Penguin Bloom: The Sydney couple whose story inspired a Hollywood film
Sam and Cam Bloom from Sydney’s northern beaches had one clear brief when they agreed to their story being told on the big screen.
Confidential
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Sam and Cam Bloom had one clear brief when they agreed to their story being told on the big screen.
The Sydney couple didn’t want the film based on best selling book, Penguin Bloom, to be sensationalised or “Hollywoody”.
“I didn’t want it to be, yay everything is great, life is perfect again because it is not,” Sam told Confidential at her northern beaches home. It is still a struggle. It will always be a struggle but it does get easier as time goes on. They honoured that, which I am so thankful for.
“A Hollywood version is not me. I could never sugar coat this story. It is hard. I am not the same person I was and so I didn’t want it all perfect and beautiful.”
Penguin Bloom is an extraordinary movie that most definitely delivers, telling Sam’s story of being left a paraplegic after a six-metre fall on a family holiday in Thailand in 2013.
With Naomi Watts playing Sam and Andrew Lincoln as Cam, the film will open in cinemas nationally on Thursday.
Penguin is the story of a magpie the couple and their three sons took in after it fell from its nest and lived with them for two years. Looking after the bird gave Sam a purpose at a time that she had almost lost the will to live.
“I was so angry and sad all the time,” she said.
“I felt so ripped off. When we did find Penguin, my focus shifted from me to her because she was so vulnerable.
“Our whole focus (as a family) shifted. She was so cute and made us happy.”
Sam embraces the Lavender name
Sam Armytage will take on her new husband’s name after marrying partner Richard Lavender.
The Sunrise breakfast TV host will go by Sam Lavender on a personal basis but will keep her maiden name professionally.
The couple wed in an intimate ceremony in front of close family and friends in Bowral on December 31.
They had originally intended to wed earlier last year but were forced to push back the date due to the pandemic.
Lavender, 60, runs an equestrian business and has been previously married. He told the Telegraph in October it was love at first sight when he met the TV host.
Sam Frost returns to Summer Bay
The summer break was kind to Sam Frost, who looked happy and relaxed as she returned to work filming Home And Away on Palm Beach this week.
The show resumed production this week after a break over the Christmas holidays. Thankfully Frost had finished filming at Palm Beach before the northern beaches COVID outbreak, allowing her to head to Melbourne to spend the holiday with her family.
This will be Frost’s fourth year on the Channel 7 soap, playing the character of Jasmine Delaney. She is about to embark on a new relationship with Luke Arnold’s character Lewis, who makes his debut in Summer Bay.
Outside the show, which returns on February 1, Frost is also about to start hosting online workshops for teens on how to deal with social media.
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