Rebecca Gibney’s sacrifice for her son

But here she was, standing in front of him, her usual slender self. Rebecca Gibney laughs as she recalls how she had to explain to her son that she was just pretending to be having a baby on the TV series.
"He couldn’t quite wrap his head around me being pregnant in the picture,” says Rebecca (45). "I had to explain that I was just acting. He knows that’s what I do for a living – pretend to do things on TV.”

Rebecca is on the phone from Sydney, during a break in filming series three of Packed to the Rafters (we’re seeing series two here at the moment). The Kiwi-born actress has a reputation for being friendly and down-to-earth and she lives up to it – talking to her is like having a chinwag over the fence with your neighbour.

When it comes to the subject of Zac (6), Rebecca is like any other proud mother, happy to chat about her only child, whom she clearly adores. Because of his age, Zac has never watched any of his mum’s TV shows. "Nothing’s really been suitable for children, although I did try to show him a kids’ programme I did about 15 years ago called Joey. But there was a scene where this kangaroo goes mad and I start squealing. He hated that. I had to turn it off pretty quickly!”

She says she and Zac’s dad, Kiwi artist and set designer Richard Bell, try not to make what she does for a living sound too special. "I don’t want him to think it’s a big deal – it’s just Mum’s job. "And he’s never been too bothered about it – although that has changed a bit since he started school. People say, ‘Your mum’s on TV,’ and he’s realising it’s a bit of a status symbol.

"He’s also noticed that we sometimes get special attention when we do things like going to the reptile park, so he may be starting to think it’s not a bad thing.” There have been occasions, though, when Zac has been less than enamoured with his mum’s career.

"He didn’t like it much when I was at the Logies last year,” says Rebecca, talking about the Australian TV awards ceremony at which she won the Gold Logie for most popular TV personality as well as the Silver Logie for most  popular actress.

"Winning the Gold Logie was a big deal and I was so thrilled. Zac was at his grandma’s but apparently he kept demanding the TV be turned off. "The next day I sat down with him and asked if he was upset. He said, ‘I don’t like it when you are on TV – it means you are not here with me.’ That broke my heart!”

Rebecca deliberately wound down her acting career after Zac was born. "For four years, I avoided doing any long-running series because I wanted to be able to spend as much time with Zac as I could. "Then Packed to the Rafters came along and I really liked the script. I never expected it to be the success it is – I thought we might just make one series and that would be it. But now it looks like we’re likely to be going until at least mid-2011.”

It’s a delight to play Julie, the Rafter family matriarch. "She’s the sort of person everyone wants to be their mother or sister or next-door neighbour.” Rebecca was pleased when she learned that Julie, who’s the mum of three adult children, was going to get pregnant.

"I think it’s a great storyline. There are a lot of women having babies later in life – some who have got children already and others who are having their first baby – so people can relate to it. I gave birth at bit later in life. I had Zac at 39.”

Because it’s only six years since she had him, she still has very clear memories of being pregnant. "I was quite lucky – I had a fairly easy pregnancy for someone a bit older. I had a bit of sciatica but no real morning sickness and I worked up until I was seven-and-a-half months pregnant. Then I went to Tasmania, where we have a home, ate whatever I wanted and got fat!”

Being pregnant on TV hasn’t made her broody. "I won’t be having any more kids,” says Rebecca. "I did leave it quite late. Richard and I thought we probably wouldn’t have kids so it’s wonderful to have Zac. We’re okay about having an only child – we’re very happy with our lovely six-year-old.”