Byrne on Sundays: Why Julia Morris is no cookie-cutter celebrity
There’s not a lot Julia Morris isn’t prepared to be totally frank about. The beloved comedian and TV presenter has revealed her dive into menopause, where a simple pencil brought on a rage that made her want to “kill people with my own bare hands”.
Fiona Byrne
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Julia Morris is opening up the vault and letting the secrets of her life spill out.
At 50, Morris is at the peak of her powers.
“I think 50 is that major turning point where you are like ‘OK, now I am going to share all the secrets,” she says.
Morris has created a hugely loved on-air partnership with Dr Chris Brown co-hosting Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! and Chris & Julia’s Sunday Night Takeaway.
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An actor, author and comedian, Morris was embraced by TV audiences early in her career on sketch comedy series, Full Frontal.
After a decade abroad, reality TV brought her home in 2011 and a role in the drama House Husbands allowed her to showcase her acting skills.
Here the mum of two opens up about being invisible, money, therapy, Botox, menopause, the charms of Dr Brown, and why pencils used to tip her over the edge.
FB: Going back a few years, did Bert Newton play a part in launching your career in 1985?
JM: My first TV appearance was on New Faces. I was 17 and I had really only done school plays up until that time. I was doing HSC and accidentally took the day off school to go to the audition, which is very unlike me looking back. I was a bit of a goodie goodie and I really don’t like getting into trouble. Then when a letter arrived from Channel 9 to my family home, I am not sure my parents were that impressed. We had to fly to Melbourne (from Gosford) which was very, very exciting. It was my first time on a plane. I sang Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler. Because I was 17 the judges were very encouraging and Bert, my beloved Bert, was very encouraging. I got paid by cheque and my mum framed the cheque. She said I will give you the $20 if you don’t cash this cheque, let’s frame it. It still hangs in my office.
FB: You built a stand-up and TV career as a comedian in Australia before spending eight years in the UK then you moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to pursue an acting career. Why?
JM: I didn’t go over to (LA to) go to drama school. I went over to live through the system and get famous in two minutes, which we all know is not how it works. The management at the time said when people are in LA, when they are not working, they are doing classes, it keeps you match fit. At that time it was a very slow process for everyone who was moving to LA, so I had to fly home every five weeks to do gigs (to earn money). I did that every five weeks for two years.
FB: Did the LA gamble pay off?
JM: In my time there I earned $1200 for an appearance … so over that two years it was $1200 that I earnt in America. I was a huge star.
FB: But you were tantalisingly close to landing some big roles.
JM: The process in America is you go in and do your audition for the casting people and then if they like you, you get to go to the next stage which is the producers and then if you get through, the next stage is called in the room. Hardly anyone gets in the room and I continued to get in the room but I did not land any of the jobs. I had an hour and a half with Cameron Crowe for We Bought A Zoo. That role ended up going to an African American man so I really still to this day feel like I was in with a chance.
FB: You have described yourself as being invisible in LA because of your stature.
JM: My drama teacher said to me, ‘I can’t work out why you are not landing these jobs’. She said ‘the only thing I can think of is you are not the cookie cutter’ and why would you want to be in the cookie cutter, but unfortunately that is what LA is. The moment you walk into the room these people are looking for reasons to delete. They might have 50 actresses to see. When you walk in they are ‘no, that is not how I see it. I was expecting Reese Witherspoon and in comes a size 14 girl full of beans.’ So she said ‘do you want to try something like either put some (weight) on or take some off because at the moment in LA you are invisible. It is a huge call to bring your entire family to Los Angeles and then miss out on opportunities because of cake.
FB: What are your thoughts now looking back on that time?
JM: I feel like LA is a five year plan. Make sure you have enough money to last for five years without working and stay put and you are going to slip through the system if you are good. The thing about LA is seriously brilliant people from every country go there so you are not just competing with actresses you have been around for years, you are competing with people from all over the world with varying degrees of brilliance in their accents, in their acting. It is the best of every country all landing in the same place. No wonder the competition is so fierce.
FB: How important was winning Celebrity Apprentice in 2011 to your career?
JM: I think that was Australia’s turning point with me. I had already done many, many years of work and calmed down the drag queen, for which I was very known, or the high octane supercharged person. No one had really seen me perform here for the best part of a decade. I was not intending on coming back to Australia after Apprentice. I was literally coming out to do Apprentice to get the wages. I never thought I could win. We had lots of people on that show who were determined to win, I was just determined to earn. It certainly fired competition in me.
FB: But your unexpected win did bring you back to Australia and finally gave you the acting opportunity you had been looking for.
JM: The day after I won Apprentice I went into have a big meeting with Channel 9. I said, ‘I really want just a walk-on part in a drama, I want people to start thinking of me differently’. Not long after that I had an audition for House Husbands and got the job that night. Then I’m A Celebrity opened its beloved arms to me and I have never looked back.
FB: Unlike many women, you are willing to speak about your experience with menopause. How did it affect you and how did you manage it?
JM: It started for me about five years ago. It started with the peri stage and with the PMT, thank god I did not kill anyone with my own bare hands. Those heatwaves were still going last year when I was here (in South Africa) for series four (of Celebrity). That is when it was particularly brutal, being in 37 degree heat with relentlessly high humidity when you have your own internal heating system going on. The rage that came with the heat, oh my goodness. I mean the mouth on me. I went to see a psychologist because I thought I was going nuts. Like a pencil would make me angry. ‘Why would you shave a pencil like that?’ The ‘what the F is wrong with people theory’ is what I am going to call it.
These days as something is starting to make me angry I am kind of like ‘is this my dog and am I going to walk it?’ or this is completely out of my control so what is the point of getting angry. I can do that now after a few years of practice.
FB: Seeking professional help clearly worked for you.
JM: I think everybody on the planet should go and see a psychologist. Just like cleaning your Mac and getting rid of all those extra files, we never do that with our brain and I felt like she (the psychologist) showed me the skills so I could do that for myself. It was not about lying on a couch. It was that fury inside of me and anything that tipped the injustice scale, I could not sleep. But I don’t feel like that anymore. Now if I see someone acting unjustly I will fix as much of it as I can and then I have to let the balloon go and I am definitely experiencing much more continuously happy times as a result. I think I am a better parent, I think I am a better wife. It never affected my on camera stuff. I am probably much sweeter with my darling doctor (Chris Brown), but we have always had a great relationship.
FB: You have also been refreshingly open about your dabble with cosmetic enhancements such as Botox. Why?
JM: The stock in trade of the comedian is truth, and certainly variations thereof. I have not been to have Botox in about 12 months, so I am not as diligent as you are meant to be, but I did not want people to think my forehead was laughing. I am not interested in getting caught up in a lie. No judgment to those who don’t want to share their private procedures. Telling the truth about stuff like Botox I would do in my daily life so I don’t understand what there is to hide.
FB: Why do you and Chris Brown work so well together?
JM: He is much funnier than people think. I absolutely adore him and I am reasonably confident he feels the same way, just joking. We don’t mix a great deal when we are not working and we catch up during the year via text message because the Dr is so crazy (busy). We are not in each other’s pocket but I think the mutual appreciation is pretty intense. In series one and two I did a lot more flirting with him as I did not know him. It is easy to flirt with someone you don’t know, now flirting feels really weird. It feels like it has formed into a brother sister partnership where he absolutely takes the mickey out of me, I take it out of him, and you know the person is not trying to slip a knife in because there is an innate little bed of kindness that it all lands on.
FB: You and Chris are going straight from Celebrity into Sunday Night Takeaway. Is it a change of gears?
JM: It is a completely different show. In Africa when we first arrive and in the first few days when the celebrities are in a bit of a detox, the show is very much Chris’s and mine to carry. That is when we go off the leash, are chucking stuff, doing stunt falls and rolling over desks. It feels like you are trying to chase a rollercoaster up a track — incredible — whereas Takeaway comes from an entirely different direction. It comes from a place of celebration of Aussies who are great, there are lots of prizes involved and there is a lot more warmth. While we will always be funny, this is not a comedy show. Celebrity is a comedy show whereas Takeaway is kind of a bit of everything. It is a feel good, sweet, rewarding, unreal, gently funny, family show.
FB: What advice would you give people riding out highs and lows in their career?
JM: I think it is as simple as be yourself, because while you might not be in fashion now you might come back in fashion in a minute. I used to have an expression about our industry which is the last person standing with the least amount of bitterness wins life and I stand by that. Bitterness and jealousy are emotions that are very hard not to feel and climb on and exacerbate in your own mind in this business. I used to get jealous of people who got jobs that I didn’t even want or had not even gone for.
FB: Finally, I am delighted you took my call because I know you are not someone who lets a mobile phone run your life.
JM: My phone is on silent all the time. I am sure over the years many friends and many acquaintances have thought there was something wrong. It is about avoiding that feeling of being overloaded. You have to put in some time where your brain is allowed to slow down and for me that is turning my phone on silent. I am not hostage to whoever wants to speak to me. Even my message on my phone says please don’t leave a message because I am probably not going to call you back.
Chris & Julia’s Sunday Night Takeaway premieres Sunday, February 24, at 7.30pm on Channel 10.
The Grand Final of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here airs Sunday at 7.30pm on 10.
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