Smiling, sober and glowing with good health, Underbelly actor Matthew Newton looks like a new man after leaving rehab to rebuild his life and his relationship. Jonica Bray reports.
The sheepish grin spoke volumes when Matthew Newton surfaced after a month in drug and alcohol rehabilitation – he may be embarrassed, but Matt is also clearly on the road to recovery.
The angry young man with a permanent scowl on his face is gone, the Kings Cross nightclubs he frequented have become no-go zones and the rock star rampages in hotel rooms are – hopefully – just a distant memory.
“He’s looking great,” declared one friend, who greeted Matt with a hug last week when he arrived in Sydney to start a new clean and sober life with his devoted fiancée, actress Rachael Taylor. “He is just looking so good and we are so happy for him.”
Matt, 33, ended his 28-day voluntary stint at Malvern Private Hospital in Melbourne on May 14, slipping out after dark to avoid a media frenzy and staying the night with close family friend, musician and TV veteran John Foreman.
He then travelled to Sydney with Rachael, who had flown in from Adelaide, where she’s been working on Aussie feature film Red Dog, to be by Matt’s side.
And it looks like Rachael, 25, has fallen in love with him all over again.
Smiling broadly, she swept him into a passionate kiss while they waited for their luggage. “I support him 110 per cent,” she says of her troubled fiance.
To read more about Matt’s recovery see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale May 24, 2010.
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