BACK TO BASS
Natalie Bassingthwaighte joins the cast of The Wrong Girl. By Holly Byrnes
FOR Natalie Bassingthwaighte, her jungle adventure on I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! this year was more than just a desperate working mum’s search for a bit of peace and quiet.
As the 41- year- old explains: “One of the reasons, besides the huge charity aspect, of going on the show was to ask myself: ‘ What am I doing with my life? What is it that I really want?’
Three months after the social experiment in the wilds of South Africa — with a new family- first focus in mind — the former Neighbours star and Rogue Traders’ front woman this week joins the cast of breakout drama hit, The Wrong Girl.
Playing Gillian, a pastry chef and exgirlfriend of Jack Winters ( played by Logie winner, Rob Collins), Bassingthwaighte is already throwing herself into her new TV project — mindful it will be the first time in her career she will be able to work and come home to her family each night.
“I haven’t worked in Melbourne since Neighbours, so to work in my new home town, on a drama, is a thrill,” the Wollongong- raised star says.
“It will be the first time since I’ve had children ( daughter Harper, 6 and Hendrix, 4) that I’ll go to work and come home. I’m normally filming in Sydney, or travelling so that’s a buzz.”
Never one to do things by half, the multi- tasking actor ( who also designs her own children’s clothing line, Chi Khi, and continues to gig with the band which introduced her to husband Cameron McGlinchey) recently signed herself up for a day of cooking classes; whipping up batches of chocolate ganache, short bread and meringue.
“It was a really valuable experience, even just to master hand techniques,” she says. “There’s no guarantee I can make something that tastes any good, but at least I can make it look like I know what I’m doing.”
Joining the award- winning ensemble for a season two script reading teamed her with the cast’s other working mums, including Bassingthwaighte’s former Neighbours co- star Madeleine West and The Wrong Girl’s leading lady, Jessica Marais.
“Jess is just heaven and we talked about that ( working mum struggle) ... it’s not an easy thing. With this industry, the job could be in your home town or it could be somewhere else but you have to make choices all the time. I feel like I’m at the happiest point in my life, that I’m making decisions that are right for me and right for my family. I’m very content at the moment.”
On screen, at least, Marais and Bassingthwaighte look destined to become entangled in a love triangle of sorts. “It’s kind of exciting because I come in at a really pivotal point of Jack and Lily’s ( Marais) relationship, so it’s gong to be a great storyline between us all.”
Much of Bassingthwaighte’s newfound family and career clarity she credits to I’m A Celebrity.
“You can’t come out of that experience not being changed by it, for better or worse,” she says. “For me, I was lucky that I’ve made some great friends, that I do feel like it’s opened my mind to a different life, a new life, one that is more balance and the balance I have been searching for years, that I’m only able to realise and implement now.”