‘I fu**ed up’: Comedian Em Rusciano’s motherhood confession

Em Rusciano opens up on being a mother to two daughters and a son... and reveals where it went wrong.

Em Rusciano wants to set the record straight. While the comedian, performer and proud feminist acknowledges her dedicated audience is mainly made up of women and gay men, that doesn’t mean she has a total vendetta against straight men.

“The idea that I hate men is ridiculous.” (Picture: Daniel Nadel)

“There’s this idea that I hate men, which is ridiculous, because all my friends are men,” she tells Stellar On Friday.

“My dad is my number one and comes on tour with me. My son [Elio, 2] is the light of my life. All my favourite people in the world are men, so it’s ridiculous. I love men.”

That said, the 42-year-old does maintain that gender identity and politics are of utmost importance to her.

“I’m equal parts masculine and feminine. I’ve never really felt comfortable being one or the other,” she says.

“I think if ‘gender fluid’ was around in high school, I might have opted for that until I figured out I was female identifying.”

“The one rule in the house is there’s no gender stereotyping.” (Picture: Supplied)

Rusciano, whose podcast Emsolation has been signed as one of Spotify’s first Australian exclusives, adds that this issue carries the way she’s raising daughters Marchella, 19, and Odette, 14, as well as son Elio.

“The one rule in the house is there’s no gender stereotyping. That’s something I was really strong on with all my kids. You dress however you want to dress and I will staunchly fight beside you,” she says.

“So one day Elio is putting on an Elsa [from Frozen] frock; others he’s got a truck.”

Find more exclusives in this Sunday’s Stellar.

Rusciano believes the benefit of having such a big age gap between her daughters and her youngest is that Marchella and Odette are able to watch and learn from how she parents.

“I think the best thing about being a mother now is that my daughters get to see me be the best version of myself. And thank God, because I was a mess in my 20s,” she says.

“What I’m grateful for is that the girls are seeing me be the best mother I can be. I’m setting an example for them when they are mothers – if they are mothers. So while I f*cked up quite a few times with those two, they don’t remember. They see me with their brother – and I’m not flustered.”

Originally published as ‘I fu**ed up’: Comedian Em Rusciano’s motherhood confession