Moment rocker Jimmy Barnes pretends to be a Madame Tussauds wax figure to surprise autistic woman

Rock star Jimmy Barnes has surprised an autistic woman with a hug after pretending to be a wax statue.

The 62-year-old former Cold Chisel frontman is a fixture at Madame Tussauds’ Sydney museum.

As part of the surprise, the statue of the Scottish-born singer was put into storage so Barnes could greet Kathleen, an autistic woman with an encyclopedic knowledge of music.

The pop music enthusiast had allowed a production crew to film her as part of the ABC-TV series Employable Me, which documents young Australians with a disability searching for work.

After sitting a job interview, Kathleen was employed for a short period at Madame Tussauds.

In a heartwarming scene, Kathleen addressed the camera by standing next to a statue of the late INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence and explaining how he was a singer as well as an actor.

She then faced Barnes, who turned and gave her a hug.

A representation (right) of the 62-year-old former Cold Chisel frontman was wheeled away and put into storage at the Madame Tussauds museum in Sydney as part of the surprise

‘Hey, g’day,’ a shocked Kathleen said.

Barnes then gave her a kiss on the cheek and shook her hand.

‘Nice to meet you,’ he said.

‘Did any others talk but me?’

Kathleen pointed at Hutchence, who died in a Sydney hotel room in November 1997, aged 37.

‘Unfortunately, not for Michael,’ she said.

 Kathleen (left), a Sydney woman with autism spectrum disorder, met Barnes as part of her casual summer job at the Darling Harbour attraction.

The duo then belted out Cold Chisel’s 1980 hit Cheap Wine. 

A wax figure of Barnes has been a fixture at Madame Tussauds since it opened at Darling Harbour in Sydney in 2012.  

It features the singer wearing leather pants and necklaces as he holds an electric guitar.

The real Barnes simply wore a black shirt with no necklaces as part of the surprise.