Former Home and Away star Mat Stevenson has made a bombshell revelation on the new episode of Spotlight, called “The Fame Game”.
Spotlight, which airs on Channel 7 and the screens of 7plus, explores the upsides and downsides of fame – including what happens to stars when their time in the spotlight comes to an end.
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TV luminaries Tony Barber, Rowena Wallace, Greg Evans, and Mat Stevenson discuss their highs and lows of celebrity life, hosted by Ada Nicodemou and Cameron Daddo from Home and Away.
Brynne Edelsten, Ajay Rochester, Melissa Rawson, and Bryce Ruthven are among the most well-known performers who rose to stardom on reality television.
Mat starred as Adam Cameron on Home and Away from 1989 to 1994, and is best known for “killing off” Bobby in a boating accident.
When the topic of the “evil side of celebrity” is discussed on the Spotlight show, Mat mentions the death of his friend and co-star Dieter Brummer, who died last year after a mental health battle.
He then drops a bombshell by discussing a personal tragedy he had as a youth.
Matt confesses that he was drugged and sexually abused when he was 18, the day before landing a job on Neighbours.
For a long time, he “suppressed it and suffered in quiet,” he added.
“I’m a little nervous about opening up about my life because so few people know about it,” he says, “but if it helps someone, that whole notion of being vulnerable, then I’m all for it.”
“I was basically drugged and raped and dragged into a spa and thought I was going to drown, and then woke up naked somewhere.
“I was 18. And then I won my role in Neighbours the next day.
“I was a pretty fit guy back then too, but when you’re paralysed there’s nothing you can do.”
Mat said despite suppressing the rape, the trauma came through in toxic behaviours such as drinking and gambling.
“I basically wanted to find the bottom as quickly as I could, and I got there pretty quickly,” he says.
“When you’re backing slow racehorses and drinking a lot, they’re two vices that’ll get you where you want to go pretty quickly.
“And when I found the bottom, I rang my brother up to snip him for some cash, and he said, ‘Aren’t you tired of making s*** decisions?’
“And I said, ‘Yeah. I am, mate. I think I am’.”
‘Good life now’
After the bombshell revelation, Mat said he was now in a good place.
“I got a bloody good life now,” he says.
“My greatest role has been (as) a dad.
“I’m come through it. So Deit’s death ripped my heart out and I just don’t want to lose another bloke.
“So, if you’re suffering, reach out is the message.
“Yep. That’s the message.”
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