The Making Of Sam Frost...

The dark days of her 20s didn’t break Sam, they made her who she is now. In her most honest interview yet, and on the cusp of turning 30, the actress reveals why opening up about mental health was the best move she’s made

- Lizza Gebilagin

Confession: I don’t tell Sam Frost this when we meet, but I’ve interviewed her before. It was three years ago, and if I could describe that phone chat with Sam in one word, it would be ‘guarded’. She was co-hosting a breakfast radio show and dating her Bachelorette pick, Sasha Mielczarek, at the time. I didn’t blame her for wanting some semblance of privacy. Her life had become tabloid fodder since her very public, and very dramatic, break-up with Blake Garvey during the second season of The Bachelor in 2014.

I don’t tell her this, because the Sam I meet today is a different person. She’s self-assured. More comfortable in her own skin. And in one word: happy. We chat for more than an hour and laugh about how we’ve both ended up with younger men: her boyfriend of two years, Dave Bashford, is three years younger than her (“It’s so great! I feel like a boss lady!” the 29-year-old jokes). She looks settled into her new career and life on Home and Away (“I want to put 110 percent effort into growing as an actress”). We bond over a shared love of hot chips and gravy, despite eating healthily most of the time (“They’re so yum. I’m certainly not going to say no”).