile, and I got tired of him. I also got tired of working in an industry where people knew what was happening, but decided they were OK with it, because hey, it’s TV, and it’s fine. Let the kid get molested as long as we keep getting our cheque.
So I left. The few times I tried to speak up, I was shut down. I was threatened especially by those in the industry.
Years later, I was asked to speak up about it. I didn’t want to, because I was now living happily in the US, away from people in the industry, and where I could work any job I wanted without someone pointing out that I “used to be an actress.”
But I did. I spoke up. Then I spent four years having people in Australia tell me I was a has been, a wanna be, an attention seeker, or making it up to be famous again.
I got death threats, I got constantly harassed, but in the end, it was worth it, because it turns out that guy molested 18 girls that the police knew of.
Meanwhile, I had joined a charity in the US that works to make sure no kid goes through what I did. I wrote a best selling book, that literally hundreds of people have messaged me to tell them about how much it helped them on their own journey.
My case is now used as a reference and set an important precedent.
I had actors in the US tell me they were following my story in Australia, and people were watching to see how it went. You’ll notice the #metoo movement started after Robert lost his high court appeal.
So yeah, you go ahead and call me a “failed actress”.
But I’d still like to thank you for reminding me why I don’t get homesick, and why I don’t go out of my way to hang out with other Aussie’s here in the US. It’s beautiful outside, and I was spending too much time on FB. That group was giving nothing back to me, it wasn’t helping me grow as a person, and it was cutting into the time I could have been doing something productive. (Like changing laws) It’s sad how superior some people feel, and when they bring their tall poppy syndrome with them.
So you can sit in there an listen to a bunch of unhappy people complain about the bread, the people, and ask the same three questions over and over.
I’ll be sun baking on the deck of my yacht, which I bought with the money I got from being such a failure…
