Claudia Karvan Dancing With The Stars: Actress opens up about childhood

October 01, 2024

Dancing With The Stars favourite Claudia Karvan has shone a light on her “unconventional” childhood, sharing striking throwback photos of her Vivienne Westwood-loving punk mother Gabrielle Karvan-Goddard.

Opening up in a teaser clip ahead of Sunday’s high-school throwback themed tango, Claudia joked that her mum found it “unbearable” that her daughter was such a stickler for the rules at school.

By one glimpse at the photos, the former nightclub owner is set to become your weekend outfit inspiration.

“As far as childhoods go, mine was pretty unconventional,” the Love My Way actress explained in the preview.

“My parents owned a nightclub called Arthur’s,” she revealed.

For context – Arthur’s wasn’t just any nightclub in the 1970s. It was a Kings Cross institution.

The haunt on Victoria St was once the hottest nightclub in Sydney, frequented by writers, artists and rock stars who loaded on to the suspended dance floor or gazed out over the Sydney skyline while its namesake, Claudia’s stepdad Arthur Karvan, topped up their glasses.

Gabrielle – Claudia’s mum – was, judging by the photos, a style icon as eye-catching a feature of the club as the stunning window view.

Claudia and her brothers lived in the iconic Sydney suburb with their mum and stepfather.

But Claudia – in stark contrast from her mother’s subculture – described her school-aged self as a bit of a goodie two shoes.

“I loved rules, my mother found it unbearable,” she said, following with a story about her mother from her Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School days.

“My mum decided to volunteer at the tuck shop at my high school, and I could just hear all these girls running past going ‘quick, there’s a punk in the tuck shop. There’s a punk in the tuck shop!’,” she shared.

“She’s like a blonde Alice Cooper,” dance partner Aric Yegudkin said while flipping through the photos.

Dancing a “punk tango” to 1980s anthem You’ve Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party by the Beastie Boys, drawing on her mother’s style, Claudia revealed there’ll be “nothing graceful about this dance.”

It’s not the first time this season the actress has opened up about her family.

A few weeks back, Claudia quick stepped her way back to 2018 for the season’s flashback episode.

She chose 2018 as it was a “transformation year” for her and her brother Rupert, who suffers from schizophrenia.

“My memorable year is 2018, there was a really positive change for my brother,” the Secret Life of Us actress explained.

“Rupert’s diagnosis with schizophrenia happened quite late, it was in his early 30s and it got progressively worse until about 2018.

“(That year) the social worker at the psychiatric hospital suggested that he live in a shared living space,” she said of dedicating the performance to his journey – set to a song from their childhood, Paul Simon’s Graceland.

Dancing With The Stars airs Sunday Night from 7.30pm on Channel 10.

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