Noni Hazlehurst cherishes every role life brings her – on stage and off. Regrets, she’s had a few. “Oh hundreds,” chuckles the intensely private actor, director, presenter and broadcaster. “If only I’d known then what I know now. But that’s part of the learning experience. If you make a mistake once, try not to make it twice.”
“My biggest regret is that I trusted people along the way who weren’t worthy of that trust,” says Noni, who is finally sharing her inspiring story in a candid new memoir, Dropping The Mask. “But I still prefer to go into things open-eyed and open-hearted.”
NO HARD FEELINGS
Despite her share of disappointments, the funny, fiercely intelligent Play School veteran tells Woman’s Day she has no hard feelings. Not even over her divorce from Better Homes And Gardens co-host John Jarratt – a split that stunned Australia at the height of their ratings success 25 years ago.
“The end result of our marriage was two beautiful children,” says the multi-award-winning stage and screen star, who shares adult sons Charlie, 36, and William, 30, with her 73-year-old ex.
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“Whatever happened can’t negate the joy they’ve brought me. John and I had some wonderful times together – and then we didn’t. That’s true of many relationships. They start off full of hope and optimism and, along the way, buried issues come to the surface.”
Sadly, Noni discovered her husband had secretly grown close to a member of the BHG production crew.
“At that moment, I knew the marriage was over,” writes the 71-year-old arts champion. “We simply wanted different things. I wanted a family. John wanted another woman… The ending of my previous relationships had been hard enough, but this was far worse. In some ways, I think I’ve been in shock ever since.”
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
One of only four women inducted into the Logies Hall Of Fame, Noni hadn’t counted on becoming a single mother. But as a fourth-generation entertainer – her great-grandfather was one of the world’s most celebrated aerial acrobats – she knows the show must always go on. And so it has, from her first appearance as Little Miss Muffet at an annual Sunday school concert in Bayside Brighton, Melbourne, where she grew up the child of “10-pound Poms”.
Dubbed a sex symbol in ground-breaking soapie The Box, she went on to smash that stereotype in acclaimed feature films, theatre classics, TV dramas – series A Place To Call Home became
a worldwide sensation – and stage musicals. An accomplished pianist and singer, Noni even released a few albums during her 24-year stint on Play School. Most recently, she has been touring in Mother, a searing one-woman drama about homelessness written especially for her.
“Discussions are underway to take the production overseas,” she says.
TELLING STORIES
“And I want to write some more, some children’s stories,” she says. “I’m always looking for projects that have some value. I don’t enjoy red carpets and all the attention. That’s not who most actors are.
“I hope to point out that we’re not off with the pixies the way a lot of people think,” Noni laughs long and loud. “It’s not about ego. Most of us have a mission, to tell stories the very best way we can.
“In Dropping The Mask I wanted to show younger women how far we’ve come, but also how far we still have to go. Many of our hard-won rights and freedoms are being threatened in various parts of the world, and women need to be strong if true equality is to be achieved,” she says.
Getting older, she reckons, has its advantages. “Happily single”, Noni finds all the companionship she needs through family, friends and a small French village where she now owns a shabby chic cottage. “Home will always be Australia, but France has a place in my heart.
“I don’t have to wear any masks there. Nobody knows who I am. I’m just another old lady at the local market watching the world go by. You realise most of the things that preoccupied you as a younger person really don’t matter… No one cares. You realise you may as well say what you think! No one is special, but everyone is unique.”
