wellness

3 years ago, Constance Hall had a bestselling book. Now she's struggling to pay her bills.

 

Australian media identity Constance Hall is accustomed to receiving online hate.

But last week she received a message that moved her to speak out.

The author, businesswoman, and mum-of-seven, posted a photo of herself on her Facebook page, explaining that a message from a follower had left her upset, because the person complained that she was charging $7.50 a month for a subscription to her VIP blog.

Constance Hall gets honest about money. Post continues after video. 

“I received a message from a Queen, she said something that a few people have said about the Queens subscription,” Hall wrote.

“She said she feels bullied and left out because she cannot afford the membership, like it isn’t fair, she said the money has gone to my head.”

The 35-year-old is known for her raw honesty, and she didn’t hold back in her response.

Initially thanking the woman for her support, Hall explained her situation, saying her subscription model was no different to Sam Wood’s fitness program.

Hall suggested that she’s singled out because “a lot of people think I owe them something, I owe them something because they voted for me, or donated to [the charity] Rafiki, or have followed me since the beginning”.

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That’s not how Hall sees things, especially, as she wrote, because she’s struggling to support her family.

“You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about regarding my finances,” she said.

“I make my donations, I try and support my family, and I lie awake in bed crying because I can not pay my electricity bill.”

Hall explained that she runs a company with staff and pays their wages, and that “the walls are closing in on my finances”.

“I have maxed out my credit card to pay my rates, legal fees of three court cases, and I have just applied for a loan to pay more off more bills,” she wrote.

“So many people are relying on me to come up with some crazy new idea to make money to put food on tables.”

Hall added that such is the financial pressure on her, she has “Googled bankruptcy”.

“This is not a ‘poor me’ message. This [an] ‘ASSUMPTIONS MAKE YOU A DICK’ message,” she wrote. “I saw this subscription as the answer to all of my problems.”

“The group is not something people pay for, they pay for the extra content and to be VIP’s of Queen the Label,” Hall explained.

“I had the mind set that if you can afford a $129 dress, you can afford 22c a day for a subscription.”

Hall then explained that she had struggled financially for a really long time.

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“You are talking to a woman who has slept on the beach, at train stations, lived in the corner of someone’s kitchen for 6 months because I couldn’t afford a bedroom,” she wrote.

“A woman who I’m embarrassed to say has asked strangers for money and slept with a man so I had somewhere to stay.

“A few years ago when my blog took off, I thought I would never be poor again.”

Hall’s post was picked up by various Australian media outlets.

On Monday, she responded to the negative attention it attracted in some media. She explained claims made by third parties that she is near bankruptcy are “out of context”, and “I am simply like everyone else and not immune to money problems”.

She assured her followers, “I am absolutely fine”.

The former single mother, who was born in Perth, has fought hard for the success she’s enjoyed.

Just over five years ago, she had given birth to her twins, Rumi and Snow, and was newly separated from her now ex-husband, Bill Mahon.

Her hands were full, and she was deeply entrenched in family life with eldest daughter Billie-Violet, middle brother Arlo, and the twins. It was then that Hall decided to start a Facebook page, which grew slowly over a number of years.

It was only when she wrote a relatable post about the challenges of having sex as parents, that her blog exploded. Hall’s career – and identity – took off, with appearances on television and radio.

Yet the path to that took both physical, and emotional, toil. Whilst Hall had an army behind her – her ‘Queens’ – she also had many detractors, due to her outspokenness and controversial take on things like parenting and marriage.

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But that was never enough to stop Hall from continuing to work.

Explaining to Mamamia that she had been writing for many years, it may have seemed like her success was overnight – but it wasn’t.

“So I was just pulling them all out – everything, every topic, every style of writing that I’d played with for years – and I was just catching that wave.

“[I was thinking] I’ve got to play my cards right here. I’ve got to keep the momentum going.

“Then I went viral heaps more times. Ashton Kutcher picked one of my posts up. Ellen’s company wanted to interview me on her website.”

Within six months, Hall had self-published her bestselling book, Like A Queen. Fast forward three years from then, Hall has never stopped the hustle. She wrote Still A Queen, and has her Queen clothing line, and started a radio show and now podcast, The Queen Sesh with Constance Hall and Annaliese.

In that time, she also got married, had another child, and gained two step-kids.

Hall’s post last week revealed a deeply personal admission about the financial pressure all parents feel.

But as she said in true Hall-style in her update yesterday:

“You’re gonna be just fine, baby.”

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