TV QUEEN SUSIE ELELMAN ‘I’VE FINALLY BEAT MY DEMONS!’
WITH A NEW LEASE ON LIFE, THE EFFERVESCENT STAR HOPES TO FIND LOVE AGAIN
These days, when Susie Elelman smiles, it’s the real deal. The upbeat TV star has a renewed focus after beating her decadeslong battle with low selfesteem and reconciling a tumultuous private life.
This new attitude is on full display when Susie steps into New Idea’s studio for our fun photo shoot. Forget an entourage of stylists and hair and makeup artists – Susie likes to do things her way. And when you’ve got taste like hers, it’s easy to see why she wants to be in control.
“I’ve finally conquered my demons and it’s wonderfully liberating,” confesses Susie, 67. “Among the issues was a dread of getting older, especially as I began to approach 70. I feared being thrown on the scrap heap, of being unloved and unwanted.”
Susie reveals she recently made a pact with
herself, which includes no more obsessing over birthdays, fibbing about her age or worrying about her weight.
“Instead, I’ve embraced my life experiences, the good, the bad and the ugly … and I’ve also decided to stop listening to the haters,” she says.
The TV regular explains that she’s developed more confidence and a pride in her achievements over the years, which has in turn has made her the happiest she’s ever been. Indeed, Susie has clocked up an impressive 47
years on-screen, and says while her life may appear “all champagne and showbiz cocktail parties” on the outside, privately, she’d endured a lifetime of deep personal pain, devastating disappointments and stinging criticism.
“As a kid I was relentlessly
‘AS A KID, I WAS BULLIED ... I WOULD COME HOME CRYING!’
bullied in school. As the Australian-born daughter of European refugees, I was vilified to an horrendous extent,” she recalls. “I’d come home crying, covered in bruises and cuts. It was the gangs of girls who were the worst culprits.”
Shockingly, Susie reveals that on her 7th birthday, she
was sexually molested by someone whose identity she will “take to her grave”.
“That’s something I still struggle to process. Then, in 1982, I had a horror encounter with convicted sex offender, Rolf Harris – it was at a TV show in Wollongong [NSW]. As Rolf was leaving, he gave me a hug and ran his hand down my back. I froze, absolutely stunned. He was so clever in that he made sure no-one saw it.”
In 1995, Susie shocked the nation when she graced the Logies red carpet wearing her infamous black-and-white, cleavage-revealing frock.
“That dress sparked a firestorm of hate, controversy and abuse. I was left feeling embarrassed, humiliated and totally ashamed of myself,” she says, adding she was reduced to tears in the streets by people hurling insults at her.
On the bright side, Susie says it served as a much-needed wake-up call that it was time to turn her life around.
“I was at my heaviest, having squeezed into a size 23. I’d had an unhealthy relationship with food and my romantic life was a shambles. I was at a very low emotional ebb.
“After the fallout from my Logies dress subsided, the transformation began. I quit alcohol and refined sugar, [and]
I gave up meat, [instead] favouring vegetables and fish.”
Nowadays, Susie maintains power walking is her new best friend, something she credits with kick-starting her weight loss – which has seen her shed a few dress sizes.
“Looking back, I realise I’ve been blessed. And now, after exorcising negativity, I appreciate my life.
“Despite having survived dud relationships, I’m still a sucker for love and would leap at the chance to meet Mr Right!”