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Jason Donovan is an actor and musician best known for his role in Neighbours. The 55-year-old opens up about his close relationship with his stepmother, his relationship with Kylie Minogue and why he never thought he’d marry.
“I spent a bit of time in the wilderness in the 1990s.” Credit: Steve Schofield
My maternal grandmother, Joan, was the biggest female presence in my life. My parents [Sue and Terence] split when I was five and I was brought up by my dad. My grandmother played a huge role in my upbringing. During my HSC year, she was living in Frankston [in south-east Melbourne] and I was in the bungalow out the back, smoking cigarettes and working hard at my studies. She made the best chicken sandwiches. She died in her mid-70s.
My dad remarried to a woman called Marlene, whom I am still close to now. She is a big part of my life and more like a best mate. I call her Marls. As I don’t have that blood connection with her, our relationship was easy, but if she had to speak up and say something that was uncomfortable to me, she would.
Marls was working in the modelling industry and Dad was travelling a lot to Sydney for work in TV and theatre. They both expanded my mind as I was around a lot of their friends in my teens. Dad’s friends always felt more parental, whereas Marl’s friends felt like brothers and sisters to me.
I have three half-sisters from Mum’s second marriage: Stephanie, who is in her late 30s, and Olivia and Katherine, who are in their late 40s. We speak often and always stay in touch. I also have a half-brother, Paul, who is the son of Marls and Dad.
My celebrity crush growing up was Nena, whose German band had a hit in 1983 called 99 Luftballons. I also had a thing for blondes: Agnetha from ABBA and Debbie Harry from Blondie.
Donovan and Kyle Minogue in 1989.Credit: Getty Images
Jan Russ was the casting director at Neighbours. She believed in me so much that she cast me in the show when it originally launched in 1985 on Channel 7. I then had a difficult decision to make: whether to leave school a year early or to finish year 12. My teachers told me to leave and follow acting, but Dad told me I was crazy and that I shouldn’t quit after 11 years of studying. I took his advice and turned down the part. Neighbours was soon axed, then bought by Channel 7’s rival, Channel 10. A year later, I was cast.
I was in a number of relationships before I married. The first true one was with Kylie Minogue from 1984 to 1989. That was full-on, for obvious reasons. It was great and we created magic together on screen – we were boyfriend and girlfriend on Neighbours – and off screen. We’re still good friends.
I dated many different women over the years, from Tara Owens to singer and model Erica Baxter. All of them played a part in the person I am today.
I spent a bit of time in the wilderness in the 1990s. I learnt how to crash my own car [partying and drug-taking] and am not proud of that time, but I can’t rewrite history. The good news is that I then met my wife, Angela Malloch, and managed to seize the moment with a person who changed my life. I haven’t looked back.
I met Angela in 1998 in London, when I was playing Frank N. Furter in a UK production of The Rocky Horror Show. She is very strong and maybe, in a way, I needed that strength in my life. We are quite different, but we are a great team and best friends and I love her. We have been together for 25 years but didn’t marry until I was 40 in 2008. We have three children: Jemma [born in 2000], Zac [2001] and Molly [2011].
There is never a right time for kids, but I am so happy we have three gorgeous children in our lives. I didn’t think I would marry because I come from a broken marriage. I still believe it’s a formality, but it’s also a statement to the world that has implications for the way we live.
Jason Donovan stars in the 50th anniversary production of The Rocky Horror Show at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre until July 9; rockyhorror.com.au.
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