Rare look into ex-Packed to the Rafters star’s private life

She’s been branded Australia’s most elusive girl next door. In a rare interview, former Packed to the Rafters star Zoe Ventoura opens up about motherhood, fame and why she’s keeping her family life to herself.

Zoe Ventoura is looking to the future, as she appears on the cover of Stellar’s first issue for the year. Picture: Daniel Nadel for Stellar

She won Australia’s heart as Packed To The Rafters’ girl next door, but Zoë Ventoura has always felt uneasy with the idea that becoming famous should mean the loss of her privacy. So while her latest role as an attention-seeking vamp onstage in Chicago: The Musical may seem a contradiction, the 44-year-old admits it is perhaps the most satisfying job of her career.

As she joins Stellar’s podcast Something To Talk About for her most in-depth interview yet, Ventoura opens up about navigating two very different worlds: one defined by fiercely won privacy, motherhood and a potential new career; the other by her public persona, personal ambition and a spotlight that often shines too brightly.

On why, despite her public profile, she so fiercely guards her privacy (Ventoura kept her 2015 wedding to actor Daniel MacPherson and her pregnancy with their now four-year-old son Austin under wraps, the Australian public only learning of both after they had happened):

“I’ve always felt innately that my private life is private, particularly when family and close friends are involved. I’ve chosen this life, this career, and I understand that some of it is public facing.

“But my friends and family have not, and my son has not, so I’ve always felt protective of that. Also, some moments in your life are just so special that I want to keep them for us.

“I understand people are interested; I’m interested, as well, in that kind of stuff. So I try to walk a fine line of being able to do my job but also keep stuff for myself.”

Back in black! Zoe Ventoura. Picture: Daniel Nadel for Stellar

On co-parenting Austin – and remaining on good terms – with MacPherson, after announcing their split in December 2020:

“We just want to make sure he’s the number-one priority – he feels safe, loved, happy, thriving. And we’re great.

“It’s been 100 per cent respectful and amicable and we’re communicating constantly because when you have a child, you have to.

“I feel really lucky because I know that it’s not always the case. Some people might want that situation and they can’t do that.

“So I feel great that we’re on the same page. And we’ve always been on the same page.”

Listen to the full interview with Zoe on Something to Talk About:

On becoming a mother at 40:

“Not that I’ve really done the sums, but I am aware of being an older mum.

“I make sure I’m looking after myself really well, because they’re busy at this age.

“Now that I’m in the middle of Chicago [Ventoura is playing Velma Kelly in the stage musical’s current national tour, which just finished its run in Brisbane and is heading to Melbourne next], I actually feel fit and better physically than I have for 20 years.

“I do feel very grateful that I was able to have a kid, you know, later in life, which I know is not true for everybody. I’m keeping up with everything so far.”

“God, I’m not Britney Spears!” Picture: Daniel Nadel for Stellar

On the paparazzi, and its interest in taking photographs of Austin, whose face she also keeps shielded on social media:

“I hate it. I don’t know how else to put that delicately. I don’t think it’s fair.

“I know in other countries there are laws against taking photos of kids without parental consent.

“We’ve been trailed to his daycare, into playgrounds, in our driveway. Part of it, as well, is that I want to give him the option of being private if he wants to when he’s old enough to decide for himself.

“And particularly with the paparazzi … God, I’m not Britney Spears. Do you know what I mean?

“They’re not following me every day, but when they do, I feel very protective of him in that environment.”

On wider societal conversations about what should and should not be shared on social media, particularly where children are concerned:

“It’s hard because they’re beautiful and they’re part of your life and you want to share them.

“Because this is relatively new, in terms of kids growing up in this environment, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got kids on or off social media.

“I think we’re all just doing our best. And that’s all you can do.”

On being cast as Velma in the current national tour of Chicago: The Musical, and potential misconceptions that – given her successful small-screen career – Ventoura is a newcomer to the stage:

“I trained as a dancer. I’ve kind of danced all my life.

“When I left high school, I moved to Melbourne, went to the VCA (Victorian College Of The Arts) and did my Bachelor of Dance, hoping to moveinto contemporary dance but kind of fell into music theatre.

“I did seven years touring with musicals in ensemble roles and understudies. That’s where I started before I moved into film and TV.

“It’s something I haven’t done for a really long time, and when I was cast I felt maybe a lot of people were like, oh, that’s a bit out of the blue.

“It was a bit surprising because I’m not known for it at all. So that’s been fun, to surprise people.”

Zoe Ventoura is on the cover of the first Stellar of 2024. Picture: Daniel Nadel for Stellar

On the unexpected challenges that arose immediately after Chicago kicked off its national tour in Perth last November:

“It came crashing down after opening night, which was such a huge success. The next night I took a fall, landed on my coccyx and bruised it. And then the next day tested positive for Covid.

“That was the start of it just going through the company. So we had a really challenging week or two there.

“Our understudies and swings were brilliant – and the show stands on its own two feet because it’s so fabulous. We got through it, but it was a challenge.”

On how the demands of her role in Chicago sync with her duties as a mother: “Particularly this show, and coming back to the stage, I do feel like it’s the first time in my career that a job has required all of me, all of my skills.

“It’s got the dancing, singing, acting, comedy … everything. It’s challenging and inspiring in a way that – obviously I’ve had some incredible jobs in the past – does feel special. And to do it while being a parent, as well, I feel really grateful to have the support.

“Because there are times, like Covid, where nothing’s happening, you’re not working and I can spend 24/7 with him.

“That’s brilliant on a different level, but there’s something different about being fulfilled creatively that fills you up to come back and spend time with him in a different way; I just feel like a better, more well-rounded kind of parent.”

On the outpouring from viewers to her onscreen death in Packed To The Rafters, which took place after Ventoura – who played Melissa Bannon, the next-door neighbour and eventual wife of Ben Rafter (Hugh Sheridan) – decided to leave the show after three seasons:

“It was 2010, so it was a while ago. That show, for whatever reason – for several reasons – really struck a chord.

“It was before viewing was splintered between different platforms, a very specific time. And that storyline … It was just so beautifully written that people related in terms of, like, it reminded them of a death in their family or a loss that they had had.

“The sense that I’ve gotten over the years when people have come up to talk to me about it, which is really lovely, is that they felt that they were seen.”

On whether she feels it was risky to walk away from Rafters:

“Risky. That’s interesting. I don’t think it felt risky because it felt like the right time to leave. I wanted to go overseas and explore those options, so it didn’t feel too risky – because I was willing to take that risk, I guess. It was difficult, but it felt right.”

On the differences she noticed while working overseas in large-scale productions such as the 2017 movie Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales:

“Look, blink and you’ll miss me in that particular production. But it was pretty wild to be on a set that scale after being on Australian TV sets, [which] are fairly contained, and Rafters particularly because it was based around the home and in the kitchen a lot.

“So to be where they’d built a town and have 500 extras and a chopper doing aerial shots, that was pretty huge and lots of fun – the complete opposite to what I had been used to.”

On whether – once she wraps her run in Chicago and as she considers her next decade of work – she has decided if she would prefer to focus on landing another local TV production, look for more jobs overseas or pursue another stage show:

“Well, I never in a million years thought I would be back onstage doing something like Chicago and yet it’s been the most incredibly fulfilling experience I’ve had in a little while.

“So I just can’t imagine what the future will bring. That’s the beautiful thing about this industry and also the really hard and terrifying thing: you don’t ever know if you’re going to work again and you always have those thoughts, but then something like this can come up out of the blue. So I’m not sure.

“I definitely want to do more film and TV, but now I’m open to more stage work, too, because I’m having such a wonderful time. So who knows?”

On her current academic pursuit at university: “I’m doing a double degree: psychology and counselling. I have always been interested in psychology, which I feel is silly to say because I think acting, you’re inherently interested in that stuff.

“It was inspired by a bunch of things, Covid shutting down our industry and also I had a really positive experience with a psychologist who I still see to this day.

“I’m a huge advocate of therapy to support you through whatever you need. I thought, I’ll just apply and see if I get in. And then I was like, I’ll start and see if I like it and I’m any good at it. And I have loved it. So I’m now a couple of years in.

“Chicago is a bit of a spanner in the works, but [studying at university is] an integral part of my life now. It’s endlessly fascinating.”

On whether she expects to launch a new career in the field once she completes her degree:

“I’m heading in that direction. That’s a very, very far-off goal but I came into it hoping to one day help people in the way I was helped. It just made such a huge difference in my life. So I’ll just chip away at it and see how far I can get.”

Chicago: The Musical is playing in Melbourne from March 23, Sydney from June 9 and Adelaide from August 4. Visit chicagomusical.com.au. Listen to Zoe’s interview on Something to Talk About below or wherever you get your podcasts:

Originally published as Rare look into ex-Packed to the Rafters star’s private life