MELISSA TKAUTZ
Melissa Tkautz was 16 years old when she was cast in the popular Australian soap opera E Street in 1990. A veteran of 160 TV and magazine commercials, Tkautz could also sing, so in the first year of her nearly three years on the show, the producers wrote a storyline where her character, bad girl Nikki Spencer, became a pop star in a dream sequence. Tkautz wasn’t yet 18 when her as-seen-onTV song “Read My Lips” soared to No.1 in Australia. In the 30 years since, she has pinballed from music to acting, comedy and even reality TV – from The Real Housewives of Sydney to SAS Australia.
When I launched my career, the narrative – which had started with Kylie Minogue – was that you’re a soap star and you had no right trying to be a singer. Now you have A-list movie stars doing TV shows, which back in the day was a no-no. I used to get so much flak. I wasn’t taken seriously as an actress because I’d released music. Thank God society has realised we have to go where the work is. We have bills and mortgages to pay.
Dealing with that when I was younger was a nightmare, but it does teach you some lessons very early on. In this industry, you cannot be in the public eye and not develop a thick skin. You’d be eaten alive.
It is full of rejection.
When I released “Read My Lips” I was very sheltered with a very strict father. I couldn’t understand why journalists kept asking me about the lyric “If you want to wait till later, hands o my detonator.” I honestly thought the lyric was about a bomb. I swear on my life. That’s how clueless I was about sex and sexuality.
There was a lot of crap going on around me in the industry when I was young, but when it came to protecting myself, I would steer away from bad situations somehow. I always had a minder. It was lucky I avoided that, and I wasn’t physically abused, but I was abused mentally by some of the people looking after me. I was constantly ripped o . I had people spending my money on overseas holidays for themselves. I will never, even in 20 years, own the rights to my first album [Fresh], which is unheard of in this day and age. I had my parents, who knew nothing about the industry, look it over but it was the worst contract my manager has ever seen.
I could have fallen into a heap and walked away from the industry. A lot of people do. There’s nothing wrong with that. For me, unfortunately, I love this industry with all of my heart.
Have I finished doing what I want to do in [entertainment]? No, I have not. I love acting and singing so much. I’m not done yet. There is still very much the passion to record new music, to perform and make more TV. I can’t wait to do it all. It’s nice to have the highs when you are working and the times when you are being a mum and wife. It’s a really nice balance at the moment. I’m in a bloody good place.
“I WAS ABUSED MENTALLY BY SOME OF THE PEOPLE LOOKING AFTER ME. I WAS CONSTANTLY RIPPED OFF” – Melissa Tkautz