It was one of the most talked-about love stories in Home and Away, but not for the reasons you’d hope. Now, two decades later, the actress at the centre of that controversial plot is speaking out, and she’s not holding back.
The Romance That Crossed the Line
Christie Hayes, who originally played Kirsty Sutherland in the early 2000s and reprised the role a few years down the line, spoke out on the notorious plot where Kirsty ended up falling for, and getting married to, Kane Phillips, the rapist of her sister Dani.
Hayes said the plot was widely debated then but scarcely gave rise to any criticism, something that she regrets now. She wishes it had been criticized more then, rather than years later. However, Hayes was quick to assure that she did not want personal responsibility as an actor reading from a script. According to her, the plot would never find its way onto screens nowadays, and, in her view, for good reason.
Home and Away: Popular Doesn’t Mean Right
Although the plot was provocative, Hayes said that Kirsty and Kane were actually very well-liked by viewers. She remembered hearing that their TV Week wedding cover was among the highest-selling issues in the magazine’s history.
She called the entire scene bittersweet. On the one hand, she welcomed the popularity of the storyline. But on the other, she said that she could not help but wonder how many people were damaged by it. The truth about what that relationship was all about, she said, was just as appalling at the time as it would be today.
Hayes also acknowledged that she did feel guilty about the role and added that TV back then didn’t concern itself with the actual effect its storylines had in real life. That’s why, she added, she doesn’t have any fond memories of it.
Now a mother, Hayes explained that the narrative resonates differently. She added she frequently finds herself wondering whether or not she’d be comfortable with her own children watching something like that, and her response is an obvious no.
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