Natalie Imbruglia Says Wild Spending Left Her ‘Living in a Basement’ with ‘No Money’ After She First Found Fame
Natalie Imbruglia Says Wild Spending Left Her ‘Living in a Basement’ with ‘No Money’ After She First Found Fame
Angela AndaloroThu, August 13, 2026 at 9:21 PM UTC
0
Natalie Imbruglia in 1995 (left) and in 1998Credit: Tony Harris - PA Images/PA Images via Getty; SGranitz/WireImage -
Natalie Imbruglia experienced her first career success with her role as Beth Brennan on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, from 1992 to 1994
The entertainer recalls deciding to leave acting behind to focus on music but struggling to find easy success
Imbruglia’s career took a complete turn with the success of 1997’s “Torn”
Natalie Imbruglia admits she didn’t always handle fame the best way.
Appearing on the Thursday, Aug. 13, episode of Begin Again with Davina McCall, the “Torn” singer, 51, went back to the early days of her career. The Australian native got her start on the soap opera Neighbours. After two years of playing Beth Brennan, she moved on from the show but found that actually moving on was more difficult than she anticipated.
Imbruglia focused on launching her music career at first. She felt it wasn’t happening, however. She explained, “So I then went to England, and that’s when I couldn’t get a visa to work as an actress, and they were really cracking down on the Neighbors stars taking English actors’ roles, and that was a hard time because I ran out of money.”
The time that followed was dicey for Imbruglia. She explained, “I was, for a few years, very famous from Neighbours and was doing appearances and going appearing in clubs and signing autographs and just getting wads of cash in envelopes and living like that.”
“I was living in a basement at someone’s house in Chelsea, which was weird because I had no money and I’m in Chelsea, in this big mansion, but I’m just in the basement,” she explained.
She found herself having “A lot of conversations with God about if I ever get lucky again.”
Natalie Imbruglia, circa 1995Credit: Tim Roney/Getty
Natalie Imbruglia at the 1998 MTV Video Music AwardsCredit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc
What was particularly difficult for Imbruglia, she noted, was “That was the first time in my life where everything didn’t fall in my lap.”
Advertisement
“So I just partied because I didn’t know what to do,” she continued. “The money ran out. And it was my dad once [who] rang and said, ‘Can I just ask, when are you going to get a job?’ And I was so proud. I screamed at him and kicked off, but I was so embarrassed that he said that to me that I changed things then.”
It was then that she got a renewed focus on music and started working toward 1997’s smash hit, “Torn.”
— sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“I think it leaked onto K-Rock in America, which was not even a station that played pop music. I don’t know how, but it got played and so it kind of broke itself in America and then we were chasing it around the States,” she recalls.
And while the success was beautiful and she had gratitude, she also had fear of what was to come. “I remember thinking, ‘You’re going to win every award this year and then nothing forever.’ And that’s pretty close to what happened. I haven’t won many awards since.”
Imbruglia has continued making music and is gearing up for a release. Algorithm, the entertainer’s seventh studio album, is set for release on Sept. 4.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
