“This would change the Astonis forever…”
WHILE ZIGGY HAS DADDY ISSUES, HOME AND AWAY’S SOPHIE DILLMAN HAS FOUND LOVE IN THE BAY…
The Astonis have faced so many challenges – from Maggie’s cancer, to Ziggy’s heartbreak and Ben’s depression,” explains Sophie Dillman, who plays Ziggy, as we call her up for a chat about her alter ego’s family dilemma. “But throughout all of it they’ve been such a strong unit, so for this to happen to them now, it’s just heartbreaking…”
The bombshell which has blown the family apart has been the arrival of Ben’s brother Marco in Summer Bay. While Ziggy has been intrigued to get to know her uncle, her mum Maggie has been resistant to him returning to their lives, and for good reason. But this week, Maggie has enough and reveals the truth to Ben – she slept with his brother when they were broken up, just before their wedding! And the revelation leaves Ziggy questioning her paternity…
“The thing is that Marco has been a distant relative for most of Ziggy’s life – and now suddenly she learns this,” says Sophie. “Ziggy’s heartbroken that her mum hasn’t said anything this entire time as it could really affect Ziggy’s life. She’s feeling every emotion coloured with rage – remember, Ziggy had her heart broken by Brody, so her mum’s deceit gets to her.”
Despite Maggie being adamant that Ben is Ziggy’s father, the question hangs like a dark cloud over the family. Soon enough, Ziggy decides that she wants to get a paternity test to find out the truth.
“It would definitely change the family if Marco turned out to be Ziggy’s father,” shares Sophie. “But I think Ben will always be her dad, and she will always treat him like her dad – yet having that news emerge will always change you to an extent.”
While Ziggy has her family troubles, the one stable thng in her life is her relationship with Dean. It was also recently revealed that Sophie is dating her on-screen love interest, Patrick O’connor – who plays Dean – in real life, and she tells us that she couldn’t be happier.
“It’s very convenient, we can practice our lines together and talk about what we want from a scene and how to play it,” she grins. “When we’re at work I mean, obviously – we don’t do it all the time!”
It’s certainly been an eventful year for Sophie – as well as high drama, she also had some high-speed action when her alter ego landed a job at a racetrack.
“I love filming at the track – I actually got to pull the tyres off,” she tells us.
“They had a full racetrack team there, and they taught me how to do it. It felt so powerful being able to do that!”
However, Sophie is pleased Ziggy turned down the job in the end…
“Ziggy’s a simple pleasures kind of gal,” grins the actress. “She really enjoys her life, she loves surfing, she loves cars, she loves Dean and she loves her family – and all of those things are in Summer Bay.”