Now I'm In The Driver's Seat

She could have been knocked off course by depression, self-doubt and alcohol addiction. But Susie Porter tells Jenny Brown she took the wheel to ensure life in her 40s and beyond were her most successful – and happiest – yet.

- 

Susie Porter howls with laughter as a stiff breeze demolishes the tent in which she’s trying to get changed, almost baring her fluoro pink knickers to a ute-load of passing tradies. “I should have known better than to wear these,” the Wentworth star chuckles, more mortified by her way-out choice of underwear than the sudden and untoward exposure (on a quiet cul-de-sac in one of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs).

She’s sunny, funny, gregarious, thoughtful and endlessly obliging, so it’s hard to imagine Susie has ever struggled with depression, a crippling lack of self-worth and a “destructive” love-hate relationship with alcohol. Yet, surprisingly, that darker side emerges in a candid, no-holds-barred chat on what turns out to be the award-winning actor’s ninth wedding anniversary.

Marrying in her late thirties came as a beautiful surprise to Susie, who speaks of husband Christopher Mordue with the wonderment of someone who just discovered a rainbow-coloured unicorn grazing on their innercity balcony. “There were times I did wonder if settling down with someone was going to happen to me,” she confides, cuddling the couple’s adored rescue dog, the elderly and arthritic Lady Gracie. “But I felt that if it was meant to happen, it would. It was all about the time being right.”