When Bernie was just 18 years old, she left Australia for New York to peruse her dream of landing a career in musical theatre.
Only things didn’t quite go according to plan.
“I went away with this wide-eyed, ‘yes the world is at my fingertips, and I can do anything’ feeling, and came back just destroyed,” Bernie, 24, tells TV WEEK.
“The singing coaches just cut me down and said I’d never get a job in musical theatre until I was 40 or 50 years old and can play the sassy older woman,” she adds.
According to Bernie, they felt her voice was “too breathy” and that she had “too much going on”.
The experience turned her off performing for a number of years.
But after some time away from the spotlight working as a flight attendant for Jetstar, Bernie has fallen back in love with music.
“Now I’m so in love with singing these incredible songs that aren’t musical theatre,” she says. “So as hard as that was, it’s broadened my horizons now.”
Being on The Voice has given Bernie the confidence to make music her priority.
“It’s only in the last year or so that I’ve finally realised that all that fear I had was not helping,” Bernie admits.
“So I decided to put it all on the table, and I’m still amazed at where I am now!
“I’m getting this opportunity to prove to myself that those things weren’t true, that they weren’t right. And I get the chance to prove them wrong.”
Despite her determination to succeed, Bernie doesn’t like the competitive side to the competition.
“I understand it’s a competition – but I’m not the kind of person who’s going to knock your feet out from under you so that I can get ahead,” she says.
