{"id":818837,"date":"2026-07-23T14:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/818837\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T14:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:13:14","slug":"natalie-bassingthwaighte-ex-neighbours-stars-affair-with-married-man-blasted-eerily-similar-to-tv-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/818837\/","title":{"rendered":"Natalie Bassingthwaighte: Ex-Neighbours star\u2019s affair with married man blasted, eerily similar to TV character"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Natalie Bassingthwaighte\u2019s candid confession about a relationship she had when she was a teenager has sparked a flood of criticism, with many fans saying the story sounds remarkably familiar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The former Neighbours actress revealed that at 19 she became romantically involved with a married man who was more than three decades her senior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">She shared the deeply personal chapter in her memoir, Love Like This, before discussing it further during an appearance on the Inherited podcast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3mk41m-StyledText eze0guv9\">Sign up to The Nightly&#8217;s newsletters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1r9pdr5-StyledSubText eze0guv8\">Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>By continuing you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/thenightly.com.au\/subscription-terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sevenwestmedia.com.au\/privacy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Looking back, Bassingthwaighte said the frowned upon relationship left her grappling with guilt as she struggled to come to terms with pain caused to the man\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe hardest part was feeling deceitful because I\u2019ve always felt like that\u2019s not who I am as a person to the core,\u201d she said in a snippet of the podcast shared on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI just fell in love with a person who told me I was amazing and beautiful and talented and funny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe hardest part was her [the wife]. Knowing that you\u2019re doing something to someone else. When she came to me, it was the worst day of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In her memoir, the actress also revealed she became pregnant during the relationship before later suffering a miscarriage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Many fans couldn\u2019t help but notice the similarities in her story to the role that made her a household name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">For years, Bassingthwaighte portrayed Izzy Hoyland in Neighbours, a character whose affair with the married Karl Kennedy became one of Aussie TV\u2019s most unforgettable soap plots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The fictional romance resulted in Lizzy falling pregnant, sending shockwaves through Ramsay Street and cementing the love triangle between Karl and his wife, Susan Kennedy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cIs she talking about her real life or neighbours? I\u2019m guessing neighbours but she sounds like she is talking about her real life?,\u201d one person wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Another added: \u201cShe took her job on neighbours too seriously lol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cOh\u2026 so that Neighbours storyline was a bit on the nose then\u2026\u201d a third chimed in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Others condemned the infidelity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cOmg. Way to not take accountability,\u201d one person said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cSorry but you betrayed a sister ,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The Rogue Traders singer star recently made headlines in June after shared her devastation after losing her leading-lady job after another major musical in Australia was axed, a topic she touched on in the same podcast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Bassingthwaighte, who was cast in the leading role of Jenna in Waitress the musical, said she had struggled to comprehend the abrupt cancellation of the Australian tour she was about to lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Ahead of the musical travelling to Sydney, promoters cancelled the entire Australian tour of Waitress, citing cost of living pressures and poor box office performance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cIt\u2019s been hard to comprehend &#8211; the amount of effort that every person in this cast and crew and company have put into this show. It\u2019s devastating that it comes to an end so abruptly,\u201d Bassingthwaighte said in a video posted on her Instagram Stories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cMy heart is hurting so much for this industry of ours, across the board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cIt\u2019s not just musical theatre: It\u2019s theatre. It\u2019s festivals. It\u2019s shows of any kind. The arts is dying in this country, and that hurts my heart beyond anything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In a series of posts made on her Instagram account, Bassingthwaighte told her followers the industry needed support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe amount of effort, time and love that people have put into these careers. Their passion, dedication, it only spreads to an audience and it gives humanity reasons to live.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI know right in the current climate it is almost impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Natalie Bassingthwaighte\u2019s candid confession about a relationship she had when she was a teenager has sparked a flood&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,2331,134],"class_list":["post-818837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-culture","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}