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Em Rusciano was a track athlete who landed on radio after appearing on Australian Idol. Now she's having the last laugh as a hit newcomer at the comedy festival, writes MEGAN MILLER
FLAMBOYANT and feisty as she might be, Em Rusciano feels like a fraud. After an injury halted her promising track career, the young mother fell into showbiz via Australian Idol.
"The only thing I've really been good at is training and athletics," she explains. "Everything else has been bluff and luck. I've worked my a--- off too, but . . . I constantly feel that someone's gonna bust me for being a massive fraud. That hangs over me."
The mother of two has a motto when faced with an offer that takes her out of her comfort zone -- accept the challenge when you want to say no. It's held her in good stead in landing gigs in radio, TV and on the stage. Her latest mission? Embarking on her first comedy show at this month's Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
But Rusciano's life hasn't always had a punchline. She's battled depression on and off since she was 17 and was also hit hard by the 2008 suicide death of her radio chum Richard Marsland.
"He was the most beautiful human being," she says. "That was the kicker for me to get on top of my depression . . . I go to therapy once a week and will for the rest of my life."
Last year, Rusciano, 34, separated from her husband of five years, fitness specialist Scott Barrow, the father of her two daughters. She wrote of the split online in February: "I hurt. Music hurts. Life hurts. My brain hurts. In short, I am broken . . . It's truly no one's fault and I still love my husband, but we bring out the very worst in each other."
She remains dedicated to her girls, Marchella, 11, and Odette, 6. She says her MO, the reason she gets out of bed in the morning, is her strong desire to help other women.
"The reason I do everything I do -- the writing, singing, the (comedy) show, the radio -- is the hope of making other women feel better about themselves ....