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celeste lounging in blush coloured jacket and jewellery

In this raw and revealing episode of Beautiful Inside by Beauticate, Celeste Barber opens up to Sigourney Cantelo about her mental health journey, commitment to therapy, and the emotional cost of fame.

She discusses being bullied at school, the shame around her teenage ADHD diagnosis, and how dance and acting became her sanctuary. Together, Celeste and Sigourney explore motherhood, burnout, and boundaries in an always-online world.

As part of Beautiful Inside by Beauticate - a podcast exploring the intersection of inner and outer beauty through unfiltered conversations with remarkable people - this chat is as heartfelt as it is hilarious.

Celeste Barber with her Booie Body Cream as she poses on floor

CELESTE ON PARENTING & SCREENS

“My kids don’t have social media. They don’t have games. I fought with them from the beginning – from when they could pick it up. I just never gave it to them to start with.”

Celeste shares how she’s taken a firm stance on screens at home – even when it means missing out on the digital chatter that connects her kids’ peers.

“My son had Snapchat because I didn’t realise what it was. I thought it was a texting service… and he deleted it himself. He said it was just ‘dink dink dink dink dink!’ – driving him crazy.”

She laughs, but it’s clear she’s serious about the mental health impact of devices.

“Those machines are monsters and the men that made them are monsters. They made this addictive drug for kids, and now their own kids don’t have them.”

At dinner with friends, her boys pull out UNO cards while other kids are glued to screens – and surprisingly, everyone joins in.

“It’s a flex now,” she grins. “The cool kids don’t have social media.”

Celeste at school for booie banner ads

CELESTE ON SOCIAL MEDIA & BURNOUT

“Burnout is so real. And even more so now because of phones. Because of social media. Because … you’re not allowed to stop.”

Celeste reflects on the pressure of being “always on” when your presence is your business.

“If you stop, you lose followers, you lose income, you lose relevance. I don’t really subscribe to that. I’ve been doing social media for a decade – I’ve built my following slowly. My audience are the tits – women who feel forgotten or invisible and see my stuff and go, ‘brilliant, that makes me feel better.’”

Her audience may be her strength, but she’s learned to protect her energy fiercely.

CELESTE ON BOUNDARIES & FAME

“People always want more – a selfie, a video, a FaceTime with their auntie. I’m like, ‘I’m just actually with my kids.’ It’s never enough.”

Fame, she says, is a double-edged sword.

“Who likes letting people down? Especially my audience, who’ve gotten me here. But I only have so much bandwidth. I curate what I put out – it’s authentic, but not everything.”

Celeste is candid about her relationship with visibility:

“I don’t want to be famous. I hate it. I just wanted to be an actor. Back in the day that was fine – you could just be an actor. Now everyone’s everywhere all the time. I don’t want to be that.”

CELESTE ON BULLYING & RESILIENCE

Celeste on stage performing comedy

“School was shit. I was bullied a lot. But I found my purpose young – acting, dancing, performing – that made life beautiful.”

That early creative spark was her lifeline.

“I could handle six hours of hell at school because I knew I was going to dancing after.”

“I was undiagnosed ADHD – loud, dramatic. That’s annoying to other 13-year-old girls. They just decided one day that they hated me. I’d sit alone and write jokes. Someone once said to me, ‘You’re really resilient, aren’t you?’ And I went, ‘Yeah, f*** I am.’ But I don’t subscribe to the idea that being bullied builds character. There needs to be more done in schools.”

CELESTE ON INNER VOICES & THERAPY

“I name my inner critic. Her name’s Becky. When that negative voice comes in, I go, ‘Hey Becky, I know you’re trying to help, but we’re not doing that today. You can sit down.’”

She’s been in therapy since she was 16 and calls it life-changing.

“Talking about things really helps. I use what I learn in therapy for acting too – character study starts with self-study.”

“Music changes my makeup on a cellular level. When I walk, I listen to Janet Jackson and imagine myself dancing at Madison Square Garden. It’s my form of meditation.”

Celeste posing on bed in blush jacket

BEHIND THE MIC: WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS CHAT

What is Beautiful Inside by Beauticate?

A podcast hosted by Sigourney Cantelo, founder of Beauticate and former Beauty & Health Director of Vogue Australia, exploring the connection between inner wellness and outer beauty.

You can stream it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

She talks about therapy, parenting, fame, burnout, and resilience – all with her trademark humour and honesty.

She believes social media and gaming apps are addictive by design, and wants her sons to connect with the real world instead of screens.

Interview by Sigourney Cantelo 

Hero Image by Corrie Bond/ Vivien’s Creative for Body + Soul

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