Toni Pearen comes out swinging after online article labels her a ‘suburban mum’

Beloved actor Toni Pearen has hit back after an article labelled the 47-year-old a ‘suburban mum’, decades after her first gigs on A Country Practice and E Street.

Actor Toni Pearen has come out swinging after an online article this week described the former E Street star as a “suburban mum”.

Pearen is very much still working some 31 years after making her acting debut on A Country Practice and then working on E Street.

Toni Pearen pictured at home. Picture: Tim Hunter

“I am a survivor. I am 47 years old with two happy, well-adjusted children. I still have ambition. There are still characters I dream to play and songs I long to sing,” she told Confidential.

“There are still places I yearn to go and stories I will tell one day, but for now, I’m happy being me.”

The online article appeared to criticise Pearen for being “hardly recognisable as a suburban mum” three decades after playing Toni Windsor on E Street.

E Street days: Pearen with Bruce Samazan, Marcus Graham and Melissa Tkautz.

Pearen with husband Will Osmond.

“It is these gross generalisations and labels we place on people who are happily living their lives with their own standards, their values and what is important to them, that distorts our sense of self and our purpose in life,” she said.

“Yes, there are things I miss about my old life before kids, but having kids has changed me in only ways kids can.

“I don’t have time to look in the mirror and analyse my looks, I’m too busy finding the missing school shoe, running a business, running a house, reading, playing with my kids, getting homework done and flopping into bed — only to do it all again tomorrow. ‘Suburban mum’. Thanks for the laugh.”

Raelee Hill and Toni Pearen teach acting classes. Picture: Troy Snook

Today, with her children, Lucky, 9, and Ever, 7, Pearen teaches acting with fellow E Street star Raelee Hill, the pair having opened The Talent Co on Sydney’s northern beaches.

She is also a regular on morning TV show, Studio 10.

“I’ve built a business close to home where I can pass on my knowledge, nurture and support young kids who were just like me,” she said. “I find it soulful and gratifying.”

Pearen on Dancing with the Stars in 2008.