Brooke Blurton on Neighbours, feeling pressure and being her 'authentic self'
If there’s one thing people need to know about Brooke Blurton, it’s that she’s anything but predictable.
Since making her mark on The Bachelor in 2018, the 27-year-old youth worker has made history as the first bisexual and First Nations Bachelorette, she’s recently announced her debut memoir, and she’s about to make a cameo appearance on Neighbours.
“You know what, most things in my life I have winged,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle with a laugh.
“I think if you don’t throw yourself in it and you don’t try, you'll never know, and I think that's where my confidence has come from, because I like that uncomfortable feeling.
“I have this saying, ‘get comfortable with being uncomfortable’, because that's when you're going to do more growth and learn things about yourself.”
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‘I’m my own worst critic’
Hailing from the small coastal town of Carnarvon in Western Australia, the proud Noongar-Yamatji woman admits she feels a sense of pressure and responsibility to be someone that other people of a similar age, cultural background or sexuality can look up to.
“As a younger person I was always really motivated to be a very positive role model for my family and people who have lived a similar way, like young Aboriginal kids who I've grown up with, so I do generally always feel a little bit of pressure to make people proud,” Brooke details.
“But I feel like if you're your authentic self and you're nothing other than that, then you can make yourself proud and everyone else just sort of follows.
“I’m my own worst critic all the time, but I just own it. I can't be anything other than my authentic self,” she continues, before adding, “That also makes it really hard being in the media, it’s like a double-edged sword”.
‘I’m really excited for who I'm going to be at the end of this year’
It was announced late last month that Brooke would be making a guest appearance on the iconic Australian soap opera, Neighbours, ahead of the series’ cancellation later this year.
While she says it’s something she never expected to be doing in her career, she describes the opportunity as “a full circle moment”.
“It’s kind of shaped me over time throwing myself in the deep end,” she reflects. “I threw myself in The Bachelor, I threw myself in The Bachelorette, and now I'm throwing myself at things like Neighbours.
“For me, it's built my confidence and I'm only ever growing and leading into this more confident Brooke. I know that I'm my most confident now and I'm only ever going to get more confident and more comfortable within myself, with people, on-screen, so I’m really excited for who I'm going to be at the end of this year. I’m still just building.”
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