Back in May, Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes was slammed by defensive Aussies after making controversial comments about her adopted country in the docuseries, Almost Australian.
Now, the 79-year-old actress, who holds dual citizenship between her native UK and adoptive home of Australia, revealed her favourite city Down Under.
She told Daily Mail back in July that she’s a big fan of the capital of South Australia.
Backtracking?! Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has revealed her favourite Australian city – after being slammed for labelling the country as ‘brutal’ and ‘greedy’
‘I’m fond of Adelaide. It’s an elegant, quiet city,’ she said of the peaceful metropolitan, which has a population of over 1.3million people.
She also named a coastal town, near the elegant and quiet capital, as one of her favourite destinations.
‘I warm to there being no people. Goolwa in South Australia is glorious,’ she said
Picture perfect: The 79-year-old actress, who holds dual citizenship between her native UK and adoptive home of Australia, revealed her favourite city Down Under is Adelaide, calling it ‘an elegant, quiet city’. Pictured is the Torrens River in Adelaide
Idyllic: She also named the coastal town of Goolwa, near the elegant and quiet capital, as one of her favourite destinations. She said: ‘I warm to there being no people. Goolwa in South Australia is glorious’. Pictured is Goolwa
In May, defensive Aussies slammed British-born actress Miriam for comments she made about her adopted country in the docuseries, Almost Australian.
The 79-year-old Harry Potter star incited the wrath of furious Australians when she labelled the country brutal and greedy, after seeing the growing number of developments in Queensland’s tourist hotspot Surfers Paradise.
Many suggested that Miriam could always go back to the UK in scathing comments on Facebook.
‘Put your claws back in Miriam and be thankful for the surroundings of where you are living. If you are so incensed with Aussies, simply pack your bags and head back to England,’ one wrote.
Causing a stir: In May, defensive Aussies slammed British-born actress Miriam for comments she made about her adopted country in the docuseries, Almost Australian. The 79-year-old Harry Potter star incited the wrath of furious Australians when she labelled the country brutal and greedy
‘One simple solution f**k off out of Australia. This country has a lot to offer. Get rid of you and that means some other deserving human might take your place. I sincerely hope you are pressured to leave,’ another added.
‘Nobody is forcing you to stay here!’ one person put it simply, while another added, ‘Nobody is perfect Miriam… and no country is perfect either. We all know that.’
But some agreed with her comments, arguing she has a right to an opinion and claiming she was only pointing out an inconvenient truth.
‘Good on her… I’m ashamed of how Aussies act too… stop selling Australia offshore,’ wrote one.
‘I have no idea if she’s right or wrong, but at least she didn’t cave in and give a half-a**ed apology. She has the right to an opinion and she offered one. Good for her,’ added another.
Miriam, who became a naturalised citizen seven years ago, travelled from coast to coast for her series Almost Australian, but the process left her feeling disenchanted with her adopted home country.
Familiar face: Miriam, who is best known for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film, became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2013
She recently made headlines for saying she was horrified by the ‘brutality’ and ‘greed’ of modern Australia – and has since declared in an interview with The New Daily that she won’t be making any apologies for her remarks.
She said her longtime partner, Heather Sutherland, a retired Australian professor of Indonesian studies, had warned her that ‘Australians do not like criticism’.
‘And they don’t, so I knew that I was doing something quite risky by, you know, having an opinion,’ she said. ‘Because I think Australians are a bit tired of Brits mouthing off about Australia, and I don’t blame them.’
But despite this, she decided to throw caution to the wind and say what she really thought about Australia – regardless of the consequences.
‘I hope people will not be too annoyed about the things I have to say, but in the end, to be honest, f**k ’em if they are. That’s tough. I’m telling it like I see it,’ she said.
Miriam, who is best known for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series, also sparked outrage by saying Australia was ‘harsher’ than she had first thought when she arrived in the 1980s.
‘We think we know what [Australia is] like, but we don’t. It’s quite complicated. It’s layered. Lots of things happen. I do think I was right that it’s harsher than it was. Maybe that’s true in the world,’ she told TV Tonight.
‘There’s a harshness about it, which I didn’t expect.’
She said the most confronting part of the documentary was having to visit Surfers Paradise, a highly developed stretch of coastline on Queensland’s Gold Coast popular with holidaymakers.
‘There is a brutality there and a greed in Australia, which I don’t like,’ she said.
‘You know, the developers. Those horrible structures along the coast, that people should be ashamed of living in. Surfers Paradise, it’s disgusting. I think that actually shocked me because I don’t go there. It’s not my world and I don’t want to go there.’
‘It’s disgusting’: She said the most confronting part of the documentary was having to visit Surfers Paradise (pictured), a highly developed stretch of coastline on Queensland’s Gold Coast popular with holidaymakers