Crime kingpin Carl Williams’ wife Roberta criticised for ‘glorifying underworld’ after filming new show

ROBERTA Williams has defended her foray into reality TV, saying she agreed to be a part of a Mob Wives-style Australian show to discourage other young women from following in her footsteps.

• Underworld matriarch Roberta becomes a grandmother
• Roberta: ‘I don’t want my children to follow my footsteps’

ROBERTA Williams has defended her foray into reality TV, saying she agreed to be a part of a Mob Wives-style Australian show to discourage other young women from following in her footsteps.

As revealed in The Sunday Telegraph, the mother of five recently shot a pilot with the potential of it being commissioned for a full series that is being looked at by television networks here and overseas.

Some have criticised the project for glorifying and glamorising the criminal underworld.

Roberta Williams has defended herself after being criticised for filming a reality show on the criminal underworld. Picture: Brett Costello

“We are showing women there is more to life than being with someone that is in and out of prison,” the widow of murdered criminal kingpin Carl Williams told Confidential’s Robed-Up With J. Mo Facebook Live series.

“It is much easier to go out and get a job than what it is to be in trouble or commit offences, or go out there to strive to be the best drug dealer.

“The message I get out there is you are going to get caught eventually. You make more money doing legal jobs than you do doing illegal things. I’ve learnt that the hard way and I hope to teach girls that there is no life in that.

“It isn’t the way. We are not sitting there saying how great the underworld is.”

RELATED: AUSSIE ‘MOB WIVES’ TO SHOW SOFTER SIDE OF LIFE WITH CRIMS

Carl with his wife Roberta in 2003. Picture: Supplied

The well-known underworld figure was bashed to death in prison in 2010.

Williams, 48, shot the pilot alongside Stefani Samac, Raquael Villani, Leyla Yavuz, Lisa Candido and Analya Diaz, all of whom are related to or have been in relationships with underworld figures.

“The show isn’t about getting out there and talking about criminality, we would all like to show young girls that this isn’t the life, that there are better ways to go about things,” Williams said.

“You can always get back up, I am proof of that. From a young age, I’ve been a street kid, I’ve been an abused wife, I’ve been so many things and I’ve got back up and taken the next step forward.”

Williams and her ex, with whom she had 16-year-old daughter Dhakota, were ­famously portrayed in Channel Nine’s hit Underbelly TV drama by Kat Stewart and Gyton Grantley.

Williams revealed to JMo she wants to discourage young women from being involved in the criminal underworld. Picture: Brett Costello

“I never spoke to her (Stewart). I was a bit angry at her at the start but then when I thought about it, she was handed a script and she played the part, and played it well,” Williams said of the Offspring star.

“She did the job she was given but that isn’t the person I am and I was never consulted.”

Williams, whose six-year-old son Giuseppe is autistic, is also writing another book and there may be a feature film in the works. If a film were given the go ahead, she’d like Home and Away actor Georgie Parkerto play her.

“Carl’s side of the story, no one has ever heard from Carl, no one has ever heard Carl speak, straight from the horse’s mouth,” she said.

“He’s not (around anymore) but his computer told a lot of stories.”