Grief under the vines - ‘MY CO-STARS GOT ME THROUGH'

The Kiwi actress regrets that her beloved dad never got to see her find success in the hit Rebecca Gibney series

- Rebekah Hebenton

Since her first moment on screen, sobbing over a pottery wheel in the new Kiwi series Under the Vines, Carrie Green has been stealing scenes.

And as the Weekly chats to Carrie on a balmy Auckland day, she recalls how those tears weren’t difficult to conjure. Only a week before she flew to Queenstown to film the TVNZ 1 show at the beginning of 2021, her father Henare died suddenly.

“We found out he was sick with cancer and then he passed away the next day. He was pretty good at hiding how he was feeling,” she shares.

Carrie, who got engaged to her longtime partner Matthew, 53, in 2020, says upon hearing Henare’s diagnosis, she sprang into action and tried to quickly plan a wedding in the hopes that her darling dad could see her down the aisle. But it sadly wasn’t meant to be.

“The day we found out Dad was sick, I pencil booked a venue for two weeks. I thought I’d do something quick with family but then because Dad passed away so quickly, we put it all on hold.”

The plans haven’t been touched since and, instead of a wedding, Carrie put together a beautiful tangi for her father before leaving to shoot Under the Vines a few days later.