Sister act
Whether escaping a coup or performing in a musical, the sisterhood is powerful. Four of our favourite women tell Samantha Trenoweth and Susan Horsburgh about their special relationships with their sisters.
Natalie Bassingthwaighte with sisters Lisa, Melinda and Nicole
Growing up, the Bassingthwaighte girls were besties, though there were the usual dramas, too. There was a tussle over a pair of jeans that left Melinda, the eldest, with a broken thumb. And there was the time Melinda convinced their mum to drive Natalie to the school disco “at that age when you’re embarrassed by everything. ‘Don’t kiss me goodbye, don’t even look at me’,” Natalie says, laughing. She leaped from the car. “It was only going at 10 kilometres an hour, but I was wearing a rah-rah skirt and an off-the-shoulder top, so I arrived at the disco bleeding.”
Summer holidays at Narooma on the NSW South Coast were Enid Blyton-style adventures. “When the tide was out,” recalls Nicole, a twin with Lisa, “you could walk all the way to the island. Then we’d race back before the tide came in and end up covered in sand and mud.”
It was also the time of year when Nat – future rock singer, judge on The X Factor and the latest addition to The Wrong Girl cast – cajoled her sisters into a musical extravaganza. “We practised for hours – Let’s Hear It For The Boy, Footloose, Grease,” she says.
The sisters now live in different cities, but call each other often and, says Nat, “We have each other’s back. The older we get, the stronger we are together”.
Jesinta Franklin with sister Aleysha
When siblings play childhood dress-ups, the older one usually nabs the starring role – which is why Aleysha (right) was routinely cast as the groom or the corpse. Big sister Jesinta, now 26, “was definitely the leader” says Aleysha Campbell, who is three years younger. “I was always the guinea pig – like, she’d dye my hair – but we’ve always played together, so we’ve always had a close bond.”
Growing up on acreage in the Gold Coast hinterland, Jesinta and Aleysha would tear around on their bikes all day, climbing trees and playing in the creek, only going home when they got hungry. “We didn’t have a lot of toys, we watched limited TV,” recalls Jesinta. “We’d dress up or go outside.” In those days, they were clueless about fashion, usually sporting boardies and sneakers.
Both now living in Sydney and making their marks in the fashion industry – Jesinta as a model and Aleysha as a stylist – they often work together and catch up at least once a week. Aleysha describes her big sister as inspiring. “I’ve really liked seeing her find her feet in the industry,” she says, “and her voice.”
Erin Molan with sister Sarah
Erin and Sarah’s dad was a majorgeneral in the Australian Army and, Erin says, “I think any Army brat will tell you that when you move around all the time – I went to 16 schools – your siblings are your only true friends.”
Erin (below, left), who nowadays co-hosts The NRL Footy Show, remembers living in Indonesia in 1998, when the Suharto government fell. “My big sister, Sarah, had already started boarding school in Canberra and, when the riots started, my little sister, Felicity, and I were evacuated to boarding school, too. I remember walking into that school feeling terrified. Then I saw Sarah standing in the courtyard waiting for us and it was the most calming thing. We three stuck together and Sarah was almost like a mother to us.”
In 2011, Sarah (below, right) was diagnosed with bowel cancer and, says Erin, “that made me appreciate all my siblings more – it made me reflect on their mortality and my own mortality. I look at the world differently now. I watched Sarah go through all that with little children, one a baby, and she was basically the one who held us all together. She’s the most incredible, stoic woman. She inspires me.”
Jessica Rowe with sisters Harriet and Claudia
Jessica Rowe has described her mother’s struggle with mental illness as, to some extent, the making of her. It was also the making of the three Rowe girls as a strong, supportive team. “It brought us closer and we learnt to look after each other,” says youngest sister Claudia (far right). “We were little and Jessica looked after us all.”
There were good times, too. They remember long afternoons playing dolls in an improvised doll house that their dad constructed from an old bookcase. “We had one doll each. Jess had Barbie and Barbie was always receiving OBEs for services to the Queen,” Harriet (right) says, laughing, reminding us that her sibling and Studio 10 host is now a
Member of the Order of Australia.
The three women have always genuinely liked each other’s company. “I remember when we moved house, we were so excited that at last we could have separate rooms,” says Harriet. “But then we missed each other,” Jessica (centre) adds, “so we’d drag our mattresses into one room and sleep together.” And the sleepovers haven’t ended yet. Every year, they get together for a family holiday with their mum, their spouses and kids.