Ex-Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins: ‘I’ve never seen parents so scared’

In a candid interview, Emma Watkins discusses her time as a Wiggle, working alongside her husband and separating herself from her alter-egos.

There’s no doubt Emma Watkins knows her audience. After all, most of them have been with her as they’ve grown from toddler to teenager.

As she joins the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About, the 35-year-old entertainer and TV star discusses her time as a Wiggle, working alongside her husband and separating herself from her alter-egos.

Stellar: You’re the new host of the ABC program Teenage Boss: Next Level, which sees a teenager assume responsibility for their family’s budget for a month – a pretty big ask. I imagine there would be a little bit of a generational trope that teenagers aren’t necessarily going to have the understanding of how to budget …
Emma Watkins: Well, I’ve never seen parents look so scared. There was a lot of anxiety about the parents handing over that responsibility. That tension between the parents and the teenagers was quite interesting because either the parents then relaxed because they knew the teenager had it all under their control, or that tension continued to play out through the month. But most of the teenagers hadn’t taken on any of that kind of responsibility [before]. Some had extra part-time jobs, but some of that responsibility of having a job and actually earning money to bring into the budget was something that became quite high stakes.

Emma Watkins debuted a new look on set with Stellar. Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar

Stellar: They say everyone has got a money story. Have you been sensible with money or is it something that you’ve re-evaluated your own relationship with as you’ve progressed throughout your career and your life?

Emma Watkins: My dad was a chartered accountant, so doing this show made me reflect on my relationship with my dad and think, “Wow, he put up with so much.” Through Dad, I’ve learnt so much, but I still don’t have that expertise in financial advising. And so my role in this show was definitely to be a support for the team and be with them more at their level and actually work through some of the challenges that weren’t always necessarily financial – it might have been emotional or psychological pressures that if they took that money away from this person, or that pocket money from their sibling, what would that affect? That stemmed really beautiful conversations about how they cared for their family.

Listen to Emma Watkins on the latest episode of Something To Talk About below:

Stellar: You left The Wiggles in 2021 (Watkins became the first female Wiggle in 2013 and also starred in her own spin-off series Emma! from 2015). You said at the time you didn’t want to let anyone down, adding to the difficulty in making such a huge decision as you grappled with what leaving would mean in terms of your career and your identity. You then went on to create the character Emma Memma, with a strong focus on using sign language. Tell me about what you learnt about backing yourself in that decision and coming out the other side of it.

Emma Watkins: I feel now that I must have been fairly brave. But I don’t know where that point was when I was ready to take that step. Through the past couple of years, I was parallel studying for my PhD. [Watkins completed her Doctorate in Philosophy at Macquarie University in Sydney this year.] So during that research, it opened my mind up to so many other things that I’d love to try. Potentially, I’m well-placed to be able to do this kind of work because of my love of dance and sign language, which is essentially what my PhD was about. And I thought, this is probably the time to do it. In the pandemic, we weren’t touring, and I thought maybe I wouldn’t disappoint as many children.

Emma Watkins appears inside the latest issue of Stellar.

But even though I had left during that time, I still disappointed children. So I am sorry to all the children at that time. It’s amazing though, when I meet families now and the children might be a little bit older, say five or six. The parents will most likely say, “We actually had a ticket to come and watch you in 2021 and the pandemic happened. So we were refunded and then we were booked to see the next one and then you weren’t there. So now we’re coming to watch you [as Emma Memma] because this is our first time that we’ve been able to see you live.” That’s a beautiful story, too. And that story is still playing out.

Picture: Damian Bennett for Stellar

Picture: Damian Bennett

Many of the teens on Teenage Boss would have watched you in The Wiggles when they were little. How did they react when they met you?

That’s probably one of the most interesting parts of the show and I’m waiting to see what that looks like when it’s edited. But certainly for myself, I found a lot of hilarious and shocked responses at the front door, not just from the teenagers, but from the siblings. One of the families had a little sibling who was very much into Emma Memma. So when I came to the door, she was like, “Where’s your costume?”

You and your husband, Oliver Brian, met when he was a back-up musician in The Wiggles, and you were married two years ago. What is it like to work with your partner?

It’s just the best. We do 70 per cent on Emma Memma and then 30 per cent are other amazing projects like Teenage Boss. We also tend to do a lot of work with deaf professionals, actually working together to create more awareness around deaf awareness and deaf community. That is so much supported by Olly; even though his experience is incredibly embedded in musical adventures, he’s been such an integral part of the business.

Emma Watkins on the red carpet at the 2024 Logie Awards. Picture: NewsWire/Monique Harmer

Listen to Emma Watkins on the latest episode of Something To Talk About below:

In the world of children’s entertainment, fans aren’t expected to distinguish between the public persona of their favourite character and the real person portraying them. Have there been times when you’ve had to watch yourself in public, knowing that a child is probably watching? You don’t seem like someone who would let out a string of expletives – in fact, you don’t seem like somebody who would necessarily swear at all – but how does that expectation sit with you? It doesn’t come into play in a weird way, but that’s what’s even more relaxing about Emma Memma because it is more like my personality. And now that we’re starting to experiment with comedic elements and having a bit more play and being more fun, that’s how I am more at home. I feel that the expectation, of course, is always for children first and foremost. But when I am out and about, it’s mostly parents and I get stopped by parents and grandparents and aunties and uncles. And, you know, being at the airport last night, I almost talked to the entire plane.

That could be exhausting!

But again, it’s just a great way of getting insight to the audience and knowing what people are connecting with. Are they coming to the show? Did they listen to the latest music? It’s important to remember that people are very perceptive and they have their own story and connection to Emma. Being part of families, households – on broadcast TV – for 15 years is an important reminder. That’s something that I take really seriously.

Teenage Boss: Next Level premieres at 7.30pm on October 12 on ABC Family, with all episodes available to stream from 7am on October 11 on ABC iview.

Listen to Emma Watkins on the latest episode of Something To Talk About, out now. See her full shoot inside the latest issue of Stellar. For more from Stellar, click here.