I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here’s Debra Lawrance was farewelled from the jungle on April 23 much to the shock of fans around the country.
While we wish that this crop of celebs could stay in the jungle forever, for Lawrance, it felt like the right time to go. A stable figure in South Africa, the 66-year-old fast became the mother-figure of the group, giving advice to her fellow campmates “even when it was not wanted”.
“That’s sort of who I am really,” Lawrance told Mediaweek the day following her elimination. “I mean, I’m not as noble as [Home and Away’s] Pippa, for example, but because I’m much older it worked out that way. I’m 16 years older than Liz Ellis and I was six years older than Dicko [Ian Dickson]. So, you can’t help to fall into that because you collect a bit of wisdom on your way and the young ones were very respectful of that.”
Debra Lawrance on “strong, funny and dynamic women”
The Please Like Me actress also found solace with the women in the cast and would like to see either Aesha Scott or Liz Ellis take out the win; however, she insists she has “no favourites”.
“I’m going for the girls and I’m not going to divide them because they’re are all forces of nature and really kick ass women,” she said. “So I think any of them could go through just because they’re really good to watch.
“I think women are starting to really appreciate good strong, funny, dynamic women, so I’m hoping one of them will come through.”
Debra Lawrance and Liz Ellis. 10.
Debra Lawrance on how I’m a Celeb brought her back to “calm Deb”
While Lawrance was beloved among her new cast mates and fans alike, being on the show brought her back to basics.
“I grew up in a little farm with a veggie patch and chickens and cows to milk and all that sort of stuff,” she said. “So it was always out in the elements playing outside, roaming around until dinnertime. So, that is in my body. That’s my past.”
Throughout her I’m a Celeb stint, she also began “peeling away layers of the stuff that you take out”.
“I mean, I love my family and I love all the work that I’ve done, but I realised that there are things that I’ve set aside. Like, I love to use my hands, painting and drawing and crafts and that’s gone by the wayside. I just got distracted by by the electronic life. So, it was great being without that for three weeks. It was terrific because it felt like peeling away and rediscovering the Deb that’s just the calm Deb underneath.”
Debra Lawrance’s first love has always been the theatre
Lawrance’s acting career has spanned over four decades with one of her most popular roles being that of foster mum Pippa; however, her first love has always been the theatre.
When told that she shone on stage — particularly as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — the performed admitted that it was something she had always done.
“I trained at NIDA [National Institute of Dramatic Art] as a theatre actress so that’s my background,” she said. “I’m a trained actor and have a degree in dramatic art. So, I’ve done a lot of theatre, but that’s just not as visible. The TV stuff and right through the late 70s and 80s was interspersed with theatre, but a lot more people saw the TV.
“Aesha asked me at one point, she said, ‘Was Pippa your first role?’ I said, ‘Darling, I’ve been in the business for 45 years’ and gave her a kiss on the top of her head!”
I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here continues on Tuesday at 7.30 pm on 10 and 10Play.