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Beloved Neighbours star passes away

Janet Andrewartha, best known for her role as Lyn Scully on Neighbours has passed away aged 72. Social media accounts for the show confirmed her death on Sunday night. "Everyone at Neighbours is deeply saddened by the passing of Janet Andrewartha," they said in the statement. "Janet will be fondly remembered. Our thoughts are with Janet’s family and loved ones at this time." Andrewartha started her career as a music teacher before rising to prominence in the early 198-s after starring in Aussie TV and theatre productions. Tributes have poured in from former cast members, with fellow actress Jackie Woodburne, who plays Susan Kennedy on Neighbours, describing her as "one of the finest actors of her generation", saying that she will miss Andrewartha "every day". "She was an extraordinary woman," said. “Passionate, political, curious, delightfully eccentric, generous and fun. To me she was a steadfast friend for over 45 years. I will miss her every day.” Stefan Dennis, known for playing Paul Robinson on Neighbours, shared a similar sentiment. “So very upset to lose the lovely Janet. As Jackie said, she truly was an exceptional actress who was a pleasure work with and to be around. We will all miss you dear girl,” he wrote on the social media post. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Everyone at Neighbours is deeply saddened by the passing of Janet Andrewartha. Beloved by viewers for her role as Ramsay Street’s Lyn Scully, Janet will be fondly remembered. Our thoughts are with Janet’s family and loved ones at this time. <a href="https://t.co/tBWlE8iTZ5">pic.twitter.com/tBWlE8iTZ5</a> — Neighbours (@neighbours) <a href="https://twitter.com/neighbours/status/1817444180072780019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2024</a></blockquote> Lucinda Cowden, who plays Melanie Pearson on the show, said: “I remember when I first saw her on Prisoner... she lit up the screen, and continued to grace us with her exceptional talent in so many interesting and unique characters. Vale Janet." “So very sad to hear this news, such a memorable actress who performed her role effortlessly,” Candice Leask, who plays Wendy Rodwell said. Former Neighbours casting director Jan Russ also shared his devastation. “I had cast Janet in the role of Reb Kean in Prisoner having been a fan of her work and confident she would take in that role and make it her own,” he began on social media. “(I) also cast her as Lyn Scully in Neighbours where once again she excelled in her role. Of course her theatre successes were also superb and many theatre goers will remember her work at the MTC," he continued. “It was devastating to hear this news (of her passing). She was such a vibrant, serene person and she will be greatly missed in the industry. “RIP dearest Janet. Forever in our hearts and great memories.” Andrewartha reportedly died peacefully surrounded by family in Melbourne on Friday, according to The Herald Sun. Image: X

Caring

Jamie Lee Curtis on ageing in Hollywood

Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis has taken a swipe at society’s emphasis on youth, no more apparent than in her own industry. The 59-year-old, visiting Sydney to promote new movie Halloween, the sequel to the 1978 horror classic of the same name, spoke of her dislike of the term “anti-ageing”. “The term anti-ageing makes me crazy, the amount of marketing towards anti-ageing and making it a pejorative,” Curtis told <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/actor-jamie-lee-curtis-on-why-the-term-antiageing-makes-her-angry/news-story/eec877ecef45fbb08670b1d872d2f8d5">The Daily Telegraph</a>. “(Ageing) cannot be the pejorative because it happens to everybody. It is like everything else, it is an evolution,” said the actor. Curtis’ comments come at an apt time in her career. She has reprised her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who took on serial killer Michael Myers 40 years ago on Halloween. Decades on, her character, now a grandmother, is still deeply affected by their battle but is as strong as ever and more than ready for the next round. The actress too, seems at the top of her game. The sequel is raking it in at the US box office, and not only is she a formidable performer in the film, but it was really Curtis doing many of the fight scenes too. “I am sitting here in my very nice red suit but this movie was obviously not a glamorous job and I am grateful that I get that opportunity,” she admitted to the publication. “Every fight is me.” “I am fit but I am not a gym rat. It is just what we do. It is the nature of the beast — it is physical and it is painful. I cracked a rib, that is what happens.” But Curtis, the daughter of Janet Leigh – who memorably starred in another iconic horror Psycho – and matinee idol Tony Curtis, has previously acknowledged her “struggle with my own self-esteem” when it comes to her body. She says she’s found a way to deal with it. “So I have a big secret: I don’t look in the mirror,” Curtis told <a href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a22993869/jamie-lee-curtis-confidence-secrets/">Good Housekeeping</a> in a recent interview. “I’m a 60-year-old woman. I am not going to look the same as I used to, and I don’t want to be confronted by that every day! When I get out of the shower, I have a choice: I can dry myself off looking in the mirror, or I can dry myself off with my back to it. I turn my back to the mirror and I feel great!” The actress, who also counts children’s author, entrepreneur and budding screenwriter on her resume, has an inspiring message about chasing and realising creative passions saying she has “no time to waste”. “On the very clear passage of 50s to 60s, I have no time to waste,” said Curtis. “None. If you have creative ideas and you don’t bring them out into the world in some way before you go, that is a tragedy.” Images: Getty

Movies

Janet Jackson debunks decades-old rumour

Janet Jackson has debunked rumours that she had a secret child with James DeBarge in the 1980s in a preview clip for her upcoming documentary, Janet. The rumour that the 55-year-old singer, who has a 4-year-old son Eissa with ex-husband Wissam Al Amana, had a secret child in the 1980s has followed her for years, and the performer and member of the legendary Jackson family has finally put it to bed. Allegedly, Jackson had a child with then-husband James DeBarge, but gave it to her brother Jackie to raise. In addition, there were rumours that her nieces Brandy and Stevanna were actually her daughters because they look like her. In a clip from the documentary, Janet said, "Back in the day they were saying that I had a child and I kept it secret. I could never keep a child away from James. How could I keep a child from their father? I could never do that, that's not right." Jackson believes the rumours stemmed from her weight gain as a result of taking birth control pills while filming the TV show Fame, saying, "A lot of the kids thought I was pregnant, 'cause I had gained weight, and I had started taking birth control pills. And back then, you could pick up weight taking them, and that's what happened to me. So that rumour started going around." Jackson was just 18 when she married DeBarge in 1984, and though he was a “sweet guy”, she blamed his drug use for their marriage being annulled after just one year. SHe said of their wedding night, “When we got married and came back to the hotel he said, 'OK, I'll be right back. And I'm sitting in the hotel room in Grand Rapids, Michigan by myself, just 18, and for three hours, he never came back. “I don't know, maybe it's this person in me that wants to help people subconsciously. When it comes to relationships, somehow I'm attracted to people that use drugs." Jackson described spending many nights searching the streets for DeBarge and trying to help by flushing his pills, but ultimately, she couldn’t give him the help he needed. In the documentary, she opens up, saying, "We would be rolling on the floor fighting for them. And that's not a life for anyone. I sit and I say, 'Were you stupid, were you dumb?' But it wasn't that. I cared so much for him, and I saw the good in him as well and I just wanted that to take precedence as opposed to this ugliness. 'Cause I knew that he needed help. But I wasn't the help that he needed. "I was just incredibly innocent. That's the thing, is the innocence. And it's just hurtful for someone to see that and just try to take advantage of it ... It's still painful." Image: Gabriel Olsen/FilmMagic

Family & Pets

Dying woman's desperate plea in 70-year search for family

Janet Buttel has been on a life-long search for her younger brothers, who she still doesn’t know what happened to when they lost contact almost 70 years ago. Ms Buttel says she is racing to find her two boys, Maxwell Phillip Turner and Lawrence Alexander Turner, after being informed she had just months, if not weeks, to live when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. "I'm hoping someone might know something, but maybe I've left it too late," the 73-year-old told <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-27/dying-janet-buttel-search-for-missing-brothers/12002328?pfmredir=sm" target="_blank">ABC news.</a> "[The doctors] said they can't really do much about it, maybe just hold [the cancer] back, maybe a bit of extra time and that's it.” Ms Buttel lost contact with her two siblings when she just four-years-old in 1951 and living in the Victoria town of Ballarat. She lived with her parents and her four siblings; her big brother, her twin brother, and her two younger brothers. Sadly, in the same year her mother, Vera Grace Turner, passed away from a perforated bowel while lying on the operating table. It was a life altering situation that turned her family the wrong way up. Ms Buttel's father was unable to look after all four children and moved with his only daughter to Western Australia. "I was getting pneumonia all the time, so [my father] was told to bring me out here health wise, and my [two older] brothers went to my aunty's," she said. "But where the other two [brothers] went we don't know. "All I remember is they were just babies. I don't remember much about them. "My father just walked out. He didn't want any of them. He's never seen his sons or spoken to them." Thankfully, Ms Buttel had been able to find and connect with her twin and older brother while they were adults but has been left in the dark on the whereabouts of her two younger brothers, now 69 and 72, for almost seven decades. The 73-year-old says she got a “feeling” her brothers might still be in the Ballarat region when she visited her mother’s grave three years ago. In Smythesdale, near Ballarat, Ms Buttell recalls finding “flowers” on the grave site where her dear mum had been laid to rest. "I think they are [close by]— I've got a feeling," Ms Buttel said. "I've been to my mother's grave site and somebody's been there to put flowers down, so somebody must know something. "I can see next to her grave my grandparents are buried, so they're all connected around there." Ms Buttel's friend from childhood in Western Australia, Gloria Underwood, is also assisting in looking for the missing siblings. "My parents were going to adopt her at one stage," Ms Underwood said. "She's been very self-sufficient her whole life, but that little girl way back then, I've learned what the tragic story really is." Ms Buttel said she has a simple message for her brothers, as she waits on further information from Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety. "I'd like to know they're well," she said. "And I'd like them to know they had a sister, and mum, and dad, and two brothers. "[And] let them know I was always thinking about them and never knowing where they were."

Caring

5 minutes with author Janet Gover

In 5 minutes with author, Over60 asks book writers about their literary habits and preferences. Next in this series is Janet Gover, a writer and former television journalist based in London, England. Her 2016 outback novel Little Girl Lost won the Epic Romantic Novel of the Year Award presented by the Romantic Novelists' Association in the UK. Her latest book, The Lawson Sisters is out on January 20. Over60 talked with Gover about Dr Seuss, Terry Pratchett and outback Australia. Over60: What is your best writing tip? Janet Gover: Allow yourself to write badly sometimes. Seriously. When I’m doing the first draft of a book, I’m still discovering the characters and their story. Sometimes I’ll write a chapter that I know is not good, but I write it, go past it and continue my voyage of discovery. I then come back and fix the bad bits later, when I know what I was really trying to say. What book do you think more people should read? Any book. Just read. Reading is so much more than just a pleasure, it opens your mind to new ideas and places and people. Read fiction, non-fiction, kids’ books, graphic novels… whatever appeals to you. And if you haven’t already, read The Lorax by Dr Seuss. I keep coming back to this book that has wisdom well beyond the years of its intended readers. How has outback Australia influenced your writing? When I left Australia to travel, I started to realise how unique outback Australia really is. Things we see every day and often take for granted don’t exist anywhere else in the world. That’s why so many of my books are rural stories. As someone once said to me… You can take the girl out of the bush, but you can’t take the bush out of the girl. What was the last book that made you cry? I am a huge fan of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series. I recently reread the first book – and, yes, I got all misty. That’s why her books have such a prominent place on my shelves. What does your writing routine look like? I try to be at my desk by 9 every morning, although sometimes I cheat and linger in bed with a cup of tea, a book and my cat. I spend my mornings doing emails, and paperwork and chatting to friends online. I grab a bite of lunch around midday and that’s when I start writing. I bury myself in the book until my husband calls to say he’s leaving work. That call gives me time to finish what I’m doing – and quickly do the breakfast dishes before he gets home. Do you deal with writer’s block? If so, how do you overcome it? I don’t really get writer’s block, but when I am struggling, that’s when [the advice] above becomes important. I just write through it. I know what I am writing is bad, but that doesn’t matter because at some point my Writer Brain kicks in and tells me what I really should be doing. What romance trope can’t you get enough of? Alternatively, what cliché do you wish romance novels would stop using? I love a second chance story. The Lawson Sisters is one of those. We all make mistakes in our lives, and I like to think we will get the chance to put things right. I am not a huge fan of the ‘forced marriage’ trope. This may have worked in the past, when women had so little power, but I think that as writers in the 21st century, we should be telling our readers that they are strong and able to take charge of their own lives. That’s a theme that reoccurs a lot in my stories. Which author, deceased or living, would you most like to have dinner with? This is a tough one. I get terribly nervous around authors I admire and am afraid I’ll say something silly and embarrass myself. I would love to have dinner with the wonderful Terry Pratchett. No author has ever made me laugh or cry as much as he has. I would like to say thank you and I miss you.

Books

“It will continue”: Janet Jackson speaks about Michael Jackson’s musical legacy

Despite sexual abuse allegations in a documentary surfacing earlier this year, Janet Jackson still believes her brother Michael Jackson’s legacy “will continue”. The documentary drew mixed reactions from friends, family and fans of the King of Pop, who passed away 10 years ago this month. However, Janet has said that his legacy is still going strong. Janet explained to <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/interview-janet-jackson-on-michael-s-legacy-motherhood-and-life-in-pop-s-first-family-mnkg92pxj">The Sunday Times Magazine</a>: “I love it when I see kids emulating him, when adults still listen to his music. “It just lets you know the impact that my family has had on the world. “I hope I’m not sounding arrogant in any way — I’m just stating what is. It’s really all God’s doing and I’m just thankful for that.” Janet, 53, has supported her late brother through previous allegations. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BBSxwtsq-hM/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BBSxwtsq-hM/" target="_blank">From Usher to "Scream": We Spoke to Jimmy Jam About the Greatest Shit He's Ever Made http://bit.ly/1PQt4Xx via @noisey -Janet's Team</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/janetjackson/" target="_blank"> Janet Jackson</a> (@janetjackson) on Feb 2, 2016 at 10:08am PST </div> </blockquote> She also explained that her father Joseph was forceful on his children having music careers, but he felt it was for a good reason. “When parents see something in their children, I guess they guide them in that direction. “Especially when you’re talking about children who grew up in that urban area. Music was a way to keep us off the streets. “My father saw a way out for his children. A better life. And thank God for that.” Janet said that her father was known for his cruel methods in making his children into music stars, but she felt like she needed everything to say before he passed. “I felt that I did say everything I needed to say to my father, I was thankful for the time that I did have him, with (my son) Eissa, the three of us together. Being together with my father in the end.”

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