Celeste Barber: ‘F***ing hell, I have no idea what I’m doing.’

She may have rallied her 7 million Instagram followers to raise $52 million after the nation’s devastating bushfires, but Celeste Barber says that doesn’t mean she’s an activist.

COMEDIC powerhouse Celeste Barber considers herself more Melissa McCarthy than Greta Thunberg.

Despite her record-breaking bushfire fundraising efforts, which saw the Tweed product mobilise her 7 million Instagram followers globally to raise $52 million for the NSW Rural Fire Service, Barber told InStyle Australia that she had no interest in being a poster girl for climate change.

Celeste Barber for InStyle Australia. Picture: Hugh Stewart for InStyle

“I am not the face of bushfires, nor am I the face of climate change. Because I don’t know what I’m talking about,” Barber, 37, told the magazine’s latest issue, which hits stands today.

“I love that people are listening to me now and … I still say whatever I want, but only when I know what I’m talking about. I’ve been asked to do so many of these (climate awareness) things, and I’ve gone, ‘No. I don’t want to be Greta Thunberg.’ I want to be [American comedy actor] Melissa McCarthy and just do my thing.”

She won’t be turning to politics either, despite the subsequent #CelesteForPM movement on social media, because she believes she has more power remaining as she is, the representation of the average woman.

“No! F***ing hell, I have no idea what I’m doing. Plus Oprah … had a very good point when she said she’s got more power not in power, because she’s got no one to answer to,” Barber said.

It was that persona, when she began re-creating photos and videos shared by models and celebrities in a more relatable way, that captured the world’s attention.

“I have a following because I’m authentic, I’ve got my finger on the pulse and I represent the average person. I always (call out) s**t for what it is and all that, so I think people trusted me and what I was doing,” Barber said.

“(The Australian fires) were kind of the first main catastrophic, international headline example of climate change. It is happening … Everyone was like ‘Oh s**t, it’s hell on Earth. The koalas are on fire. What the hell?’

“What I would say to (the public) is we have more power than we know.”

Instyle Australia will donate $1 from every magazine sold to local charity GIVIT.