Ada Nicodemou: ‘They call me the black widow’

Home and Away veteran Ada Nicodemou reveals her Friday night disco dancing routine, being a goody-two-shoes and why she feels better at 41 than at 25.

• Khloé Kardashian: ‘I hated shopping with my sisters’
• ‘They told me to put the Snickers down’

Home and Away veteran Ada Nicodemou reveals her Friday night disco dancing routine, being a goody-two-shoes and why she feels better at 41 than at 25.

This year will mark 20 years since your character Leah first made her appearance on Seven Network’s Home And Away, which returns to screens tomorrow night. In those two decades, there have been kidnappings, bombings, natural disasters, and deaths aplenty in Summer Bay. Has Leah ever thought of moving to a less dangerous area?

You would think she would! But she loves Summer Bay. Leah has evolved a lot. We first saw her hitchhiking on the side of the road. She’d just left her potential husband at the altar and didn’t know where she was going.

Now it’s 20 years later and she’s a grandmother, she’s got a child overseas... and she’s got two dead husbands [laughs]. I’d be happy to play her for another 20 years.

Happy to play her Home and Away character Leah for another 20 years. (Picture: Sam Ruttyn)

Do actors know their time is up on the show if they are romantically paired with you?

It’s a running joke within the cast. It’s like, “Oooh, you don’t want to be with the black widow!”

Your partner, businessman Adam Rigby, had never watched Home And Away when you met. Has that changed?

He watches it all the time now. He knows more about Home And Away than I do. He’s gone from thinking I was a newsreader or something.

It wasn’t until he Googled me that he got really excited because he’s more a Matrix fan. [Nicodemou played a brief role in the first film]. And I said, “Really? If you blink you’ll miss me.”

With partner Adam Rigby. (Picture: Instagram)

You won Dancing With The Stars in 2005 and competed in Dance Boss last year. At a party, what is your go-to dance move?

There’s a move I can do where I alternate my feet in different directions and my hands go from left to right.

These days I get a lot of joy doing daggy dancing with Johnas [her six-year-old son with ex-husband Chrys Xipolitas]. Every Friday night we have disco night. I’ve got a big mirror ball, I turn off all the lights and we just dance. I’m sure the neighbours hate it.

MORE STELLAR:

Sam Armytage: ‘I’m sure he was a dud in bed’

Why Nadia Bartel was answering emails while in labour

You’ve been forthcoming about how great you feel now you’re in your 40s.

I feel so much better about myself and more confident at 41 than I did at 25. I look after myself, I try to eat well, I’m happy.

I have a beautiful, healthy boy that gives me so much joy every day. Just seeing him wake up and want a cuddle — what more do you want in life?

Recently, you spoke out about your breast augmentation surgery after being body-shamed online. Why did you feel the need to open up about that?

I was getting comments I didn’t like and I thought, “I just need to stand up.” Not so much for me, because I’m quite confident within myself, but there are a lot of women and young girls out there who wouldn’t be.

What message are we sending to these young girls if we are putting people down for their bodies? Let’s all prop each other up, especially as women.

Ada Nicodemou features in this Sunday’s Stellar.

Your character Katerina in the ’90s TV series Heartbreak High was a bit of a bad girl. Did you share any similarities to her at 17?

I was the antithesis of Katerina. I was a goody-two-shoes. When I went for an audition [as a teenager], a producer asked me, “Do you love school?” and I was like, “No, I just jigged it!” [Laughs.] I clearly did not. I’ve never done that in my life. Never had detention. I grew up like a good Greek girl.

You’re very close to your family. What are your get-togethers like?

There’s a lot of food and we get involved in each other’s lives. When you’re entering into my life, you’re also taking on my family. We’re all very loud. But I have to admit, I might be the loudest out of all of them.

READ MORE EXCLUSIVES FROM STELLAR.

Originally published as Ada Nicodemou: ‘They call me the black widow’