Home and Away’s Judy Nunn reflects on sharing Australian TV’s first lesbian kiss and her old age

Former Home and Away star Judy Nunn, 74 – who shot to fame after sharing the first lesbian kiss on Australian TV – admits she avoids looking at her own reflection because she looks ‘too old’

By Stephen Johnson For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 10:58 GMT, 21 February 2020 | Updated: 10:58 GMT, 21 February 2020

Judy Nunn is best known for playing Ailsa Stewart as an original cast member of Home and Away.

She also made TV history during the mid-1970s as she shared Australian television’s first lesbian kiss, during an era when homosexual acts were illegal in every state of Australia.

On Wednesday, the 74-year-old looked back on her life during an interview on ABC’s 7.30 program – where she candidly revealed she was struggling with ‘getting old’ after a lifetime in the industry.

‘That does make me old!’ Judy Nunn (right) sat down alongside her husband Bruce Venables (left) on ABC’s 7.30 program this week, where she revealed she struggles to come to terms with the aging process

‘You look in the mirror and it comes as a bit of a shock, really,’ Jude, who sat alongside her husband Bruce Venables, revealed.

‘And then you think, “Oh my God, yes, I really was born in the 40s. That does make me old”. But you’re only as old as you feel, so I just avoid mirrors!’. 

In her youth, Judy was a pioneer on the small screen, playing a bisexual journalist Vicky Stafford on The Box, a risque soap on Network Ten.

Gamechanger: The actress also made television history during the mid-1970s sharing Australian television’s first lesbian kiss

It was there she shared Australian TV’s first lesbian kiss. 

‘I do have the dubious fame of being able to claim being the instigator of the first lesbian kiss on Australian television, and indeed on any commercial television,’ she said.

‘We were years before the Americans.’

Nunn has spoken out about her TV lesbian kiss just days after Home and Away fixture Lynne McGranger slammed the Seven Network as ‘homophobic’ for reportedly deleting gay kissing scenes. 

Speaking out: Nunn discussed her TV lesbian kiss just days after Home and Away fixture Lynne McGranger (pictured) slammed the Seven Network as ‘homophobic’ for reportedly deleting gay kissing scenes

The admission was made after TV soap historian Andrew Mercado called the network ‘homophobic’ over their handling of kissing scenes between Willow Harris and Alex Neilson – played by Sarah Roberts and Zoe Ventoura.

While the scenes have aired in full in New Zealand and the UK, the same-sex kisses were cut from the scenes which aired in Australia.

‘It’s my freaking workplace and I am embarrassed and horrified that the mentality is so damn draconian!’ she wrote in response to a post on Apple TV documentary, Visible: Out in Australia’s Facebook page.

It’s unclear if Seven or a production company was responsible for removing same-sex kissed from Home and Away in the past.

‘Absolutely agree’: The actress, who has appeared on the soap for more than 26 years as Irene Roberts, agreed the network had a ‘homophobic’ problem and a ‘draconian mentality’

Making history: In her youth, Nunn was a pioneer on the small screen, playing a bisexual journalist Vicky Stafford on The Box, a risque soap on Network Ten

In the same interview with Judy, her husband Bruce Venables revealed that he was convinced his wife was attracted to women following her portrayal as Vicky on The Box. 

‘I said, “I’m not going out with her. She’s a lesbian”,’ he revealed.

Like his wife, Bruce, 70, is also an actor who found success as an author. 

Nunn was an original cast member of Home and Away when it debuted in January 1988 and played the on-screen wife of Alf Stewart, played by Ray Meagher, for 12 years. 

Candid interview: Nunn’s husband Bruce Venables, before meeting her, was apparently convinced she was attracted to women away from the screen

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