‘It doesn’t have to be morbid’: Denise Drysdale opens up on funeral plans

She’s one of Australia’s favourite entertainers and following news that she’s been battling several health scares, Denise Drysdale has revealed that she’s planned her own funeral – complete with satin pyjamas, and even a bottle of champagne in her casket with her.

Speaking in an exclusive chat with Starts at 60, the Studio 10 favourite said she’s paid for the entire do already in order to ensure it plays out exactly as she’d wish.

“It’s the best thing, I had the funniest time sitting down with the lady to work out what I wanted, what music, all of those things,” she explained.

“I’ve got a white satin coffin, and blue satin pyjamas and matching slippers, and I’ve got an Esky beside me with ice and bottles of champagne, with one open and a straw down in my mouth! I think attitudes to funerals have changed a lot now.”

Asked what her family thought of her planning so much, she added: “Oh they hate it. At one stage I had to stop talking about the end because it was getting a bit too much for them, but I couldn’t fear it. I don’t fear going, not at all.

“It doesn’t have to be morbid. It’s a celebration of someone’s life, of what they’ve given and the memories. I know this sounds absolutely stupid, but I have sometimes thought, ‘I must ring mum when something good happens and tell her’. They never leave you, they’re always there.

“I just wish my parents could see this house, they’d be absolutely thrilled.”

Meanwhile, speaking to the Gold Coat Bulletin this weekend, the 70-year-old added that she’d picked lots of rock songs to play at the service, as well as ‘Let’s Get It On’ by Marvin Gaye.

The interview comes just weeks after the Ernie Sigley Show star appeared on Studio 10 to reveal that she suffered a series of other terrifying health scares in the wake of the operation. Appearing in a video from her home, Denise said she was a day away from becoming blind and suffered a cancer scare.

Read more: Denise Drysdale: I was a day from going blind before suffering cancer scare

The health problems started when she suffered an agonising knee injury while getting out of bed on a cruise. Denise was forced to cut the cruise short and returned home to have a knee replacement, but she suffered blood clots after surgery.

When she eventually made it home, Denise was hit with another terrifying scare as she began to lose her sight after suffering serious head pain.

“I woke up in the middle of the night with this pain in my eye and I rang the ambulance which is pretty big thing for me to do… I thought it was stress and my head wasn’t coping,” she told co-host Sarah Harris.

It turned out to be a detached retina, where her retina came off the eyeball. She also explained that she felt a lump on her breast on New Year’s Eve.

Denise Drysdale answers the question everyone's been asking – will she be returning to #Studio10? pic.twitter.com/ApbKI3prrp

— Studio 10 (@Studio10au) February 19, 2019

“But anyway, there was a lump… It was big. I thought maybe it is cancer, maybe it’s not – people go through it, it will be fine,” she said. “But it turned out to be a cyst, so that was alright… I was relieved.”

Asked by Sarah if she felt like Denise Drysdale at the time, Denise said: “I didn’t and I still don’t to a certain degree. I just feel not well, a smaller version of yourself.”

Denise is set to return to Studio 10 later this month.

Have you planned your own funeral? Is it a topic you find hard to talk about?