I've Learnt To Be Brave With My Feelings'

With a string of top-rating series to her name, 800 Words actress Michelle Langstone is one of our best-known trans-Tasman TV stars. So what has made her leave her life in Sydney to return home to New Zealand? The Kiwi star tells Emma Clifton about the family news that changed her focus, how she has learnt to cope with anxiety and what the future holds now that she is about to turn 40.

- Emma Clifton

When you interview well-known people, there’s normally an outline of what you’re going to talk to them about – a new project or a cause perhaps. With actress Michelle Langstone, we were set to talk about her move back to New Zealand, her work on the final season of 800 Words, turning 40 in January. But sometimes another kind of story appears. Approximately one minute into her chat with The Australian Women’s Weekly, Michelle is abuzz, chatting about how she’s been living back in Auckland for only about 72 hours. She’s talking about how much she loves the acting industry in Australia – it’s one she knows well from her time with McLeod’s Daughters – and the friends and the life she built for herself in sunny Sydney over the years. And then, there is a slight drop of her shoulders as she considers what she’s willing to say next. “Well…” there is a pause. “In the interests of being very open, I would say that my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year.”

It was on a normal visit home when it all turned sideways. Michelle, who was based in New Zealand at the time for the 800 Words shoot, had popped in to see her parents. “I walked into the house and Mum and Dad said, ‘Could you sit down? We need to talk to you.’ And I would mark that as the moment life changed, and refocused.”