Neighbours’ Jodi Gordon has spoken openly about her struggles with depression and alcoholism.
In an interview with Stellar Magazine, the actress, who played Elly Conway from 2016 to 2020 and also played Martha Mackenzie in Home and Away, discussed her recent 30-day stay in a rehab facility, revealing that she was in a “really dark place.”
“At the start of those 30 days, there were no smiles,” she claimed.
“To find oneself in a situation where numerous people are deciding for you that you need to go to rehab is not a happy place.”
“I learned so much through connection, but also through the tools you gain in how to start dealing with that pain, that trauma, how to break it down, and coping mechanisms,” she continued. And how to start incorporating those tools into your life once you leave the treatment facility, so you may restructure and build a bigger, better life.”
Gordon admitted that drinking was her “poison” before going to rehab.
“For far too long, I’ve chased this illusion that I can drink like a normal person,” she said. “When I was doing Neighbours, it became pretty nasty… I believe there is a lot of keeping up with appearances in my industry. I was attempting to present something beyond [what] I could feign control over, doing my best, but failing miserably.
“I believe I reached a point where the depression began to take hold. “Within myself, I spiralled into a place of really negative thoughts.”
“I’d been in this really dark place of depression on and off for years,” she continued. However, the situation I was in prior to entering rehab was quite dark.
“It’s a situation where I’m so far down this well – as I call it – that it’s incredibly difficult to think, hear, see any type of light, or connect with anyone, let alone reach out and communicate to anyone.”
“I allowed someone else make the decision for me, and I reluctantly booked myself in, but after a few days, I realised I was exactly where I belonged.”
Gordon replied she felt like she had “been given a second shot at life both inwardly and outwardly in terms of a new path, a new chapter” when asked how she was doing right now.
“I know it’s all clichéd rhetoric,” she continued, “but I think there’s freedom and liberation in diving deep into the dark difficulties that you have and coming out the other end.” Second opportunities seem to be on the table.”
Gordon left the Ramsay Street soap opera in 2020, but he will return for the final episodes. Bonnie Anderson, who plays Bea Nilsson on-screen, will also be returning to Erinsborough.
Gordon recently appeared in a video shot on the set of Neighbours to promote voting for the National Television Awards.
