It has been 24 years since Tammin Sursok first hit Australian TV screens, playing Dani Sutherland on hit TV show Home and Away.
The South African-born Aussie actress soon found herself in Hollywood, where she would build an equally impressive career on Pretty Little Liars in 2010. Then it was back home once again for a stint in Neighbours in 2022.
Now, Sursok has added a podcast to her impressive line up of work. It’s called The Sh-t Show and in it, she’ll catch up with all of her celebrity friends who share their highs, their lows and what helped them through their most challenging times.
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The first episode episode with singer Amy Shark is out now. Future guests include Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Jules Robinson, Jessica Rowe and Kyle Sandilands.
“Because I’ve been in the business for so long there’s some people I can just text and tell them they have to come on, but it’s been really amazing, I didn’t expect it to be this candid,” Sursok tells 9honey.
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“I wanted it to be this candid but I do think by being vulnerable people are open to being vulnerable with you.”
She said she loves to “understand the ‘why’ of the people” and “that’s the point of the show” for her.
Despite her massive success, Sursok has experienced her fair share of struggles. The actress lives in Nashville in the US with husband, actor and producer Sean McEwen, and their two children Phoenix, 10, and Lennon, five.
“My jobs don’t define my day-to-day living, I think that’s the problem with social media,” she shares.
“I really try to navigate and not put out my perfect moments, I try to be honest about it.”
Her social media reflects this and a recent incident saw Sursock end up in hospital with concussion. The actress had shared the video responsible for her hospital trip, a clip in which she fell headfirst off a bed while wrapped in a blanket pretending to be a baby and imitating a newborn photo shoot.
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Sursok shared both the video and a photo from her hospital bed showing her wearing a neck brace.
“I think if you follow me on social media you’d know my life is sort of a sh-t show,” she says. “My daughter got bit by a dog three days ago, I have a stye in my eye right now… I fell off the bed a month ago because I was dressed as a baby for a TikTok and ended up with a concussion…
“I kind of embrace it,” she continues. “I kind of love that it is. I mean, to me everything being perfect is so boring.”
Her daughter was bitten at a local dog park.
“It was actually a very difficult decision because she was fine but – Australia doesn’t have rabies – the doctor wanted her to get the rabies shot and it’s not just a rabies shot, it’s a series of seven and its about six shots around the wound, because couldn’t find the dog and when you can’t find the dog you don’t know if the dog has been vaccinated for rabies,” she explains.
“So my husband actually put signs throughout the entire neighbourhood and put signs in the dog park and the people actually contacted him and showed him the records so she didn’t have to get a rabies shot, so she’s OK.”
Raising two daughters alone is proving challenging for Sursok who says her 10-year-old “wants me as much as she doesn’t want me.”
“They say that your daughters push you away 50 per cent of the time and run towards you 50 fifty per cent of the time, and that’s just what daughters are,” she says, adding that she has read about it being “biologically meant to happen” which may help mums around the world feel a little better about it.
“You’re biologically meant to distance yourself from your mother so you can survive, but it’s just really painful when you’re the mother,” she says.
“Kids just want their own agency and they want their own choices and they’re still babies but they also have one foot in adulthood,” Sursok says.
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