The Channel 5 serial opera welcomed Home and Away actress Melissa George in 1993 as Angel Parrish, the bombshell everyone wanted to be. After many years, the actress has experienced a lot.
Fans of the Channel 5 serial opera Home and Away will recall Angel Parrish as one of the show’s most beloved characters when she first appeared in it in 1993.
Dieter Brummer’s character Shane Parrish was one of the most adored characters on the show, and Angel was most known for her romance with him.
Before leaving the serial opera and relocating from Australia to Los Angeles in 1997, Melissa received a record-breaking seven Logie Award nominations for her performance.
She has now appeared on numerous shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and Friends.
What about her life away from the spotlight, though?
sour divorce
In 2000, Melissa wed the Chilean furniture designer and director Claudio Dabed; however, the couple divorced in 2011.
Following the dissolution of her first marriage, Melissa later wed French businessman Jean David Blanc, with whom she had two boys, Raphael and Solal.
However, the five-year marriage ended in 2016, leaving her penniless.
She explained: “I was left with nothing…,” to Stella magazine. I therefore asked, “OK, what do you have?” I own exquisite jewellery and high-end clothing. And I recently sold everything.
“I refused to accept a job because I didn’t want to leave my children. When you’ve lost everything, you actually realise what you need. Believe me.”
Blanc allegedly attacked Melissa in 2016, “slamming her head against a metal coat rack,” according to Melissa.
She displayed pictures of her eye and wrist bruises and claimed Blanc had written her scathing texts accusing her of “destroying” their younger son by breastfeeding him.
Additionally, Blanc was charged with employing private investigators to spy on and “disturb” Melissa.
Blanc vehemently rejected the accusations, but he was brought before a French court in 2016 because of them. After the purported domestic argument, he and Melissa were both found guilty of assault.
Later, both filed an appeal.
In an interview with Australia’s Sunday Night show at the time, Good Wife star Melissa allegedly stated: “It started with him on top of me, with my arms locked above my head.
“I simply attempted to defend myself, which enraged him more. He then smacked me in the face after pushing me into the door, causing me to hit the wall and drop to the ground. He stated as he stood over me, “Now you’re a true actress.”
wealthy inventor
After making a dramatic career change, Melissa chose to start her own company in 2010 with partner Kara Harshbarger.
The team created a product called Style Snaps, also known as Hemming My Way, which gives people wearing pants an easy way to reduce the hem and prevents their pants from trailing on the sidewalk.
When talking about the product’s introduction, Kara said: “One day over coffee, Melissa discussed her invention concept. She had recently visited New York City, and she was irritated by an issue that all ladies encounter: her long hem was dragging on the city’s pavements.
“In 2008, we said, “Enough is enough!” We thought of ideas, drank more coffee, brainstormed, felt queasy, and questioned whether we were sane. What did we know about invention?”
However, the product idea paid off and generated millions of dollars on websites like Amazon and QVC.
I’m not simply an actress, I’m a multi-million pound innovator, Melissa told Live magazine.
I currently have three patents. I’m unable to discuss the other two because they are top secret.
She said that in just 10 months, the Style Snaps generated $15 million (£12.3 million).
Co-star conflict
Behind the scenes, Dieter Brummer, Melissa’s on-screen beau, who passed away in July 2021, wasn’t always happy.
Dieter claimed that his feud with Melissa was so intense that he begged the producers to kill off his character.
We may have been love interests on the show, but the chemistry was far from genuine, he told Woman’s Day.
“Mel was quite ambitious from the beginning. I believe she aspired to succeed Kylie Minogue.
She was a huge fan who wanted to be successful like Kylie. She didn’t seem to have much time for the Home and Away cast, in my opinion.”
I’m not sure if they got along personally 100% of the time, according to Ray Meagher, who portrays Alf Stewart on the serial opera “.
skateboarding champion
While practising for her role as a burlesque dancer in the 2017 film The Butterfly Tree, Melissa admitted to having a very peculiar talent in her youth.
It turns out that she was a world-class roller-skater before becoming famous for her role in Home and Away.
She said, “I had to learn to be a burlesque dancer… it’s challenging,” in a statement to The Today Show.
“I didn’t have to practise too much for that because I was a top skater back in the day.
But there’s a whole other twist when you’re a burlesque dancer on skates.
Melissa competed in artistic roller skating and earned bronze and silver medals at the 1989 and 1990 National Championships as well as once again at the 1991 Junior World Championship.
“I was participating in the junior worlds and the national titles when I went on an audition for an Australian TV programme,” she said.
When I was 16, I left skating behind but it’s like riding a bike—always it’s with you. I went directly from the rink to being the star of a TV show.
