“It’s all kind of a bit nuts." Celeste Barber on celebrities asking her to parody other stars.

Gearing up for a full day of interviews, Celeste Barber ordered a green juice.

After all, liquid veggies are a ‘healthy choice’ spruiked by health and wellness influencers online every damn day, so it seemed like an ideal way to kick off the morning.

But when it arrived… well, no. Yuck.

Celeste Barber on being called “brave”. Post continues below video.

Instant regret.

“Here’s my advice: Don’t ever take advice from someone who’s famous online,” Barber told Mamamia over the phone.

She’d just been asked what pearls of wisdom she had to share about well, life: Being in the public eye, juggling all the facets of life, raising boys and blended families.

But when you think about that green juice… well, it applies to that too.

Barber has been a pretty big deal on the internet for years now, thanks to her hilarious celebrity parodies.

No one is off limits: She’s made parody photos of Beyonce, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus, to name just a few and being parodied by Barber has become a bit of a status symbol.

Barber told Mamamia she’ll never “kiss and tell”, but she regularly receives DMs from celebs hoping she’ll copy their photo, or offering suggestions of other celebs to make fun of – lovingly, of course.

“That happens all the time… It’s usually in good spirit.

“I never kiss and tell. Especially if one of them is a Scientologist, they’ll kill me. Not that they are… I don’t know who is,” she joked.

“It’s all kind of a bit nuts. There’s no one specific person, they’re all in good humour.”

 

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Minding all the shit while your husband looks for a park. #celestechallengeaccepted #celestebarber #funny #emrata

A post shared by Celeste Barber (@celestebarber) on Mar 4, 2020 at 4:29am PST

Her images have attracted millions of Instagram followers – and many celebrity fans – but in January, Barber’s profile went even more global when she began a bushfire fundraiser.

Within weeks, the Facebook fundraiser raised more than $51 million from supporters around the globe.

It was a mind blowing amount, spurred on by Barber documenting the experiences of her in-laws, the parents of her husband Api Robin, who live in Eden on NSW’s South Coast.

During the very worst of the bushfire crisis in January, she shared updates like her father-in-law being evacuated, while her mother-in-law and brother-in-law sat on tug boats waiting.

Photos from the family’s home showed a terrifying blood-red sky, the same sky millions of Australians woke up to in the days and weeks as the bushfires raged on.

And while Barber has always been candid and open on her social media, this unfiltered look at the bushfire crisis resonated throughout the world.

 

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This is my mother in laws house. It’s terrifying. They are scared. They need your help. International donations can be made via the link in my bio.

A post shared by Celeste Barber (@celestebarber) on Jan 2, 2020 at 8:48pm PST

It also shone a spotlight on not just her and her work, but her entire family. What was it like dealing with the scrutiny?

“People are so nice to us, you have no idea,” she told Mamamia.

“Like, even in the street, people are so kind to us. I cannot begin to tell you.

“It’s so lovely. We feel so supported and grateful and my husband, asking about his family. When all those fires were happening we were sending them updates on the fundraiser and the comments and stuff we were getting – it really lifted their spirits. We are so grateful that people are so good to us. We really are, it’s so nice.”

So yes. It’s only early March, but Barber’s already had a year so busy you could forgive her for wanting to slow down for a while.

But that is, unsurprisingly, not the case.

While the bushfire crisis is, thankfully, over (this week marked the first time since July 2019 no active bush or grass fires have burned in NSW), Barber’s been working with lawyers and the NSW Rural Fire Service to distribute the millions raised effectively.

In 2018, Celeste Barber sat down with Mia Freedman for No Filter. Post continues below audio.

She’s just announced a partnership with Audible, which she says has helped her become the well-read person she always wanted to be.

“Being so busy, it bums me really hard that I don’t really read anymore. And I wasn’t a massive reader to start with, and I was always kind of annoyed because I was always kind of interested in it… So when Audible came along I thought ‘This is a wicked idea’. It was such a wicked idea to have ideas in your head, listening to books, listening to stories, while you keep doing other stuff.

“Especially when it’s people who have recorded their own. Hearing their voice, hearing the way they have inflections, the way they tell their story – I really love it, it’s really personal.”

She’s also working on some projects in the United States, doing “a lot” of writing – and a whole other bunch of projects she has to keep under wraps.

“A lot of things I’m not allowed to talk about, which used to always annoy me when I’d hear interviews with people, they’d be like ‘Yeah, I’m doing all this stuff but I can’t talk about it’ and I’d think ‘How fancy do you think you are? Just say it,’ and it turns out you’re not allowed to.”

 

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That week between Christmas and New Year when you have no fucking idea what’s going on. #celestechallengeaccepted #celestebarber #funny #cardib

A post shared by Celeste Barber (@celestebarber) on Dec 26, 2019 at 2:23pm PST

And yet, somehow, Barber also found time for a campervan holiday with her family in New Zealand (“I don’t know where people put their stuff in a campervan and it stresses me out”, she said – and honestly, same). 

Still, even without enough space to store her shoes, they had a great time.

That seems to be a recurring theme in our chat, and it’s clear this is exactly why people love Celeste Barber so much.

There’s no sugar coating or veil of perfection. She’s hilarious, and honest. And when our social media feeds are full of highly filtered, curated images, that’s incredibly refreshing.

That’s probably why she’s hesitant to dish out advice: “Just do the best you freaking can,” she said.

“I don’t have any advice on raising kids or step kids or anything else, really.

“Do the best you can… [And] just keep doing it.”

And if that involves putting on an audiobook version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets so you can drive the kids to school in peace, so be it.

Head to audible.com.au/reallife to sign up for your 30 day free trial.

Feature image: Getty.