‘I'm a specialist': Actor-comic Mary Coustas on finding positives from heartbreak
Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we're told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they're given. This week, he talks to Mary Coustas. The Logie Award-winning actor, 60, is renowned for her alter-ego, Effie. She's the author of the memoir, All I Know, appears in the new season of Strife and stars in her solo stage show, This Is Personal.
SEX
Growing up, what were the attitudes towards sex in your Greek-Australian household? I don't know if we had too many conversations about sex, but my mum was very funny and had a take on things I'd never heard before. When I asked her, 'Why do these jokes about Greek shepherds keep coming up?' , she said to me [puts on thick Greek accent]: 'Well, in my day, the girls had to be virgins and there were no prostitutes in the village. A man tends to the animal because a man is an animal.'
Wow. [ Laughs ] I didn't think she knew what was funny or appropriate. So, I'd say I've definitely got a comic filter on how I looked at sex growing up.
Now, when I think of Effie, I also think of her raw, sexual confidence. But she was also a virgin until her wedding night. I like to think she'd have given half a hand-job [before she got married], but that was it. In my mind, she lost her virginity on her wedding night.
In real life, you've been with your husband, George, for 21 years. What attracted you to
him initially? In those days? Heat. I like to say, 'I'd only ever dated boys, then I met a man.'
A man! Tell me more. He was in his early 40s; I was close to 40. I instinctively felt that he understood what life was really about. I'd already seen a lot: I was born into a household where my dad was dying – I knew that very young – so I wanted someone who knew what mattered. I also wanted to be with someone who'd help me evolve. I've got great ambition for the second half of my life, but often men still want the girl they met: 'Can't you just stay like that?' I wanted a grown-up.
Effie's a bit of a gay icon. Is she arguably also a bit of a drag queen? [ Nods solemnly ] Under the wrong lighting and with the wrong make-up artist.
DEATH
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