Natalie Imbruglia on having a baby alone at 44: ‘It's brought me a sense of peace’

She was a true star of the ’90s, but what’s happened since? She talks motherhood, anxiety, and her hopes for her long-awaited new album

Natalie Imbruglia shot for Stella magazine. She wears: silk taffeta dress, £440, Batsheva
Natalie Imbruglia shot for Stella magazine. She wears: silk taffeta dress, £440, Batsheva Credit: Christopher Fenner

If you don’t follow Natalie Imbruglia on Instagram, you probably haven’t seen her in a while. You might have read that she had a baby in 2019. But the Australian singer and former Neighbours star, who became a ’90s icon after her debut single, Torn, sold over four million copies worldwide, seemed to have disappeared from public eye.

But all that’s about to change with the release of Firebird, her first album of new material in 12 years. She describes one song on it, Nothing Missing, co-written with KT Tunstall, as ‘a celebration of female independence’. ‘In my early days, being a woman, it was hard. It sounds like a little thing, but people taking the time to listen to what I’m trying to achieve is actually massive.’

Back in 2011, a crisis of confidence caused by writer’s block forced her to take a break from music. ‘I went to LA and studied acting for two years,’ she explains, pushing back her long brown hair. She’s calling over Zoom from the barn of her Oxfordshire home (she has dual Australian/British citizenship), which became a makeshift studio during lockdown.

Natalie wears: silk dress, £350, LK Bennett; gold-plated twisted bracelet, £120, and gold-plated chain bracelet, £139, both Missoma
Natalie wears: silk dress, £350, LK Bennett; gold-plated twisted bracelet, £120, and gold-plated chain bracelet, £139, both Missoma Credit: Christopher Fenner

‘But I wanted to come back to singing, if I could just find a way to overcome this fear.’ After dipping a toe back into music with 2015’s Male, an album of covers of songs by male artists, she realised that writing her own material was going to involve breaking out of her comfort zone. In 2018, she went to Nashville for 10 days of intense writing sessions. ‘I went from writing terrible songs, crying and thinking, “I can’t do this any more,” to realising that I actually know what I’m doing. Then it snowballed and I had all this confidence,’ she grins.

Wearing a black and white animal-print dress, and sitting on a plump sofa, she twists her laptop around to show me the barn, she twists her laptop around to show me the barn. There’s recording equipment, a treadmill (‘That’s getting a bit dusty, but I do have a Peloton, which is not just an ornament’) and glass doors, flooding the space with light.

Firebird was largely recorded from here. The album is packed with summery, car-window-down tunes, including the first single, Build It Better. In the video, a petrol station pitstop turns into a La La Land-style musical number. ‘I wanted to dance,’ she says. ‘It’s been a while.’ The album is bursting with joy and very personal. She co-wrote every song, with collaborators including Romeo Stodart of the Magic Numbers and Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.

Natalie announcing her pregnancy on Instagram in July 2019
Natalie announcing her pregnancy on Instagram in July 2019 Credit: Instagram / natalie_imbruglia

There is, of course, another reason for the break. ‘I became a mother, so that took a bit of time,’ she adds with a smile. In July 2019, she announced on Instagram, with characteristic honesty, that she was pregnant ‘with the help of IVF and a sperm donor’. Her son, Max, was born in October that year.

Natalie, 46, says that parenthood has brought ‘a sense of peace’ and, although she wanted to have a child earlier, it’s all worked out as it should. ‘At this time of my life, I have more attention, more patience,’ she says. ‘When I was younger, life was moving so fast. I wanted to be a parent then, but I don’t know that I would have approached it in the same way. I have different priorities now, so it’s been a very grounding experience.’

Is there anything about parenthood that surprised her? ‘It’s superseded any expectation, it’s just an indescribable feeling of love,’ she says. ‘It’s pretty epic… I’m tearing up!’ As she wipes her eyes, she is emotional because of the overwhelming sense that something she has wanted for so long has finally become a reality. ‘I’m conscious that so many women aren’t in a situation where they’re able to be a mum yet,’ she says. ‘My heart goes out to those women because I know it’s a difficult…’ she pauses. ‘It’s a difficult thing.’

Lockdown was spent in Oxfordshire with Max and her Maltese terrier Mr Wilson; a bonding experience that she describes as ‘a bliss bubble’. She also bubbled with a couple of local friends and, when restrictions allowed, had ‘some people helping me out with my son’. So there was a certain amount of adult company, but she did her fair share of Friday night Zoom drinks from the barn, too.

Natalie wears: cotton dress, £995, Roksanda
Natalie wears: cotton dress, £995, Roksanda Credit: Christopher Fenner

Many of us found a daily routine was vital to staying sane in lockdown, which is another reason why Max has been a blessing. ‘With a baby, you’re up early. I’d do my workout, and cooking became a big structure to the day.’ Natalie has fully embraced country life, having moved to Oxfordshire four years ago after a decade in Notting Hill. The space and fresh air makes up for the lack of convenience. ‘Obviously it’s not like London, there’s no Uber Eats!’ she laughs. ‘You’ve got to be organised with food.’

Last spring, Natalie had her album written and was ready to go into the studio when lockdown hit. But the upside of working from home meant that she could kit out the barn with equipment to record her album remotely. ‘The best part of it was, if I wanted to hug my son, I could just run next door,’ she says.

Performing in Hyde Park in 1998
Performing in Hyde Park in 1998 Credit: Getty

She co-produced the new album, so it’s very much her own voice. ‘To be heard, and have them [producing duo MyRiot] help me express myself in the way I wanted, was brilliant. The music industry has come a long way,’ she says, of a world that has traditionally preferred to sexualise women rather than listen to their opinions.

It’s not only the music industry that’s come a long way. Since the Framing Britney Spears documentary aired a few months ago, the disturbing and sexist way in which the media used to treat young women has become a much-talked about topic of conversation. Compared to some, Natalie got off lightly, but she was relentlessly asked when she was going to have a baby, and romantically linked with every famous man she ever had a passing conversation with, from Harry Styles and Robbie Williams to Prince Harry. Although she did date Lenny Kravitz and Friends star David Schwimmer in the late 1990s, and was married to Daniel Johns, frontman of Australian rock band Silverchair for five years in the 2000s. The former couple no longer speak, but she has said that she has no regrets.

Natalie as Beth in Neighbours (1992-1994)
Natalie as Beth in Neighbours (1992-1994) Credit: Channel 5

‘I spent years after my divorce trying to fix myself, or fill a void with the thing that society expects: meet the guy and have the family. Obviously my path was a different one but, even before Max was born, I realised there was nothing missing. It was a massive epiphany, and very empowering.’

She’s been on a journey of self-acceptance since her early 20s, when part of her career was already behind her. It’s easy to forget that she was just 16 when she played Beth in Neighbours. ‘When my niece got to that age, I was like, “How was I living in Melbourne without my parents, and loving it?” She looks incredulous. ‘Sometimes I wish I had that confidence now. It’s easier when you’re a kid. The world’s your oyster and you haven’t had the school of hard knocks yet.’

Natalie grew up in Berkeley Vale, a beach town near Sydney, with her teacher mother, businessman-turned-musician father and three sisters. Determined to act from a young age, she appeared in commercials, before leaving school after being cast in Neighbours.

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But her wake-up call came in 1994, after she left the soap and, against her parents’ wishes, decided to move to London. But after three years, her longed-for move into the music industry hadn’t happened and her visa was close to expiring. A chance meeting with Anne Barrett (who went on to become her manager) led to her recording a demo of Torn, which landed her a record deal with BMG when she was just 22. She’ll always be asked about it – not that she minds.

‘I feel privileged to have been part of something that connected with so many people,’ she says. ‘If you can have that experience once in your life, how is that not something to be grateful for?’

Natalie talks about the importance of having a positive mindset and living in the moment which, along with practising meditation, has helped her handle the bumps in her career. Although she went on to release more hits throughout the 1990s and 2000s, including Big Mistake, Smoke, Shiver and Counting Down the Days (all of which she co-wrote), she has also experienced critical and commercial flops.

From the video of her new single Build It Better
From the video of her new single Build It Better

‘Failure can be a phenomenal life lesson in how to take a situation and turn it around,’ she shrugs. ‘Every failure has led up to this moment. Learning meditation when I was younger taught me to enjoy the process rather than attaching to outcomes. It’s about simple joys.’

She has always been honest when talking about her own anxiety, and the agoraphobia she experienced in the crazy period following Torn. ‘I went very strange,’ she has said before. ‘I needed to hide myself away. Everyone was asking me how the album was going and I just didn’t want to know. I was successful, rich and terribly unhappy.’

It also made her something of a trailblazer, years before everyone was talking openly about mental health. ‘That was an accident though,’ she laughs. ‘I’m just an Aussie. I’d be honest in interviews and say that sometimes I felt a bit down. Then it became this whole thing. I remember thinking, “Calm down everybody, don’t you talk about your feelings?” In Australia, that was something we were more open about. But it’s wonderful that we can talk about these things now, that before, would have been a little bit… weird.’

Does she do therapy? ‘There have been periods of my life where I have done, but I’m not at the moment,’ she says. ‘I certainly am not against it. But my therapy at the moment is songwriting, exercising and being in nature. Those are my main tools. And friendship, that’s so important.’

Particularly with her family living so far away. Her parents are in Queensland and she goes home every Christmas. ‘I had to quarantine this time, so that was interesting; two weeks in a hotel room with a little one,’ she says. ‘It was important because my dad was poorly, so I was willing to do whatever I had to do to make sure that we could all be together.’

With her sisters and parents
With her sisters and parents Credit: Instagram / natalie_imbruglia

With her parents getting older, and being on the other side of the world to their grandson, I wonder if she would ever move home? ‘It’s always in the back of my mind,’ she admits, ‘but it feels like a massive step and I don’t feel quite ready. I love being there. But I love being here!’

The day after our conversation, in a north London park for the Stella cover shoot, she is happily twirling barefoot on the grass in a red, floral embroidered Batsheva dress. I wonder, at this point, how much she actually cares if her album does well. Presumably, she doesn’t need it financially – it’s reported that she has an estimated wealth of $14 
 million. ‘Who told you that?!’ she shrieks. ‘You’re not looking on Wikipedia again, are you?’ But, seriously, is there any pressure? ‘You know, I’m a mum now,’ she begins.

‘Age is great for getting comfortable with yourself, and there is nothing like highs and lows in your career to help shape you. The first song I ever released went massive around the world, so that was a lot of expectation to deal with. I don’t think I could ever go through something as difficult as writing a second album after that song, so this is a doddle. I feel blessed to have a career still. If the album does well, it’s the icing on the cake.’

‘Firebird’ is released on 24 September

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