In a few weeks, Tammin Sursok will turn 40 years old.
And the former Home and Away star is nervous about turning a significant age.
The 39-year-old expresses concern about how ageing may influence her profession in this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine.
She told the outlet, “I’m nervous about what that represents, not about turning 40.”
“I don’t want to work less,” is what I believe causes the anxiety of approaching 40. When I had my first child, they told me that I was no longer an ingenue because I was 29 years old.
Tammin has been open about her own difficulties with body image, confessing that she battled an eating disorder and ‘desired to be wanted, to be lusted over’ as a young girl.
In recognition of International Women’s Day, the actress wrote a series of poignant anecdotes on her Instagram about the terrible consequences of being objectified by males.
She began by telling a tale about a young boy she had a crush on who, at the age of 15, advised her to lose weight.
She admitted that when he approached her, she was “paralysed in fear and lust,” adding, “My heart stopped.” I had daydreamed about this moment for years.
But when the boy bluntly stated, “You need to go to Jenny Craig [weight loss programme],” her fantasy was abruptly dashed.
Next, Sursok related how she had once forced herself to vomit after eating in order to reduce her weight to 45 kilogrammes.
I had been forcing my chapped, rough knuckles down my throat for the previous forty minutes. I was familiar with this routine. I had gotten rather good at lying,” she said.
My eyes appeared to be bleeding as I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I gave my mirror a flimsy smile. I believed that if I reached 100 pounds (45 kg), people would adore me.
Sursok ended her story by describing the 30-year-old man she dated when she was 21 and how she allowed him to make fun of her body because “I was taught in school that boys that like you make fun of you,” she said.
The Australian who was born in South Africa added that she used to lament about her postpartum figure and had spent more than 30 years hearing that the only road to happiness, worth, and love was for other people to think my body was good enough.
“To all my fellow women warriors who have ever struggled with body image, self-worth, or the fear of letting go of long-held beliefs, I see you,” she added. Let’s all learn to love ourselves.
With her husband Sean McEwen, their two daughters Phoenix, age nine, and Lennon, age four, Tammin resides in Nashville.
