SYLVANIA WATERS STAR TELLS - 'THE SHOW BROKE OUR FAMILY'

DIONE BILSBOROUGH REVEALS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO HER IN-LAWS

- Phillip Koch

After her family’s life in a south Sydney waterfront mansion was laid bare in Sylvania Waters – the fly-on-the-wall reality TV series that fascinated Australia and the world back in 1992 – Noeline Baker was forced into hiding.

Now, in an exclusive interview to mark the show’s 30th anniversary, Noeline’s former daughter-in-law, Dione Bilsborough, tells New Idea: “I don’t think any of us really thought about the aftermath.

“I haven’t seen Noeline for many years, but I can’t see that she would have changed. Being the woman that she was, she spoke her truth and if she had an opinion, she would state it. But that was just who Noeline was, I guess.”

SHOCK DEBUT

When we first met Dione all those years ago, she was 21 and living with Noeline’s blond-haired surfie son, Paul Baker, two dogs and a white sulphur-crested cockatoo. Their fibro cottage in Mortdale was just down the road from Noeline and partner Laurie Donaher’s million-dollar mansion.

“Paul and I knew at the time how Noeline was going to be painted during the whole thing,” Dione, now 51, reveals. “It was so obvious to us. The drinking, the smoking and just how Noeline is.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t fare well with viewers at the time.”

Sylvania Waters launched to outrage here and over in the UK (where five million people also watched it), after loud and obnoxiously rich Noeline and Laurie invited the world into a front-row seat to bourbon-fuelled, screaming family arguments.