Tina Arena is moving back to Australia for a great reason

TINA Arena has had an amazing career, but she also says she’s suffered from discrimination. The superstar says she’s moving back to Australia, for good.

FROM ‘Tiny Tina’ on Young Talent Time, to worldwide chart-topper, Tina Arena has been in the spotlight for more than four decades and has had a career as diverse as they come.

“I’m at a certain age now where I’ve seen it all and heard it all,” the 49-year-old tells news.com.au candidly. “I’ve had some pretty s**t times in my career, and I’ve been confronted with a lot of discrimination from different levels.

“I started doing things at a very young age, breaking down barriers, experimenting in ways and forms that wasn’t the done thing at the time … it’s always a journey for a woman who knows what it is that she wants.”

It’s this fighting talk that saw the singer receive a standing ovation two years ago after delivering an empowering ARIA Hall of Fame acceptance speech. Talking about the ageism women in the industry can experience, she referenced fellow artists, including Annie Lennox, Kylie Minogue and Madonna, saying: “Ladies over 40 are still in the game. Keep doing what you’re doing, ladies, because we will decide when it is time for us to stop.”

Not only is she sustaining a high profile career at almost 50, but she’s amassing a new generation of fans too. Case in point: during a surprise Splendour In The Grass appearance in July, Tina joined cool indie dance group, Client Liaison, on stage to perform a couple of tunes and brought the house down.

At nearly 50, Tina Arena is still going strong.

While she’s enjoyed a career that few can only dream of, the performer isn’t immune to tragedy, as she revealed during an appearance on Anh’s Brush With Fame in June.

Opening up about three miscarriages following the 1999 birth of her son, Gabriel, Tina also admitted that she was desperate to add on to her family, but going through menopause at the age of 46 crushed her dreams. “That’s when I went, ‘I can never reproduce again. My body’s done, the machine’s broken down’. That was tough,” she told Anh.

So it’s understandable that her only child is even more precious — and she’s determined to give him the best possibly upbringing.

After splitting her time between France and Australia for years, Tina is now permanently relocating to her native Melbourne with Gabriel and partner, French artist Vincent Mancini. Set to move into their new family home in October, the primary impetus for the relocation is so that her teen son can go through high school down under.

“With high school you can’t keep moving around,” says the songstress. “We wanted to be at home in Melbourne with my family, with whom I’m very close — they’re my life. His grandparents, uncles and cousins are all here, so that’s important.

“Those family moments are very precious and I never take any of them for granted.”

Not content with conquering the charts, she’s also got her sights set on the stage. Currently caught up in a media storm, due to the recent announcement that she’s set to take the title role in next year’s Australian production of Evita — “I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing the role — it’ll be interesting how my journey goes,” she says.

Tina Arena at the Dior gala ball in Melbourne on 26th August 2017. Picture: AAP Image/David Crosling

But the main focus at the moment for the performer is her Innocence To Understanding tour, and its title is a telling nod to her journey.

“I’m one of a handful of people on this planet who have been able to live four decades in music, which is basically most of my life,” she says. “So I’m in a peculiar situation. People in Australia certainly watched me grow up from the age of eight.”

Just like her hero, Madonna, the singer is a master of reinvention. Four years ago she staged an epic Australian comeback, releasing her first English language album in 12 years, which was followed by a best-selling memoir and a stint on “Dancing With the Stars.” Despite being on the cusp of the big 5-0, she doesn’t believe in a shelf life.

“I don’t understand why somebody should only be relevant at a certain point in their lives,” she says, animatedly. “As long as you have something to say and you’re passionate about what you do, I don’t even see why you’d be irrelevant … I don’t believe in excluding a particular age or gender.

“Being an artist and doing what it is that you do naturally puts you in a position of great vulnerability. What I’m saying is that this vulnerability is not to be exploited. It’s a great privilege that should be respected … we live in an incredibly judgmental world.”

Speaking of being judged, though she’s blessed with the face and body of a woman half her age, Tina is adamant that she doesn’t — and will not — conform to societal pressures on looks.

“I don’t buy into anyone telling me how I should look,” she says. “I have a completely different philosophy towards it … you have to be true to yourself. Happiness comes from within, it doesn’t come from somebody else or looking at a photo and trying to emulate it. That won’t make you happy, it’ll make you absolutely miserable.”

Tina’s Innocence To Understanding national tour kicks off on September 6 and runs until early October.

Originally published as Tina Arena is moving back to Australia for a great reason