WARNING: This post contains descriptions of domestic violence that may be triggering to some readers.
When Melissa George spoke on Sunday Night about the battle for custody of her two young sons after a domestic violence incident at the hands of her ex-partner, the backlash was instant.
In the emotional interview, in which Melissa spoke of how she “fought for her life” as her then-partner threw her against a door and slammed her head into a wardrobe after a night out, the former Home and Away star begged her home country for help.
Her sons, three-year-old Raphael and one-year-old Solal, aren’t allowed to leave France without written permission from her ex and she’s fighting for their custody.
"I just want my country to help me get home and to see this crazy crap we're going through. I need someone to understand what happened," she said.
But many Australians were disturbingly unsympathetic, because George had apparently "turned her back" on Australia in a now infamous 2012 interview with Fairfax.
“I’d rather be having a croissant and a little espresso in Paris or walking my French bulldog in New York City ... I don't need credibility from my country any more, I just need them all to be quiet. If they have nothing intelligent to say, please don't speak to me any more," she had said to journalist Christine Sams.
Top Comments
I'm so glad I don't live in Australia anymore. Most people seem to be getting more ignorant and narrow minded the longer I'm away.
Careful now, you might invoke the same backlash as Melissa
It's Tall Poppy syndrome taken to the extreme. I can understand where she was coming from in that interview - I'd be sick of talking about something I did twenty years ago too. She made one thoughtless, unguarded comment - fair enough people are upset about it, but there's a real lack of compassion here that's a little disturbing to me.
Personally, I think she was a bit of a dick when she made those comments about the croissant and Paris, but obviously nothing ever justifies DV. That aside, the DV and her custody issues are not a diplomatic issue. It's a matter for the French courts.