The first thing I want to tell Celeste Barber when her face pops up on Zoom for our marie claire interview is that Liv Healy, the character she plays in the upcoming Netflix comedy drama Wellmania, is me. “No, seriously, I think you stalked me,” I cry. “Liv is a food writer and that’s my main gig. She’s loud and she looks like a normal woman. And she’s interviewed Miranda Kerr repeatedly. She is me.”
Barber, bless her, is kind enough to indulge me, and agrees with a laugh that Liv certainly does seem like me. But she’s had plenty of practice. Having women of my generation – late 30s and above – telling her that she really, really gets them is something that happens to the New South Wales-based comedian and actor every day.
You could see it in the audience at the final shows of her recent sell-out Fine, Thanks stand-up tour, which finished at the Sydney Opera House after blazing across 53 cities in the US, Europe and Canada. Her encore performance on home soil was filled with women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and up – mums, sisters, best friends, dressed in nice frocks and comfy sneakers – who roared with relief and release at the jokes that spoke directly to their lives: motherhood, sex, mental health and having a tummy that hangs over your jeans.
You can see it in the comments on her Instagram, where her fans regularly post things like, “You’re in Baltimore – we should have a wine!” or “God I love your sense of humour, it matches mine!”
Bu hikaye Marie Claire Australia dergisinin February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Marie Claire Australia dergisinin February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Annie LENNOX
She's been called the voice of her generation - not just for her singing career, but also for her staunch activism. In honour of the Eurythmics' frontwoman's 70th birthday in December, we pay tribute to a living legend.
Garden SECRETS
Richard Christiansen's Flamingo Estate has given Los Angeles a new appreciation of farm-inspired bath, body and pantry produce. Now the Australian is giving gardening advice that's actually about harvesting more joy from life.
JASMINE Chilcott
Solution-based supplement brand FixBIOME prides itself having an education-first platform and a natural approach to gut health
BIG LOVE
One photographer seeks to dispel vulva stigma with a book that busts open the very real issue of body shame and turns it into self love.
Time out
Skincare that focuses on inner peace is changing attitudes to ageing
LOVE YOUR LIPS
There's never a wrong time to wear a statement lipstick. marie claire puts the most-wanted lip colours under the spotlight to prove their pulling power, whatever the climate
JULIA
Hollywood's quiet achiever Julia Garner is making a career of defying genre
Club wellness
People are swapping happy hour for hyperbaric chambers and picking up potential partners in the sauna. Private wellness clubs, writes Kathryn Madden, are the new third places- if you're lucky enough to get in the door
LIFE in COLOUR
The world's most successful living artist, Yayoi Kusama, will have eight decades of art on display in a blockbuster Australian exhibition.
So you want to be a stay-at-home mum?
As the fourth wave of feminism rolls over social media’s tradwives’, can you still admit you might want to leave your career to raise a family? Adrienne Tam reports on the latest motherhood taboo