In the blooming spring garden of a Bondi terrace, Australian actor Sarah Snook is talking about fame. Not the kind reserved for her heroes – those grandes dames of the silver screen, Meryl Streep and Judi Dench – but the kind of slow-blossoming renown that comes with a promise: Sarah Snook is an actor to watch. … Read More
Susan Sarandon does not do bland or saccharine. Politics is at the heart of everything she says. Only a few minutes into our conversation, Sarandon launches into a diatribe about deregulation of the US media, lambasting both former Democrat president Bill Clinton and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. “You know, I came of age at … Read More
Adele, the British singing sensation with the two-octave range and the string of chart-topping ballads, has spent most of the past three years lulling her young son to sleep with nursery rhymes. “When I’m singing a nursery rhyme I just sound like everyone else,” she laughs. “You can’t really sing a nursery rhyme that well.” The … Read More
As a little girl, Frances Rings was both disconnected from her Aboriginal heritage and painfully aware of it. In the street, people would stare at the dark-skinned girl walking alongside her blue-eyed, blond-haired father. At school, both black and white kids would ask where her Aboriginal family was. Her only connection to country was when … Read More
A few months after her mother died, Brooke Shields bought a beach house in the Hamptons. In a strange and tragic tribute, she spent three days decorating it with her mother’s most cherished possessions. Teri Shields had kept a storage shed the size of aircraft hangar, jammed with furniture, antiques, art, Hollywood memorabilia, designer handbags … Read More
Taylor Swift shakes my hand, then shakes it again. She grimaces and mimics a girlie handshake, her hand like a delicate cat’s paw with plum-coloured nails. “I didn’t get that quite right,” she says, apologetically. “I don’t want you to think I can’t shake hands properly.” The American singer-songwriter might have 45 million Twitter followers, … Read More
Emma Balfour ushers me into her home, steps around the composting toilet in the hallway, and rummages for some good cups to make tea. Her Bondi bungalow is a study in elegant grunge. Outside, it’s painted sea green – the same colour as when she bought it 15 years ago – and a round window … Read More
Tanya Plibersek has a gift for doing many things at once. “My personal favourite was writing a speech, talking on the telephone and breastfeeding,” says Labor’s 43-year-old MP for the federal seat of Sydney, whisking egg yolks, lemon juice and olive oil into a home-made mayonnaise. It’s lunchtime at Plibersek’s inner-city home and the mother … Read More