Teresa Palmer on ditching LA for the Adelaide Hills and how to choose a baby name
Teresa Palmer stars in fantasy series A Discovery of Witches. She lives in the Adelaide Hills with her husband and three children.
Australian actor Teresa Palmer, 34, stars in fantasy series A Discovery of Witches. She lives on 10 acres in the Adelaide Hills with her husband and three children. Her first job was working in drive-through at Hungry Jack’s.
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On your popular parenting and lifestyle blog, Your Zen Mama, you featured a list of baby names, which included the names of your own children: Bodhi, 6, Forest, 3, and Poet, 1. Any advice for parents-to-be on naming their baby something non-traditional?
Each time I got pregnant we always had a shortlist of names that we really connected with and loved the meaning of and how they felt. For us it’s always been an instinctual thing. Don’t share your name with too many people because you’ll gets lots of unsolicited advice and judgment … When we first named our daughter Poet, my stepmum was saying “but isn’t that a masculine name?”, but now they love it. They think it’s the perfect name for her. Keep it to yourself so others don’t sway your verdict.
What drew you to the role of Diana Bishop, an American historian who is forced to confront her heritage as a witch in A Discovery of Witches?
When I first read the script I immediately connected with her spirit. She’s riddled with vulnerability and doubt, yet she’s hyper-intellectual and dynamic and charismatic. I just loved how colourful she was. There were many facets of her personality I was able to explore. I loved playing a strong female character.
Will your husband and children join you in Wales for the filming of season three, as they did with seasons one and two?
We’re meant to start filming season three in September but who knows with the current climate. But yeah, everyone comes with us. Everyone relocates. We all go and live out of Wales, the children have a little school over there, a Montessori school they attend, and Poet goes to work with me everyday.
The witch archetype is typically someone who is connected to power but also to their body and the cycles of the natural world. Does this resonate with you in real life?
I definitely feel that I have an inherent connection with the Earth. I feel recharged when I’m out with nature. It’s one of the reasons why I decided to move from the big city of LA to a piece of spacious land in the Adelaide Hills. It’s incredibly important to me to get back to nature. For me, it’s a big part of my life.
What is it like in the Adelaide Hills at this time of year?
Really chilly. It’s not too bad. A bit windy, some rainy days. But we just chuck the jackets on the kids and I have these playsuits for each of them so they can get muddy and dirty. We just had someone build us a big nature playground on the property so from our window we can see the kids playing on this natural playground, made with all the wood from fallen trees on our property. It’s amazing. All of them go out there now. Poet’s just of the age where she wants to join in. I guess the silver lining in all of this [with the coronavirus] is so much home time.
Did your decision to go vegan have anything to do with the documentary, The Game Changers, which features elite athletes promoting plant-based eating?
It didn’t. But I love The Game Changers and I have to say it was a game changer for many of my friends who were toying with the idea of becoming plant-based who watched the documentary and then made the switch. My parents actually watched it and they’re pretty hardcore carnivore; now they’re embracing alternative sources of protein that come from plants and come from the Earth. My husband has been vegan for many years. I was vegetarian for a long time and finally dropped the dairy last July.
A Discovery of Witches is streaming on Binge (binge.com.au).
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