SURELY the success of a Real Housewife can be measured by the breadth and variety of spin-off products they release to capitalise on their new-found fame.
After three seasons of the Real Housewives of Melbourne, we have luxury teas (Janet), pre-mixed cocktails (Jackie) and a self-published self-help book (Pettifleur’s truly inspirational tome, Switch the Bitch).
But Gina Liano’s efforts put the others to shame. Keenly aware she’s a fan favourite, the barrister-turned-reality star has released a memoir, a shoe range, a jewellery line, and now, her second fragrance.
We chatted to this one-woman cottage industry to get the lowdown on her instantly recognisable look, her RHOM castmates and what she thinks of the other Antipodean iterations of the franchise.
So you’re releasing Fearless — your second fragrance in six months. The first one must have gone well?
It did; I’ve got a massive, loyal support base and I know a lot of people bought it to support me. I had one follower say, ‘I don’t care if it smells like horse s**t or an armpit, I’ll buy it anyway.’ She did love it.
Kyle and Jackie O offered you $5000 on-air to take off your make-up this week — and you turned them down.
I had a TV appearance to do; I was camera ready for Channel 7! But it’s an interesting thing, at my age [Liano turned 50 this year] everyone suddenly wants me naked with no make-up on. Every request I get is for me to take my clothes off — which I did recently for Stellar — or to lose all the hair and make-up. I’ve never got around like that; I’ve always been done up. Even as a young girl, I wouldn’t go down the street without it.
Three seasons in, one of the most reliably funny Real Housewives moments comes at the start of each reunion episode. All the other ladies turn up in their dressing gowns with no hair and make-up — and you emerge from a car in full Gina Liano drag.
Well it’s not fun, is it? You don’t actually want to see someone like that. There’s no fun in it. I look like that every day at some point, but that’s not me ready to be seen in public.
What’s the state of play for season four? You and the other original ladies are all out of contract now, aren’t you?
We are, so we’re each negotiating that at the moment. It’s not a stand-off, we’re all just working it out separately. It’s a topic you don’t really want to ask [the others] about, because I don’t want to give away to another girl if they’re not being invited back. I don’t want to be the bearer of that bad news.
Chyka announced her decision to leave the show at the end of the last season — did that surprise you?
I had no idea. She told us all on the night of the Logies. It did surprise me, because we’d only just finished recording the reunion and I thought it was a very premature announcement — she could’ve told us now. Maybe she wanted to tell us at the Logies because we were all together.
What are your thoughts on the Real Housewives of Sydney? Lisa Oldfield came out all guns blazing before the show had even started filming, slagging off the Melbourne show ...
And Gamble took the bait, but it wasn’t directed at her, so that surprised me. I let it go. She can say what she likes, and I respect that, even if I don’t agree. I think [Oldfield’s] very much got her head around the format of the show.
In my first season, I’d never even watched a full episode so I got caught off guard. You can probably see it on my face for a lot of season one: ‘What’s happening? Who are you? I’ve known you for five years and you’ve never spoken to me like this before!’ She’s obviously just launched straight into it. It’s entertainment, we’re not saving lives.
What about Real Housewives of Auckland? Have you caught any of that?
I find it quite entertaining, although I heard it didn’t rate so well. They haven’t even done a reunion show, I think because of the ratings. I think it was a socio-economic issue about what’s going on in New Zealand — it didn’t rate at home because people didn’t want to watch these women who are privileged when there’s so much going on there with the homeless and indigenous difficulties.
You seem to have the rockiest relationships with Pettifleur and Gamble when the show’s filming. Any beef with either of them at the moment?
There’s a great side to Pettifleur. She’s a pain in the arse too, mind you: she’s quite robust but sensitive too. She knows I’m not trying to eat her soul … she knows who I am and if I give her a serve she knows I’m not trying to destroy her.
Whereas with Gamble I was quite disappointed, because she stayed quite friendly to me but she was saying a lot behind my back. I didn’t think that constituted a friend. I didn’t hear her call me a bitch and say things had gone to my head until I watched the episode, and I was quite hurt by that.
Gina Liano’s new fragrance, Fearless, available now from Chemist Warehouse.
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