JUNE 2018 | The Australian Women’s Weekly 85
Celebrity
LISA WEARS BALLY COAT, LONELY THE LABEL DRESS AND NINE WEST SHOES.
COMING OF AGE
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years
since the fresh-faced actress, straight
out of drama school, burst onto our
screens as Constable Maggie Doyle
in the iconic series Blue Heelers.
Constable Maggie Doyle made the
Perth-born actor a household name,
and for seven seasons she topped the
television ratings and quickly became
the darling of the small screen.
Most of us, women of a certain age,
grew up following both Lisa and Maggie’s
adventures, on and off our screens.
Even though Lisa has well and truly
shed the long shadow of her much-loved
character, today without a skerrick of
make-up on and her blonde hair gently
swept up in a loose ponytail, the mother
of three teenagers could easily step into
Maggie’s youthful shoes all over again.
But at 47, Lisa has come of age. She is
happily single and comfortably self-
assured, she is relaxed, brutally honest
and radiating a warmth that comes with
being truly happy in your own skin.
“I’m braver now than I’ve ever been,”
she says. “I feel like I own my space
now, I have three kids who are terriic
and I’m comfortable in my choices
and decisions. I’m in a great place.”
Her playfully dubbed “gap” year has
been chicken soup for the soul. She didn’t
stop work entirely, just took a few steps
back away from the spotlight to breathe
and enjoy precious moments with
Archer, 17, Oliver, 15 and Remy, 12.
In between gardening, baking and
iguring out the family tree, she ilmed the
ABC TV’s The Warriors and episodes of
the hilarious The Ex-PM, she also starred
alongside her former partner Teddy Tahu
Rhodes, soprano Greta Bradman and
tenor David Hobson in a reprise of their
hit show From Broadway to La Scala.
It was a time to take stock, challenge
herself and refocus her energy, particularly
after the media frenzy that surrounded
her relationship with Teddy and the end
of her long-time marriage to Tim Disney.
Sensing a need to protect her family,
particularly during the delicate teenage
years, the relatively open book approach
Lisa has previously taken to her personal
life is now very much closed.
“I’ve decided it’s just better not
to discuss these things anymore, foreverybody’s sake,” she says, adding:
“My life is very boring! I’m home
cleaning or looking after teenagers
but I’ll live my life the way I want.”
She recalls the words of an elderly
woman who approached her on the
street after photographs appeared of
Lisa and Teddy passionately kissing
in public. “She said to me, ‘you just
be happy, love...’ and I thought, yep,
you’re right, I’ll live my life how I like.
“The light has been shone on me for
such a long time ... I don’t need that.
I don’t court it or aspire to it, I just love
working and I enjoy what I do. I want
to shine a light on my kids now and the
other actors I’m working with, I ind
youth incredibly exhilarating, there’s some
wonderfully talented actors out there
and I want to shine the light on them.”THE MIDAS TOUCH
It is clear that the proud mother would
much rather talk about others, especially
her children, than about herself. The
vagaries of life in a household of
teenagers are endless fodder.
Despite being the television darling
of the nation, Lisa’s kids aren’t at all
fussed about what she does, describingmotherhood as “very grounding!” All
three are at high school now.
In the early years, the odd Logie went
to school for show and tell, but these days
teenagers are much harder to impress.
“I was singing with the Tasmanian
Symphony Orchestra recently. It was
a really big deal to me and I’d been
working really hard on it. As I said
goodbye to the kids they were like,
‘where are you going?’ When I explained,
the response was just “okay, see ya”.
Didn’t raise an eyebrow! If I’d landed
a role in Game of Thrones they’d be
impressed though!” she laughs.
“I was doing auditions for the stage
production of Harry Potter recently and
all of a sudden they took notice, but
I didn’t get the role so I was quickly
back down the pecking order!”
As she picks up her coffee, I marvel
at the fact that with her Midas touch
for ratings and the box ofice, she still
has to front up for auditions.
“Yes, I do and I’m not very good at it!
I did a terrible audition recently. I do
one or two a year and they’re usually
appalling because you don’t do them
enough and it’s such an important
process as an actor.
“If you’ve been around long enough,
people think they know what you do
but sometimes you want to surprise
them, and it’s such a pleasure to do that.
“I like to audition for roles that are
quite outside the box for me and I
think sometimes people are a bit scared
to ask me to audition because they
think I might be offended. But I love
it and I should be doing it a couple of
times a week, not a year.” →“I’m comfortable
in my choices
and decisions.
I’m in a great
place.”
Left: Lisa (second from left)
with Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Greta
Bradman and David Hobson.
Above: On set for Blue Heelers.