Rowena Wallace

Rowena: (on her autobiography) It will be interesting for people to know what was going on for me behind the headlines...It has been a very full life. But it's not as easy as I thought. It can be a very revealing thing to go back, reflect & remember all the things you had thought you had done away with. It's like opening a Pandora's box. All sorts of things come flying out - & some of those things hurt. Writing is such an interesting process, as you begin to get a different picture of yourself. You look at one side of the page & there are all the things I've done & what people have said about you, but the other side of that is what I remember & how I felt about it...it is a very cathartic experience & one that I am willing to go through.

Rowena: (on putting her legal problems behind her after defrauding Centrelink) I've certainly tried to. I was talking about it to someone the other day and started to get very upset about it, so it's obviously still there, sticking in the gut. I don't think I'll ever get over it or put it behind me or get closure. I did it. It's part of me and it will always be there, but I don't think about it purposely because I tend to lash out at myself and that's not very healthy.

Rowena: (on writing her autobiography) Having to look back over your whole life and remember things you didn't particularly want to remember, and discovering that you remember things differently… it can be quite cathartic sometimes and it can be quite painful other times.