Now I'm In The Driver's Seat

She could have been knocked off course by depression, self-doubt and alcohol addiction. But Susie Porter tells Jenny Brown she took the wheel to ensure life in her 40s and beyond were her most successful – and happiest – yet.

Susie Porter howls with laughter as a stiff breeze demolishes the tent in which she’s trying to get changed, almost baring her fluoro pink knickers to a ute-load of passing tradies. “I should have known better than to wear these,” the Wentworth star chuckles, more mortified by her way-out choice of underwear than the sudden and untoward exposure (on a quiet cul-de-sac in one of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs).

She’s sunny, funny, gregarious, thoughtful and endlessly obliging, so it’s hard to imagine Susie has ever struggled with depression, a crippling lack of self-worth and a “destructive” love-hate relationship with alcohol. Yet, surprisingly, that darker side emerges in a candid, no-holds-barred chat on what turns out to be the award-winning actor’s ninth wedding anniversary.

Marrying in her late thirties came as a beautiful surprise to Susie, who speaks of husband Christopher Mordue with the wonderment of someone who just discovered a rainbow-coloured unicorn grazing on their innercity balcony. “There were times I did wonder if settling down with someone was going to happen to me,” she confides, cuddling the couple’s adored rescue dog, the elderly and arthritic Lady Gracie. “But I felt that if it was meant to happen, it would. It was all about the time being right.”

She was fatalistic about being single, but love came half way around the world to find her – in the shape of Christopher, a British psychotherapist, a friend for 21 years before they finally connected. “Imagine! We’ve been married for nine whole years,” Susie exclaims, still slightly disbelieving. She seldom refers to her spouse by name, but speaks frequently of “my husband” with a beaming delight as obvious as it is heart-warming.