Let’s get one thing very straight. Nikki Webster has never done drugs, overdosed on booze, disgraced herself at nightspots, dried out in rehab or even suffered from an eating disorder.
Shady figures in nightclub bathrooms have offered her pills. Yes, she once trashed Michael Jackson’s hotel room and Rove McManus pretended to spike her lemonade – but that’s the extent of any scandal in the past of the pint-sized singer.
‘So much can go wrong with young performers crossing over into adult entertainers,’ says Nikki, who flew to global fame in front of billions of TV viewers as ‘Hero Girl’ in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
‘I’m so lucky to be doing what I’m doing and not to have faded out or ended up in rehab. On the negative side, that means I’m probably not juicy enough to interest a lot of people…’
What about the uproar over her raunchy shots in men’s magazines? The cruel rumour she paid celebs to attend her 21st birthday party?
Still hurt, Nikki admits she attracts more than her fair share of bitchiness. She doesn’t know why but she defies her critics, saying: ‘Nobody’s ever found me drunk in a ditch, and I guess that’s unusual for someone who’s grown up in the public eye. But I’d rather just be Nikki, who creates controversy without doing anything wrong! I’m quite strong-minded. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.’
Miss independent
At 13, Nikki resisted record company attempts to straighten her trademark curls. And at 22, she still does things her way, with the independent release of her new single Devilicious on June 12.
‘I’ve put my whole heart into it, and this is the real me – I feel like a virgin in the music industry,’ she grins, enjoying a poke at her squeaky-clean image.
It’s taken Nikki four years of experimentation working in LA and Nashville to discover her new direction. Proudly independent, she was often lonely overseas but learnt a whole new appreciation of her Sydney family – parents Mark and Tina, and brother Scott, 24.
‘I tried writing country music and went down the rock road,’ she says. ‘But Devilicious was a natural progression. This is who I am. I’m very pop and dance-based.’
All work, no play
Dancing With The Stars’ Todd McKenney, who gave Nikki one out of 10 for the tango during her 2005 stint on the show, may beg to differ. Yet Nikki got the last laugh, as she often does, by sashaying into a romance with dance partner Sasha Farber until travel and career tore their two-step apart.
‘Yes, I’m single,’ says Nikki, who runs a dance school with her brother. ‘Sasha and I are still very close friends but there was no time to see each other, and I was too young to get locked down.
‘I’ve been in a relationship with my music and dance for the past year or so – I can’t find anyone!’
For the record, her ideal man would be as driven and focused as her, sexy – ‘abs are nice’ – and have a great sense of humour. She says: ‘One day I’d like to have a wonderful man who appreciates me for who I am, and a house with a courtyard and, hopefully, lots of healthy children.
But firstly, I’d like my dance studio to grow and grow, and open branches around Australia. Maybe my music will take off and be given a chance in Europe and America. That would be great.’
Nikki sighs, doubtful she will ever really be given a fair go, then her bounce returns: ‘I don’t really plan for the future. I don’t even know what I’m doing next week.
‘I’d love to get more involved with charities, giving something back for the health I’ve got.’ Her record may be Devilicious, but Nikki still hasn’t released her inner demon.
Source: New Idea
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Kate Ritchie had been appearing on Home And Away for more than five years when someone moved in close behind her at a Sydney train station. Ritchie was only 14, but she still remembers the open menace of the fellow teenager. “I got off the train, a girl followed me and she thought it might be funny to tip Coca-Cola all over me,” she says.