Celebs hope to inspire ‘lost’ people to open up

Wentworth Courier

A RAW and emotional interview with renowned artist Gillie Schattner — detailing a moment in her life when she felt “lost and confused” as a new mum — has her hoping it will encourage others to speak up.

Schattner, of Gillie and Marc fame, has had her video viewed by more than 100,000 people online and said she was overwhelmed with the support.

The video is the first in what they hope will be a ­series of short videos titled The Lost Dog Project that will feature high-profile people and celebrities talking about times in their lives they felt “lost”.

For Schattner, it was when she gave birth to her first daughter Jessie, 24 years ago. Talking about it, Schattner says, is the first step and, as the video shows, it is still very emotional to open up about.

The Lost Dog Project “is a different kind of art” that features a 2m-high trademark lost dog in all video interviews.

It comes after the Wentworth Courier reported last August that all but three of the 100 lost dog artworks had been stolen when a Bondi cafe became the latest victim. The dog was later returned to the cafe with a note and a lamp.

“Please call Wentworth Courier, I want to go home,” the note said.

Now the artists want to help people who are lost find themselves.

In the video interview, Schattner speaks about dealing and coping with the birth of her first daughter, Jessie — a time, she says that she felt alone, with no one to talk to.

“I had been a nurse, so I was confident I would be a fantastic mother and that I would be good at all of the skills that I had been teaching the mothers at the hospital,” she said in the video.

“But when it actually happened, it was a different situation and I couldn’t cope at all.

“The sleepless nights and just having this little infant who was totally dependant on me was very very hard to manage by myself,” she as tears welled in her eyes.

She has received an influx of support from the more than 60,000 Facebook fans of Gille and Marc, including heartfelt messages from her daughter.

“I love you so much. Thank you so much for sticking it out and being the best mum in the whole world even though it was so tough,” her daughter, Jessie wrote on Facebook.

Next up in the series will be former Home and Away actor Allison Cratchley.