‘A thousand people gasped as my life flashed before my eyes’: Sonia Kruger’s excruciatingly embarrassing gaffe

The Gold Logie-winner recounts some of the most cringe-worthy moments of her career, taking comfort in the fact that when it comes to eyebrow-raising situations, nobody gets a free pass.

You know it when it happens: a moment that’s so excruciatingly embarrassing, you wish a sinkhole would appear beneath your feet and swallow you up. And perhaps somewhere, deep down below the surface of the earth, you hope you might be able to find at least some small shred of the dignity you’ve lost.

More than likely, you’ll instead come across a subterranean mountain of angst and self-analysis. This I know, as I’ve had first-hand experience.

Exhibit A: one morning after a particularly late night of shooting, I was walking through the lobby of a swanky five-star hotel and noticed people staring at me.

A lot of people. I thought it kind of odd, given it was early.

On top of that, I hadn’t yet been through hair and make-up – so I bore more resemblance to Freddy Krueger than Sonia Kruger.

‘My life flashed before my eyes.’ Picture: Getty Images

Still, as I trotted on my way, I noticed more and more eyeballs on me. When I got to my destination, I was met by the raucous laughter of my colleagues.

They pointed at what I was holding, which appeared to be attached to the bottom of my handbag. It was … a strip of hair extensions.

It was like a fringe feature on a tote, except in this instance it looked more like a purse merkin.

Exhibit B: once during a live television broadcast of The Voice Australia, I was doing a piece to camera – or a walk-and-talk, as it’s more commonly known.

It’s not a particularly difficult manoeuvre; most people who can walk (and talk) generally manage it quite well.

Anyway, midway through, I tripped over a black speaker box on the floor and flew through the air in slow motion as a thousand people in the audience gasped.

My life flashed before my eyes and, as I was wearing quite a short outfit, I’m pretty sure something else also flashed before their eyes.

The television gods were on my side that night, though, and instead of sprawling across the stage, I landed in Boy George’s lap. Faster than you could say “I’ll tumble 4 ya”, I looked up at my partner, who happened to be in the audience.

He rolled his eyes, shook his head and I quickly threw to a commercial break, convinced I would never survive the shame.

Here’s the thing: embarrassing stuff happens to all of us … all the time. In the moment, we can’t conceive of a future where we will one day laugh at ourselves and those minutes of misfortune.

But we will. Because we’re human. And we need to remember to be kind to ourselves.

That very point was once made to me when, in a particularly vulnerable state, I sought the services of a professional therapist.

He told me he didn’t watch much television, but would try to help me find a way to move past a situation.

We talked about strategies for overcoming embarrassment. He asked me to show myself the same compassion I afforded those young men I worked with on Beauty And The Geek Australia.

There was an awkward pause before I explained that I wasn’t the host of that show and it was, in fact, Sophie Monk. He was … well, kind of embarrassed.

I actually took it as a massive compliment, as Sophie is a good 15 years younger than me. But I could feel him dying a little on the inside.

And in that embarrassing moment, the irony wasn’t lost on either of us.

Sonia Kruger hosts The Voice and Dancing With The Stars on the Seven Network. For more from Stellar, listen to the podcast, Something To Talk About:

Originally published as ‘A thousand people gasped as my life flashed before my eyes’: Sonia Kruger’s excruciatingly embarrassing gaffe