Celeste Barber might not be a household name, but chances are most Kiwis have not just seen her on social media – they’ve probably laughed until they’ve cried.
It’s hard to forget her: she’s the cheeky, very normal-sized Australian poking fun at the unrealistic images that models and celebrities put out into the world every day to grab our attention… and maybe make us feel just a little bit jealous?
Her first post to go viral was a 2015 parody of Kim Kardashian, splayed on a mound of dirt wearing nothing but flimsy lingerie, fishnets and stilettos.
Celeste mimicking Kim Kardashian.
Send-ups of A-listers from Serena Williams to Jennifer Lopez followed – all so very funny that mother-of-two Celeste now has 9.4 million followers, including the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore and Cindy Crawford.
The photos she pokes fun at, she says, are the kinds of images that give women the message if they weren’t “super-duper hot from birth then step aside”.
But, grins the actress, “I found my audience and I think they’re kind of sick of stepping aside…”
She also took on Kate Hudson.
Celeste capitalised on her social media fame by going on a stand-up comedy tour across 53 cities in the US, Europe and Canada.
Now the actress, who played paramedic Bree Matthews in Aussie TV drama All Saints in the late noughties, has returned to her acting roots in the Netflix dramedy Wellmania.
Based on a book of the same name, the eight-episode show focuses on Celeste’s character, Liv Healy, a New York-based, hard-working, hard-playing food writer suddenly faced with a health crisis. Instead of giving her body time to recover, she goes on a radical wellness bender, trying every fad imaginable in an effort to kick-start her health.
The subject matter struck a chord with Celeste, who can’t help but find the humour in the multibillion-dollar wellness industry.
“Vinotherapy? That’s where you drink copious amounts of wine to feel better,” she deadpans. (Actually, it’s a spa treatment where people soak in a tub filled with wine-infused water.) Then, there’s her take on colonic irrigation, which she admits to having once put herself through. Unfortunately, she skipped the recommendation to fast and cleanse beforehand.
“It was the most painful thing in the world because I was – literally – full of s***,” she moans. “It sucked.”
She’s happy to give credit where it’s due. “The wellness industry is like the new form of church or organised religion,” she says. “A lot of people find answers in it.
As Liv in Wellmania.
“It’s so big and so vast, you can pick and choose what helps you. Some of it might not be a fad – it might actually be quite good. But some of it is just bulls**t.”
And what better way to poke fun at the baloney than a tongue-in-cheek comedy highlighting some uncomfortable truths?
“I hope people watch it, laugh and fall in love with Liv, who is so exciting and dynamic, and full-on and wrong,” says Celeste of her role in Wellmania, which co-stars Kiwi JJ Fong.
“She treats her body like an amusement park, this character, and she’s at that stage in her life where you just can’t any more. That’s why it’s relatable. Whether you like it or not, you have to reassess.”
Celeste should know. She celebrated her own milestone birthday recently.
“I turned 40 last year,” she says. “I’m quite childlike energetically, but trust me, I’m 40!”
Behind the scenes, she shares her life with husband Api Robin, whom she met when she was 20.
They tied the knot in 2013 and have two young sons, Lou and Buddy. Api also has two daughters in their early twenties, Darah and Kyah, from a previous relationship. Api regularly cameos in Celeste’s celebrity-skewering social media posts, earning himself the enviable hashtag #HotHusband.
With husband Api, and kids Lou and Buddy (front).
“He’s the most fantastic human being in the whole land – I’m just obsessed with him,” laughs Celeste. “He’s really supportive and excited by how well I’m doing because he knows what I do really makes up who I am.”
She once called him “the bee’s knees, the duck’s nuts, the cat’s pyjamas and the dolphin’s earrings, and announced, “My husband is the greatest confidence-booster in the world. He’s always saying how beautiful he thinks I am. I really appreciate it, especially considering he’s the hottest man in the world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no dropped pie, but there isn’t a ‘HotWifey’ hashtag hanging around my neck!”
