‘Were you drunk?’ Samuel Johnson’s sister delivers tough love

HE’S announced he’s quitting acting to focus on his terminally ill sister’s charity — but Samuel Johnson forgot to run it past older sibling Connie first.

3/2/16 - actor Samuel Johnson plays Molly in the TV show 'Molly' and is in Adelaide for the launch, pictured at the Mayfair Hotel - pic Mike Burton

SAMUEL Johnson’s terminally ill sister, Connie, has delivered him a public dose of tough love, telling him to stick with acting.

She berated her 37-year-old brother on social media for not talking with her before announcing he was quitting his job to dedicate his time to their charity.

Johnson recently gained critical acclaim for his portrayal of music guru Molly Meldrum in TV miniseries, Molly, but last week announced he was quitting acting after a 25-year career to concentrate on Love Your Sister, the charity he and Connie established in the wake of her diagnosis with terminal breast cancer at the age of 33. She is now 39.

Johnson chose to announce his retirement on the charity’s Facebook page, and big sister Connie returned serve in similar fashion, with a post berating Johnson for the language he’d used, on for not talking with her before announcing his decision.

She also suggested his move was ill-considered, “too soon”, and urged him “don’t go cutting off your nose to spite your face, dear brother.”

“Giving up acting Samuel? At 38 years of age? Bit soon wouldn’t you say?” Connie wrote.

“Did you think about this? Were you drunk? There’s no rule against you talking to me before you make such a big decision. You and your tanties, you should’ve grown out of them by now silly.”

While acknowledging the charity needs Johnson full time, and saying she was touched he would make such a personal sacrifice, Connie said she also needed her actor brother “with a full belly because I know hangry doesn’t suit you.”

“Wash your mouth out with soap,” Connie told her brother. Picture: Facebook

She also took Johnson to task for the language he used in his retirement post, saying he’d lost his manners, and pushed the point home by adding a picture of herself holding a bar of soap.

“Like most everybody out there, I’ve been known to drop the odd f-bomb myself, but do we really need to do this in public?” she asked. “Do I have to bring the swear jar out again? We have worked hard to build a platform from which we can speak and be heard. Do you really want to put people off by being crass and, frankly, lazy?

“Wash out your mouth with soap young man and get on with the job.”

Johnson responded in kind, admitting his sister was right, and he would tone down his potty mouth, but said he won’t go back to acting until the charity — which has raised $2.3 million for breast cancer research — hits $10 million.

“​Gotta pay that Con, as hard as it is to admit! As you know, my emotions override my brain sometimes, but I promise I will tone down the potty. I’m not acting until we hit 10M though. Gotta stand by that one,” he wrote.

Johnson has spent the past year focusing on the charity and continuing his voiceover work since wrapping filming on Molly in February 2015.

On the publicity trail for the miniseries recently, he revealed he was “dead broke, but happy” and hadn’t had an acting gig for a year.

There were ripples of concern for him on the Molly publicity tour when he arrived for a radio chat in Adelaide barefoot and dishevelled, and the scheduled interview was pulled at the last minute.

Originally published as ‘Were you drunk?’ Samuel Johnson’s sister delivers tough love