The Sullivans star Susan Hannaford leads mysterious Hollywood life

NOW aged 65, Susan Hannaford is a far cry from the teenager who won Aussie viewers’ hearts on The Sullivans, with her mysterious lifestyle unveiled for the cameras in a confronting new interview.

Former The Sullivans star Susan Hannaford lives in a palatial Hollywood mansion.

WITH her peroxide blonde hair, hotpants and heavy make-up, Australian TV star Susan Hannaford, 65, is a far cry today from the teenager who won Aussie viewers’ hearts on The Sullivans.

As Kitty Sullivan, Hannaford was a household name in the 1970s and ’80s but disappeared from the spotlight when she became embroiled in her own real-life drama.

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She vanished owing the Commonwealth Bank more than $4.65 million after being evicted from a Sydney harbourside property in 2013.

These days she somehow manages to live in a palatial $9 million Hollywood mansion on Mulholland Drive, one of the more exclusive strips in Beverly Hills, where she claims Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as neighbours.

Susan Hannaford with her daughter Marquessa at their New South Wales home.

But she is facing court ­action from angry tenants who claim she rented them a dirty, squalid section of the mansion for $10,000 per night while she continued to live in another part of the house, with two adopted grandchildren.

Channel 7 Sunday Night journalist Matt Doran spent weeks investigating the mysterious lifestyle of the former Sullivans star before sitting down with her for a confronting interview in the house billed as Palazzo Beverly Hills.

“She’s a fantasist and a supreme strategist,” Doran said, likening Hannaford to Kevin Spacey’s The Usual Suspects character Keyser Soze. “Her mind is razor sharp.

“She may look like a parody of the blonde ditz living in LA with her peroxide hair, but she is anything but that.”

Doran said the mansion was littered with pictures of Hannaford with A-list stars, but the bathrooms were dirty and the rooms he was permitted to visit were clearly in need of repair.

Susan Hannaford vanished after being evicted from her Sydney home.

She now lives with her adopted grandchildren in Beverly Hills.

Hannaford was always “one step ahead of people” with her stories and excuses, he said.

“When I opened the door I was stunned,” he said. “She was wearing what I guess is technically known as activewear but was more like underwear. They were too miniature to be called hotpants. I felt sublimely ­uncomfortable.

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“Far be it for me to criticise what a woman wears but it was a strange choice. And she had these children with her, nine-year-old Bella and 12-year-old Dante, that she was basically making in her own image.

“Bella had a mini-me outfit on and also had blonde hair. It turned out they were her grandchildren, but Susan has adopted them as her own. It’s a fascinating story.”

Doran’s interview screens Sunday on Channel 7.

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