REALITY TV WIN A LIFE- CHANGER
Vogue HOUSE Rules winner Steve Falzon feels uneasy that he is more than half a million dollars richer and that his daughter has left the reality show empty- handed.
Tiana Falzon secretly entered her father and herself on the Seven Network series in a bid to help Steve clear his $ 250,000 mortgage.
They triumphed against the odds on Monday and not only is Steve debt- free, his renovated home has increased the value of his property by more than $ 300,000.
Steve said he will take his son and Tiana, and her husband, on a European holiday, which was the least he could do to thank his daughter for her selflessness.
“We are going to go on a massive holiday overseas to try and pay her back, but I think I’ll be paying her back for the rest of my life,” Steve said.
“She could have done this for herself and her husband.
“I’m proud of her and being a parent you are always giving to your kids, so it does feel a little bit weird what she has done.”
Steve, 47, raised both Tiana, 26, and her brother Andrew, 25, on his own after their mother, Danielle, died from pneumonia 19 years ago. The financial strain of being a single father and putting his children through school meant he was never able to pay down the mortgage on the 1960s three- bedroom brick house.
Steve estimates his Mt Druitt home has almost doubled in value since being extensively renovated and even if he and Tiana hadn’t won, he’d still be about $ 300,000 better off.
“Beforehand it was estimated at about $ 350,000 and now it’s worth over the $ 650,000 mark,” Steve said.
“We did have a pretty tough life growing up and she has sacrificed a lot. When it is my time to go leave this place, the kids will benefit from it all anyway.” NICOLE Kidman reached out to young Aussie actor Mia Wasikowska as she thinks the film industry is tougher now than ever before.
Kidman says this young generation of actors have to deal with social media and constant paparazzi intrusion, something she didn’t experience even during her high- profile relationship with Tom Cruise.
“We’re the generation that got to duck all of that. When I was with Tom, I don’t remember paparazzi sitting outside our house ... not like now,” she has told the US Vogue magazine.
Kidman worked with 25- year- old Wasikowska on 2013 psychological thriller Stoker, which is when she offered to help the young actor navigate the industry.
“I said, ‘ You call me anytime. Anytime you need to ask something.’ That’s probably my maternal side,” she said.
Kidman also said she was still feeling raw from the recent death of her father, Antony Kidman, who died suddenly last year.
“You’ve caught me at a time when I’m still recovering and in grief. There are times you go, ‘ Gosh, I wish I could just go and hide in a hole and never come out’,” she said.
“And then you go, ‘ That was yesterday’. I have a four- year- old and a six- year- old, and just hearing their laugh ... it’s life in its most powerful form.”
Her daughters Sunday Rose, 6, and Faith Margaret, 4, with husband country star Keith Urban bring her so much happiness, she said she wishes she could have had more.