Why Pia Miller’s mum is proud her daughter’s a diva
FORMER Home and Away actor Pia Miller isn’t offended by reports that she is difficult and makes no apologies for standing up for herself.
Stellar
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PIA Miller isn’t offended by reports that she is difficult.
“In Spanish, being a diva is seen as something positive,” she tells Stellar with a laugh. “A diva is a gorgeous, powerful woman. When my mother reads I am being called a diva she just says, ‘Look, you’re a diva! How fabulous!’ So I don’t let it bother me. And I don’t really read any of that stuff, anyway. I know who I am. My friends and family know who I am.”
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The Chilean-born model and actor believes the perception she is some kind of prima donna probably stems from the fact she is, above all else, a mother — a fiercely protective one. As she explains it, she had no choice. She became pregnant with her first son Isaiah, now 15, when she was just a teenager; the experience forced her to grow up quickly.
“I’ve been a parent since I was 19,” says Miller, who is now 34. “That is how I define myself.” Aside from being a young mum, she has also been a single one, a married one and a divorced one; she shares Isaiah’s younger brother Lennox, 11, with ex-husband and former AFL player Brad Miller.
“Everything I do is for my kids. Every decision I make is purposeful — because I am doing it for them. Who I am has nothing to do with how I look. People can make judgements, but I definitely haven’t had an easier time because I look a certain way. The only reason I went back into modelling after having Isaiah was to provide for him. Fame was never the objective.”
During those difficult early years, Miller says, she was fortunate to have the support of her devoted mother, former fashion designer Angelica Blanco, and an older brother and sister, who all rallied to help her care for her baby. “My whole family is like a village,” she says. “We have raised our children together as a community.”
Her clan has always been tightly knit. Miller was just four when she arrived in Melbourne; she can still recall how overwhelming it was. She learnt English quickly but to this day, Spanish is her language of choice at home. Before moving to Sydney nearly four years ago for work, she tells Stellar, she and her siblings “all lived in the same part of Melbourne and our kids all went to the same primary school. That’s why it was so difficult for me to leave Melbourne — it meant giving up all that.”
PIA MILLER IS used to being talked about — in ways good and bad. She’s been in the modelling and entertainment industries since she was 14, when her mother encouraged her to enter Dolly magazine’s famed model contest. She won.
The competition catapulted Miller into a new world. She has vivid memories of “going to castings with my mum, sitting in the waiting room, still in my school uniform” and, when asked if she was ever the object of unwanted attention or advances at that age, says that “my mum was always there so I never experienced any of that. Now that I am a grown woman, if I hear anyone make an inappropriate remark, I see no issue with calling that sort of thing out. I have always been taught to speak up for myself — and others. I can feel that vibrating through the industry; it’s been so empowering.”
It’s part of the reason she recently hit back at trolls who criticised her body after she posted a picture of herself in a bikini on Instagram. “I recognise that I have a lot of female followers and I think it’s helpful for them to see that you can be comfortable in your own skin — stretch marks and all,” she explains.
Even still, Miller rarely watches herself back onscreen, citing a natural shyness. But she credits her stint as police officer Kat Chapman on Home And Away for boosting her confidence in her acting abilities. Now she’s flexing that muscle again in Nine Network’s new drama Bite Club; the series tracks the hunt for a serial killer who is targeting a group of shark-attack survivors. And in a nice twist, notes Miller, “I am pretty much the only person in the show who’s not playing a cop, so that’s a change.”
In the middle of Bite Club ’s shoot last spring, Miller and her boyfriend, film producer Tyson Mullane, took a weekend getaway to celebrate her birthday. The pair had been dating for more than a year, but Miller only twigged that it was more than just a birthday escape when Mullane got down on bended knee at the secluded bushland location, which was adorned with flickering candles.
“It was so unexpected, just a wonderful surprise,” she says, still smiling at the memory. “We have no plans to get married just yet. We’re just really enjoying being engaged for the moment.”
Miller says she and Mullane are in no rush to grow their family, either. Instead, she gets her baby fix from her sister’s son, River, who was born last December. She plans to spend time with them this month when she arrives in Melbourne to begin her duties as ambassador for Melbourne Fashion Week.
“I walked the shows close to 15 years ago so coming back in this capacity certainly feels like the perfect fit,” she says. “I cannot wait to get back to my hometown and get involved. It’s a busy and exciting week but I will absolutely be spending time with my family while I’m there; family dinners at Mum’s are a yes.”
Bite Club premieres 8.45pm Wednesday on the Nine Network.
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