Since October 2004, Schapelle Corby has not had control of her public image.
The photographs of her arrest at a Balinese airport after 4.2 kilograms of marijuana was found in her body board bag were circulated and re-circulated throughout the media.
Footage of her tears at her trial was played across Australia. And her return to Australia from Bali in May last year, 13 years after her arrest and conviction, was covered relentlessly by the media.
Now, for the first time, she is taking control of her image and she’s doing so via social media.
She’s not always been a fan of Instagram, telling Now To Love: “I bore myself, to be honest. I look at my page and it’s just my head and I’m like, ‘Urgh! It bores me!'”
But, when she broke her leg in June last year, only a month after her return to freedom, she realised the way she could use it.
“It’s good for me to have it because I get to stick up for myself,” she said. “When I broke my leg, obviously I had to go to hospital, and there was paparazzi following me. Instead of him getting paid for it I could just put it online myself. I thought, ‘I can help myself here. I can take control’.”
Isn’t it about time to leave Schapelle alone? Post continues below.
The 40-year-old convicted drug smuggler says she doesn’t feel Instagram gives her a voice, as such, but uses it to keep control over paparazzi.
“It’s not about having a voice, it’s just about taking control for myself. I couldn’t go out of my house for three weeks before leaving Bali because my street was full of media.”
And, with 192,000 followers, it seems her approach is working. She’s in control and the rest of us are happy to see her enjoying her freedom, at last.
Top Comments
No, the rest of us are not "happy to see her enjoying her freedom, at last" any more than we are happy to see any other convicted criminal after they are released from prison. She is not newsworthy, or deserving of sympathy or attention. Move on.
Speak for yourself! She has more than paid her dues. Have you never made a mistake?
I've never committed a crime then subsequently tried to live off the notoriety it gave me, no. This woman has indeed paid her dues, so should be allowed to slink off into the bogan obscurity from whence she came. If she does something newsworthy, I'll be happy to hear about her again. Until then, bye bye Schapelle.
I haven't seen her trying to live off the notoriety of it. On the contrary! She seems to have done everything possible to drop under the radar and to escape the media.