Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to Something to Talk About, the Stella podcast. I'm Sarah Lamarquand, your host, and every week I sit down with some of the biggest names in the country because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to Talk About. For almost 20 years, Jodie Gordon was one of the most recognisable women in Australia.
First on Home and Away, then Neighbours, and across countless headlines that followed every chapter of her life.
Chapter 2: What struggles did Jodi Gordon face behind the scenes of her acting career?
But behind the scenes, Jodie was quietly struggling. Recovery for me is this invisible thread that runs through all of us. In 2022, she publicly revealed her battles with depression and alcohol addiction. Since then, she's stepped away almost entirely from acting, working at SANE Australia while studying counselling and rebuilding her life away from the spotlight.
I don't want to do that anymore.
Now, at 41, she's launching her own recovery practice, the Modern Recovery Group, and stepping back into the public eye as the first Australian ambassador for Vichy Laboratoire.
Chapter 3: How did Jodi's journey to recovery begin?
On today's episode of The Stella Podcast, Jodie opens up about sobriety, wellness, public scrutiny and the quieter life she's built beyond fame. Jodie Gordon, welcome to The Stella Podcast. Thank you. Does Jodie Gordon, the actor, feel like a lifetime ago?
I feel like there's always a little bit of an actress in me and I see it in my daughter too. But in terms of... You know, I think the thread that runs through all of it is my interest and obsession with human behavior. So whether that's playing a character as an actor or understanding how our brains are working and why we do the things we do.
A really great mentor has helped me see that thread that's been through all of my different parts of my career and how it actually all links up. And it's like, of course, I've gone from being an actor to a counselor and working in mental health. It really makes sense to me when someone pointed that out. But yeah, always a little bit of an actress in me.
Yeah. Do you get asked about that a bit when people recognise you? Do people say, when will we see you back on screen?
I'm anonymous in my role. So there's this beautiful kind of barrier of anonymity between me and anyone that I work with. which is really refreshing. It's been refreshing for me to develop, like, my skills and my professional skills and things like that, but also to not have that point of distraction come into a session.
And so I think that, you know, when people have said to me, you know, when are you coming back on Home and Away or Neighbours or, you know, it's such a joy. I loved playing those two characters. And nine years in Australian television...
collectively playing those two girls it's like they've there's part of them in me that i get to carry still i've heard other people like kate talk about that with her character and it it is i think when you've played characters for a really long period of time there's a bit of transference i think between the two you and them and them and you so
I would imagine also for someone like you, with the work that you're doing now, you would have really built those characters from the inside out and maybe inhabited them in a way, which is presumably part of the reason that they stay with you. Not just the longevity, the fact that you did play those roles for so long.
I just got goosebumps. Yeah, you're very right, because I think... When I auditioned for Home and Away, I remember Chris Hemsworth was in the audition room and I was just like, oh my gosh, what am I getting myself into here? And this character was, as I was auditioning, I'd never auditioned for anything in my life. They were like, just be you. And that's all I had.
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Chapter 4: What changes has Jodi made in her life since stepping away from acting?
what good days or bad days these characters are having, finding that heart in them makes them lovable, even when they're doing the most chaotic things. And I was given storyline after storyline after storyline. I was like, find the heart, find the soul, Jodie. Is there a moment that stands out as the most testing for that mantra? Yes.
So when I had a husband on Home and Away and he died and then I met his cousin at the funeral and then hooked up with him. Respectful grieving period? A couple of days.
You know, it was Martha and I had so many adventures together and so many different, and it's interesting as a young woman who's just been exposed to this whole new world, playing this character with all these complexities and my world, my internal world was spinning and then I get to play out these characters and have such incredible experiences and with such an amazing team.
And that's been across Home and Away and Neighbours as well. So I feel really grateful. I feel like a very small percentage of people get to have those experiences.
I also was just so struck, Jodie, when you're talking about doing that audition. You're 20 years old. Home and Away is this iconic show I'd been on for a long time. And then a little known actor, Chris Hemsworth, just happens to be in the room. I mean, that was a pretty fast and furious induction into the world of showbiz right there.
It sure was. I remember the casting director grabbed me before I went in and she rubbed my makeup off my face and she pulled my hair out and she shook it up like that.
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Chapter 5: What is the Modern Recovery Group and what inspired its creation?
And she's like, okay, now you're ready. You're Martha. Yeah. Now, she like roughed, not roughed me up like that, but just stripped me back because I think I went in trying to be this version, this funny life moment, trying to be this version of what I thought they wanted me to be. And she's like, pull it back and then anchor yourself in your authenticity and the role will be yours.
And I remember, getting goosebumps again, I walked out of that audition and I bawled my eyes out and I called my mum and And I said, mum, I reckon I've got that part. And she goes, oh, she was so excited. But she was also like, darling, like 500 people have gone for that role.
So, you know, she's trying to calm my, but there was a feeling where I think like anything great professionally and personally, you have a, I don't know, an energetic link to something that you're doing that you go, oh yeah, that's my direction. That's my path next. And I want that. And I'm right where I'm meant to be.
You turned 40 last year, so you have packed a lot into your life. We're talking about Martha and her very intense timeline. You know, tragedy happens two days later, you've moved on. We know so much happens in 30 minutes of a hide-and-soap opera that there's a lot of life. But you also have had a lot happen in that time.
Do you look back at moments, everything you've just spoken about, that moment and the interaction then that you had with your mum and think... that a lot was going on that as 20 you just wouldn't have realised. You know, within a year you had won a Logie Award, you're on red carpets, all of the things that happened to you within a very short amount of time.
At the still very young age of 41 now, you must look back and think, I didn't realise how intense and how much was happening within such a short timeframe. Is that true? Absolutely.
I must say I've been reflecting on things those moments because I remember when I won that first Logie, which was just out of this world, but only like that week before I just found out my partner had had cancer. And it's like reflecting on the juxtaposition of life and these highs and lows and this little girl going, oh my gosh, I'm living my dreams and there's so much pain and there's
a lot of like attention and, you know, it's ā I definitely ā I can reflect on that time I think now because it's like over, what, 20 years ago and go, oh, you did good, kiddo. You did all right. You know, you did the best with what you had and so imperfectly and that's all right. And I think we have the gift of being able to give that like ā the champion voice, not the inner critic.
As you get older, you have the gift of giving that to yourself and going, yeah, yeah, you did okay. It's nice.
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Chapter 6: How does Jodi define recovery in a broader sense?
When I was talking a little bit about inhabiting the characters that you've played as an actor and them really staying with you because of everything that you've taken on, How, Jodie, does that play out in your role working with people through SANE? And you're obviously encountering people at the most vulnerable and often the darkest moments of their life.
How have you learned to navigate being there for them and having that empathy that is clearly very natural to you but not taking that on? I think someone very early on said to me,
I did some research, sorry, this week, and I've done 451 to 1 sessions as a peer support worker in the last year and a half. That's an astronomical amount. What someone told me prior to doing that is... If you're really good at your job, Jodie, you know how to hold the space and the boundaries to protect yourself but to protect the person that you're talking with.
And the way that you do that is you understand what risk, you understand what escalation, you understand those different elements of what's starting to take shape within a conversation so I can keep two hands on the driving wheel. Because the times when I've let go of the driving wheel or I've I've felt like the conversation was outside of a scope I could handle or control in some way.
They've been my biggest learning curves. And a lot of those happened last year. And it was a really great experience for me with a boss who was just incredible. We walk with not two or four people. So it's about walking alongside fellows. We walk with, not to or for. I like that. I've probably paraphrased that to make sense for myself.
But I like that those significant moments of like professional rupture where I've gone ā Ooh, this is a lot. You know, I've heard things I can't unhear. It's like, okay, will we get to go through that and break down what my part is in a session and where I could have protected myself and them more by putting in healthy boundaries or... or directing a conversation.
And so I go back to what that person said to me is when we can keep a safe distance and safety between what we're hearing and what we're exploring in a session, bring someone in and out, healthily, safely, responsibly, within scope, then that's where you have the magic gift of being able to do many, many sessions and I shouldn't be thinking about it that night.
And so that's been a really big lesson for me around, okay, I think it definitely happened last year because there were times that really pushed me and I had a lot of support from my boss at SANE and, you know, from like my own therapist and things like that. But there comes a point where you go, okay, this is a huge responsibility.
And it's, I know I'm going a bit off track here, but to be part of an organization that's free and we're nationally accessible. So anyone calls with any issue and any challenge and hearing what so many people are going through, it can be invigorating.
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Chapter 7: What role does empathy play in Jodi's current work with SANE Australia?
I can find those moments in a session when someone wants to end their life. And I think that that is like a magic thing that ā Not a lot of people love doing or exploring. And for some reason I do it. You can see it in my voice and my eyes as I'm talking about it now. It like empowers and uplifts me and energises me. So it's exciting.
I mean, even the fact that the word invigorating could be a way to describe some of what you do would really reaffirm that you're absolutely where you're meant to be. I completely agree with the people that have made that observation. It's hope, isn't it?
Yes. It's hope. And it can be dressed up any way you want. But I know that through my worst moments, someone just believing in me, it's a flicker of hope. And, you know, that's sometimes all you need.
You've got a lot going on this year and I want to talk about each of them individually. There's the fact that you're the first Australian ambassador for Vichy and you are working at SANE. I mean, you're studying for a degree, I believe. I'm not sure where you're fitting all this in. You'll have to tell us the secret. And then, as I mentioned, you are launching your own business. this month.
Tell me a little bit about that. And it sounds in some ways like it might have been a continuation of this natural path you found yourself on.
It is. I think it was about four years ago when I finished on Neighbours, I came back to Sydney and I I had to get a job for the first time. And I also, I decided to work in the field that I was studying. My dream was to always be a counsellor in the therapeutic world of some way. And so I signed up for uni. I wrote them as a mature age student. I mean, mature. How old were you?
I mean, come on, but anyway. Compelling, like, application form.
Yeah.
Before I was using ChatGPT or anything like that. I just got heaps of smart friends. But I got a place and here I am four years later finishing that. And I had to do other qualifications in between that as well. So it's been a lot. But, you know, the funny thing is people know me from being an actress on television for decades.
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Chapter 8: How does Jodi balance her personal life with her professional commitments?
I think that the Modern Recovery Group, it definitely kind of, It resembles that art of living and way of living recovery freely. So we're not bounded by all these constraints and judgment and stigma around it because we can all get well together or we can all grow together or we can all heal together, you know.
Yeah, absolutely. I think, as you say, reducing the judgment and the stigma. And I think that's part of what was so extremely powerful about you going public with your story was because there's still perceptions of what we think someone in recovery must look like. And so many people didn't think that it was somebody that looked like you and lived this seemingly normal
shiny, glamorous, super successful life and was a woman in her late 30s who had it all and was on top of the world, but of course wasn't. Was that part of the feedback that you've had and the work that you've done is that recovery comes in all forms and it can look nothing like what you might think it is?
I don't think any part of you know, the things that we're challenged with across the board, it just doesn't discriminate at all. Like, I think there's this view of like someone that lives on a park bench drinking a VB long neck out of a paper bag. And I'm like, that guy or that woman, that person's also sitting in icebergs, you know, like, and or she's like an actress on television or she's
quietly suffering somewhere because she doesn't know what's going on. And that's the other thing, you know, I feel really grateful. I've got a lot of support around me. I also have a couple of 12-step programs that really hold me and I've got sponsors. But for people who don't have, you know, alcoholism or drug addiction or like whatever kind of, you What are they going through?
Where are they going if they can't afford an expensive psychiatrist or psychologist because they've lost hope or they're burnt out or they're not enjoying life or they don't know what's wrong? And that quiet panic. I know that really well.
And I think part of ā there's so much of my heart in this company because it's ā I just want to create something that I wanted at those moments, whether it was me getting over a breakup and not knowing how to live through the day or whether it was me going, I'm an alcoholic and I don't know how to face the world. Whatever those are, I think that just having somewhere ā
that's outspoken, that's going, hey, like, here we are. No bells and whistles, but like, this is who we are. I think that that would, I know that would feel comforting for me back in those days.
Because when somebody reaches a point, whatever it is, and they think, I think I have something I want to confront, I acknowledge there's a problem and I'm ready to say I need help. It's so heartbreaking. It's When there isn't then help, people don't know where to find it or if they can, as you've talked about, it's not accessible and it's financially out of reach.
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