Rhonda Burchmore and Nicole Kidman go way back, having attended the same acting school as aspiring performers, but now the 59-year-old 20 to One star has opened up about what the Hollywood superstar is really like as she entertained her I’m A Celebrity campmates with celebrity tales.
The Hey Hey it’s Saturday star was asked about her connection to Nicole by British reality star Charlotte Crosby and Married at First Sight’s Ryan Gallagher, after Rhonda told the camp that Nicole’s hair used to be just like her own.
But the campfire chat, which was aired on last night’s episode of the Network 10 show, soon took a turn as Rhonda branded the Oscar winner a “flat out diva” and revealed some of her alleged antics on the set of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 movie Australia.
Ryan asked Rhonda: “You know Nicole?” To which Rhonda replied: “I knew her when she was still at acting school.” Charlotte, who starred in UK series Geordie Shore, then chimed in and asked: “Really, what was she like?”
.@rhondaburchmore on what it was like working with Nicole Kidman on the set of 'Australia'. God we love Rhonda tea! #ImACelebrityAU pic.twitter.com/5lFpE8Gf4L
— #ImACelebrityAU (@ImACelebrityAU) January 23, 2020
Rhonda started out diplomatic, describing the Sydney-born star as “beautiful” before Charlotte pressed her again, asking: “Was she a lovely person.”
The Mamma Mia! again tried to refrain from saying too much, and remained silent at first. However she couldn’t resist telling her campmates more, and went on to divulge some of the 52-year-old’s alleged behaviour on set.
“She was doing the movie Australia, do you know the movie Australia?” she said. “She used to complain about the blow flies and the cows mooing.
“Because of the heat, they actually had a whole up here in a suit, with air conditioning pumping through.”
However it was her next comment that set tongues wagging as her campmates said: “So, she’s a flat out diva?” To which Rhonda simply replied: “She’s flat out.”
☕️☕️☕️☕️. Soz Nicole! @rhondaburchmore #ImACelebrityAU pic.twitter.com/UxWVciB5bZ
— #ImACelebrityAU (@ImACelebrityAU) January 23, 2020
Rhonda also entertained her campmates with some other showbiz tidbits and opened up about a night she spent with Love Actually heartthrob Colin Firth, before revealing that she had also been lucky enough to meet the “iconic” Meryl Streep.
Speaking about Firth, she cheekily said: “I had the most beautiful evening with Colin Firth, you know who I mean. We drank, we laughed, we …”
Following the revelation, Ryan said: “She’s been out drinking with Colin Firth, who we think was a bit more than drinking… I think there was a bit going on, she might have had a bit of a crush on Colin.”
She also revealed that she’d had to audition for ABBA superstars Benny and Björn for her role in the musical Mamma Mia! which she described as “one of the big highlights” of her career.