She spent half a decade playing scantily clad sex kitten Pascalle West on Outrageous Fortune, but don’t expect Siobhan Marshall to be stripping off on the beaches of Celebrity Treasure Island any time soon.
“I won’t be doing that, sorry!” laughs the actress and filmmaker, 39. “Even before I had kids, that was still scary for me because I’ve never really been super-confident. It took me a while to get used to playing Pascalle, who didn’t really wear anything, but now motherhood has changed my body, it’s a whole different thing.
“I’ve got stretchmarks on my stomach and new areas that weren’t there before, but it’s not necessarily negative. You know what? There are some contestants here who are really young and I’m old now. I don’t feel like I have to be hot any more!”
The mum of two has left Outrageous Pascalle in the past.
Having given birth to her second daughter just eight months before filming started, Siobhan is still pumping breast milk on Treasure Island and she was reduced to tears when asked by teammates if she misses her two girls.
But speaking to Woman’s Day, the star – who has been married to 800 Words actor Millen Baird for six years – insists her daughters are one of the biggest reasons she signed up for the TVNZ 2 reality series.
“The idea of me being here is kind of crazy because I’m so white and I burn pretty easily. I get cold sores from the sun and wind, and I don’t really like the ocean because I’m scared of sharks. But it’s a really good show, and now I’ve got Remy and Roux, I want them to realise I’m not just a mum.
“I won’t be eliminating myself early so I can go home for a cuddle. I’m on strict instruction from Millen not to do that – otherwise I’d be sleeping on the couch for a week! We’re really lucky to have him. The girls are full-on, but he’s a good dad and he’s quite excited about being a solo parent for a while.
“I’m so fortunate I can be here and not feel worried about how they’re doing. I couldn’t do this without him. He’s said I’ll only hear from him if there’s an emergency, so I’m hoping he doesn’t call!”
Siobhan and husband Millen with daughters Remy (left) and Roux.
No stranger to reality TV, Siobhan won the celebrity talent competition Sing Like A Superstar in 2005 and came third on Dancing With The Stars in 2015. Asked what she learnt from these shows, she replies, “Letting go and just going with the flow makes things a lot easier – you just have to remember it’s not the real world. Also, you have a lot of time on your hands, but I’m quite good at doing nothing. It could be my superpower.”
When we suggest her fellow contestants might mistake her for the ditsy but sweet Pascalle and therefore underestimate her, she responds, “Well, I do say dumb things, so I could see why, but I don’t think I am dumb – and I can be pretty ruthless, actually.”
While Siobhan – who is competing for pet charity South Pacific Animal Welfare – insists her acting skills won’t help her manipulate her competitors, she adds that she got some good advice from her Outrageous co-star Tammy Davis, who appeared on the last season of Treasure Island and told her, “Get an alliance early!”
The actress is building alliances and keeping her cool on the show.
As talk returns to the cult series that made her a household name, Siobhan admits it’s been the highlight of her acting career so far.
“That was my first really big job and I didn’t really realise how amazing it was at the time,” she says.
But it wasn’t without its challenges, with the constant nudity and regular sex scenes proving “quite awkward” for the inexperienced young actress. Siobhan recalls, “At the time, I didn’t enjoy it, but I did it because it was my job. But looking back, I actually wasn’t that comfortable. They have intimacy coaches on set these days and I wish we’d had them then.”
After Outrageous ended, Siobhan and Millen spent several years in Los Angeles, but they returned to Aotearoa in late 2020 due to the pandemic. Back home and loving it, the actress was heavily pregnant when she wrote and directed her very first short film Manny And Quinn, which has been selected for several film festivals, including the local Show Me Shorts event.
Buoyed by the response, the family has now returned to California to pursue their celluloid dreams, but Siobhan insists New Zealand is still where her heart is and will always be home.
“It’s just that LA is the filmmaking capital of the world and the creativity is everywhere.
Over there, I feel like part of a team. When you go to the café, everyone’s talking about making movies and TV, which is so exciting, whereas here, I’m just eavesdropping on people talking about their lives as plumbers and lawyers!”
