There has been a lot of whispering about Rebecca Gibney over the past year. While shopping in her local Sydney supermarket, the Kiwi-born Packed to the Rafters star says she would receive pitying glances from strangers and would overhear people muttering “That’s Rebecca Gibney. Poor thing, she’s let herself go.”
The 47-year-old put her mind and body on the line, transforming her trim and toned figure by stacking on 13.5kg for her latest role in the Australian comedy-drama Mental. Rebecca is almost unrecognisable as overweight and unhappy mother-of-five Shirley Moochmore.
With the help of a dietician, Rebecca set her mind to gaining weight for the role, but when she piled on the pounds too quickly, she became prediabetic and was advised by her doctors to cut back. Falling short of her 20kg weight-gain goal, Rebecca had to “flesh out” the character a little more with the help of some padding around her bust and bottom.
“The double chin and the floppy arms are all mine though. I threw myself into this role,” says Rebecca with a laugh. “I’d sometimes get depressed and would think, ‘Oh no, I’m getting fat’, but luckily I have an incredibly supportive husband and family who didn’t comment on the weight-gain at all.”
Although the film required a dramatic transformation into dowdiness, Rebecca says she begged director PJ Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) for the part.
Prior to the birth of her son in 2004, Rebecca saw a counsellor for two years to deal with her issues. She channelled these feelings into the character of Shirley, who crumbles under the strain of family life.
The film follows Shirley Moochmore, a woman so desperate for her misfit daughters to be the von Trapp-style perfect family that she suffers a mental breakdown. The character resonated with Rebecca because Shirley’s psychological meltdown resembled her own experience.
Rebecca’s been through bouts of anxiety and depression since the age of 14, which she believes stems from growing up in an unhappy household with an abusive father. Her emotional distress came to a head in her thirties and she suffered a full mental breakdown.
“I had an emotional collapse,” says Rebecca. “I took myself off to a psychologist and had counselling for two years. “I got to a stage where I had such severe agoraphobia that I couldn’t walk out my front door for weeks.”
After therapy and counselling, Rebecca’s symptoms began to fade following the birth of her son Zac in 2004. The stares she received from the public while filming Mental helped her channel her former insecurities into the character’s breakdown.
Rebecca says Shirley’s struggle not only mirrors her own ordeal, but also those of her mother (also called Shirley), who despite being physically abused, was the “ultimate people pleaser”.
In Mental, Rebecca plays Shirley, a mother-of-five who suffers a mental breakdown – a situation not unfamiliar to the actress.
“My mum raised six children and my father suffered a disease called alcoholism so he was absent a lot of the time while growing up ,” says Rebecca . “She suffered a terrible childhood herself with abuse of various degrees – but you would never have known the way she suffered in her lifetime because she’s just so sweet natured and compassionate.”
Working alongside Toni Collette and fellow Kiwi actress Kerry Fox was one of the great pleasures of the film for Rebecca – as was eating all the fattening foods she hadn’t allowed herself for many years, including peanut butter on toast.
Since the film wrapped, she’s concentrated on losing the weight by cutting down on her portions and eating a diet based on lean protein, fruit and vegetables, but she still carries an “elusive four kilos” – which she has accepted she may never lose.
Sydney-based Rebecca is a Kiwi girl at heart. She is mad about our food and says she and her husband, fellow Kiwi Richard Bell, visit their homeland regularly. They hope to take Zac (8) back to New Zealand again soon.
“I’m going to bring my son back. We want to go back and do some skiing, but we’re thinking we might come back a bit earlier,” says Rebecca. “I’m still very much a Kiwi. Go the All Blacks!”
Mental screens in cinemas nationwide from October 25.
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