Behind the comedian who makes us fall off our chair in hysterics, there lies a compelling personal tale, which she bravely recounts in her new self-proclaimed “family saga”.
“It is reasonably dark actually, it isn’t particularly funny,” she told TheCarousel.com at the 2015 AACTA awards in Sydney. “Everyone who has read it has cried.”
The autobiography is not just a heart-warming and emotional journey of Magda’s roots, weight issues and sexuality, but also an ode to her fascinating father whom she discovered was a deadly Polish assassin.
“My father was in Warsaw in Poland during the war. So it is about his experiences there and the way that that has in turn has affected me.”
Magda was looking fit and healthy again wearing a black Mela Purdie gown. This is after she publicly terminated her contract with Jenny Craig due to having re-gained some of the 36 kg she originally lost in 2011.
Last month she revealed that her father might have contributed to her life-long weight struggle.
He too was overweight but very handsome. He then lost weight in a prisoner of war camp in Poland. When Magda gained weight at the age of 11, he told her to have will power and starve herself, which in turn messed with her metabolism.
Furthermore, she said that her weight was tied to inner turmoil as she battled with coming to terms with her sexuality. She used food as a coping mechanism when dealing with stress and vulnerability. Her excess weight was a physical ‘flesh armour’ to protect herself from people’s judgement.
Magda has proven herself as a compelling and fearless non-fiction author with ‘Reckoning’ being one of the most touching books of 2015.
If you are expecting the barrel of laughs from Kath and Kim or some saucy celebrity gossip then you are in for a shock. Magda has shown an unexpected side of herself that we never knew existed.
Reckoning Magda Szubanski Text, $49.99
