Sonya’s passing in Neighbours this year was heartbreaking. Fans were in tears as she died of cancer in her husband Toadie’s arms while watching her children playing on the beach.
There’s a reason the moment felt so real. As Eve Morey was acting out the storyline, one of her own beloved relatives was in his last days.
“My father-in-law had brain cancer throughout last year when we were filming and he passed away a week after we wrapped,” Eve reveals.
“We did Sonya dying on the beach and then got a call to say we need to come and be with him, and he passed away. It was incredible. If you wrote it, you wouldn’t believe it. So much of that was put into that storyline and I think that’s what people have responded to – the truth of that.”
Eve says Neighbours fans responded to “the truth” of her character’s sad passing.
Eve’s on-screen husband Ryan Moloney was there for her as she was dealing with her personal grief.
“Ryan was a great support during that time,” the actress says.
In real life, Eve is married to Neighbours actor-turned-director Jonathon Dutton, and the couple have two children. Both Ryan and Jonathon were with Eve when she watched Sonya’s final scene, Ryan on one side and Jonathon the other.
“I was holding their hands and we just held each other for the whole episode,” she remembers. “It was just like, ‘Oh, God – this is so sad.'”
As difficult as it was for Eve to watch those final moments, it wasn’t the end. As Eve has been nominated for Most Popular Actress as well as the TV WEEK Gold Logie, she doesn’t have to farewell Sonya just yet.
Eve with her fellow Gold Logie nominees.
As hard as she worked on Neighbours, Eve says she “never, never” considered the possibility of being nominated for a Gold Logie. Strangely enough, her father-in-law’s wife Annette did after watching the episode with Sonya’s death.
“My husband said she went on Facebook – she’s from Germany – and said, ‘My daughter-in-law did a great job and is up for a Gold Logie.’ And we’re like, ‘No, Annette – it doesn’t work that way.'”
Annette, clearly, wasn’t the only one who felt Eve’s performance merited TV’s top honour. Her former Neighbours co-stars campaigned for her on social media.
“I’m humbled by that, by everyone putting in that effort to make it happen,” she says.
Eve calls her finishing up on Neighbours and then receiving a Gold Logie nomination “absurd”.
RELATED: Cast your vote in the 2019 TV WEEK Logie Awards
But at the same time, it’s perfect.
“It’s lovely,” she says. “It’s one of those things that, again, if you wrote it, you wouldn’t believe it.”
The 61st TV WEEK Logie Awards, with all its glitz and glamour, will take place on Sunday, June 30, 2019 at The Star Gold Coast in Queensland. All the action from the red-carpet arrivals and awards-show celebrations will be telecast on the Nine Network and 9Now.
