Shaynna Blaze on physical assault: ‘I’m never a victim’

Interior design guru Shaynna Blaze opens up about the eventual imprisonment of the man who assaulted her in 2020.

Contrary to popular belief, interior designer Shaynna Blaze hasn’t flipped a lot of her own houses.

“People see me staging a home for sale or my obsession with trends and think that actually applies to my family home. And that’s not what you do,” she tells Stellar.

“Building a home is not about cushions at all.”

And that goes double for the house she has renovated in the regional Victorian town of Kyneton. Along with her two children, daughter Carly Anne Kenneally, 33, and son Jess Kenneally, 31, The Block judge bought the dilapidated, 130-year-old home to serve as the set for The Fort, a feature film written by Jess that the trio were setting out to make.

The movie tells the story of a young mother who, as she tries to cope with the gravity of an abusive relationship, travels to an imaginary world of her son’s own creation.

It’s a subject matter that’s close to Blaze’s heart, given that she revealed last year during her run on Celebrity Apprentice Australia (which she went on to win) that she’d experienced domestic violence herself (though not during her childhood or in a recent relationship but at a “time earlier in her life”).

Making The Fort would end up serving as a vital part of the healing process for her family.

Little did Blaze know, the house itself would come to wield an even bigger and more valuable influence.

“The whole idea of buying it as a film set was so that I could flip it after and sell it,” she explains.

“But six months before we bought it, we sold our other family home. Then my marriage broke up while we were filming the movie, so essentially we didn’t have a family home...

“When really dynamic things happen, you can either lay with it or do something about it. I’m not going to lay down and die.”

Shaynna Blaze: “People don’t see this personal side of me. This is raw.” Picture: Sam Bisso for Stellar

It’s about empowering myself to be my own person and to take charge… There were so many great memories in that house [from filming] as a family. We had a personal connection, so we decided to turn it into our family home.”

Blaze, who first came to notice in 2008 on the TV series Selling Houses Australia, tells Stellar that along the way she got the sense it would also be worth filming the knockdown and rebuild process for a new show.

But deciding to turn the cameras on her children and new granddaughter Olive (Jess’ now two-year-old baby, who she admits “the public didn’t know existed”, for what would ultimately become Country Home Rescue wasn’t a straightforward process.

“Building a family home… I wanted them to be part of it,” she recalls. “I said to them, ‘Unless we do it together, I’m not doing it. I need you to be part of the process, because we’ve been through so much as a family.’”

People don’t see this personal side of me. This is raw. These are my kids. This is me... the most vulnerable anyone would have seen. Because I tend to not do that.”

It also means the tables have been turned on Blaze, and now the viewing public will get the chance to judge her style choices. Not that it fazes her. “I’m judged every bloody day, so what does it matter?” she says with a laugh.

She’s not wrong. During 14 seasons on The Block, Blaze has been critiqued for her judging deliberations as well as her sartorial choices.

She’s always taken it in her stride. Given she was a jazz and cabaret singer before embarking on her TV career, Blaze reckons her clothes are simply an expression of herself.

“There was quite a while where I was pigeonholed to have a certain look on TV. I called it ‘the Karen Millen day’. That wasn’t me, so I had to start breaking out and taking more ownership,” she recalls.

Shaynna Blaze features in this Sunday’s Stellar. Picture: Steven Chee

“I feel like I’ve battled the stereotype for a lot of my life, let alone my career. When both my kids were in primary school, there was an assumption of what a mum would look like, or do.”

In defiance of that, I was in a funk band wearing midriffs and miniskirts. And if that makes other people uncomfortable, well, that’s not my issue.”

Blaze will turn 60 next year, but she refuses to be defined by that number.

“My son thinks I’m in denial,” she jokes. “But I’m not. It’s just that I don’t believe it. I feel like I’m 36. I look after my health, I exercise, I have a vibrancy of energy that I constantly work with.”

The way that I’ve done my career is that, if it doesn’t make me feel vibrant and excited, it’s time to move on, and that’s really part of the catalyst of this next part of my life.”

It’s one that will keep her busy with her ongoing role as a Harris Scarfe ambassador, along with her work on behalf of her charity Voice of Change, founded to amplify the voices of survivors of family violence.

The irony isn’t lost on her that in April 2020, while in the midst of creating the charity, she was walking her dog when she was attacked by a stranger, who punched her in the back of the head and struck her cheek.

In August, he was sentenced to 100 days in jail for assault after he lost an appeal of his initial sentence.

“The fact he was sentenced with orders for 12 months after release has given me a sense of justice that unfortunately not everyone does get when these cases go to court,” Blaze says.

“It also acknowledges the severity of the attack and the long-term trauma that comes with something of this nature.”

November 25 is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and also the day The Fort will be released (with cinema screenings from November 24).

Blaze tells Stellar she hopes the fortuitous timing – and her continued activism – will encourage people to call out inequality and bad behaviour.

“We all have a role to play in this,” she adds. “And it’s up to everyone to make the noise for change and not put the responsibility on the victim.

“I had some pretty sh*tty times when I was quite young – not to do with my family. But I learnt... in my teens: I’m either going to stick with this and let it define me or I’m going to use it, move [forward] and do something bigger and better.”

I’m never a victim. I’m a warrior and I’m a survivor. I want other people to feel that, too. And if you don’t have it in you, then there are people around you to lift you up.”

Country Home Rescue With Shaynna Blaze premieres at 7.30pm on Wednesday on Nine and 9Now. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT.