In Channel Nine’s top-rating gangland drama Underbelly she’s the sassy motor-mouth chick with a flashy sex-and-drugs-fuelled lifestyle and a taste for dangerous men.
But with her former husband — notorious Melbourne serial killer Carl Williams — now serving life for three underworld murders, Roberta Williams is adamant her on-screen character is nothing like the worried mother whose four children are the innocent casualties of the city’s gangland wars.
“Carl is in jail for life — but nobody stops to think that our little girl Dhakota has also got a life sentence because of all of this,” Roberta tells Woman’s Day. “At seven years old, she hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Despite the legal ruling banning the acclaimed 13-part TV series from being broadcast in Victoria — due to an ongoing trial linked to the underworld wars which claimed 30 lives — the former wife of the baby-faced killer claims publicity surrounding its broadcast in other states has been painful for her family.
On Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O’s 2DayFM radio show in Sydney, Roberta revealed the distress the police investigation created in her children’s lives when they realised their luxury home was bugged.
“It’s just sad in a way that my children, in the end, were stressing about the fact they couldn’t have a personal life because the police were listening all the time.
“It got to one point where my girls were stressing about having a shower because they were worried the police had cameras in there watching them.” Roberta has previously told Melbourne media of her dismay over what she called an “ugly baby” chosen by producers to portray Dhakota in Underbelly.
“My Dhakota’s glamour,” she told Melbourne’s Herald Sun. “She’s the next Megan Gale.”
She complained on radio last week about actress Kat Stewart’s portrayal of her as “some real Aussie chick who comes from the slums of God knows where”.
The only character in the show Roberta approves of is Andrew “Benji” Veniamin, played by Damian Walshe-Howling. On screen Roberta and Andrew have an affair, which Roberta says is false. “Andrew and I were like brother and sister. We never had a sexual relationship,” she said on 2DayFM.
For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale April 14).
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