Feisty Hey Dad..! whistleblower Sarah Monahan has finally made peace with her troubled past and is ready to move home to Australia after 20 years.
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“I miss my brother, niece and nephews,” says Sarah, who endured 17 years of silent torment before bravely stepping forward to accuse her on-screen father – actor Robert Hughes – of sexually abusing her behind the scenes of Australia’s favourite sitcom.
“I miss the Aussie lifestyle and the food,” adds the pint- sized battler and former child star, now aged 42, and currently living on a boat in Florida with her American husband, cybersecurity professional Matt Morris.
“Although I lost a few people when I spoke out about what happened on Hey Dad..! I made an exceptional group of new friends through all that. I’d like to spend time with them, not occasionally hang out with them on visits – so I’d really like someone to give me a job back in Australia!
“I’d love to be a talking head on TV, that would be a dream job because I’m not scared to say what I think, and of course I still want to do advocacy work for child abuse victims.”
Remarkably, Sarah harbours no bitterness towards Hughes, 70, who was jailed for 10 years and nine months after being convicted of 10 child sex offences – involving Sarah and three other girls – in 2014.
Hughes appealed against the verdicts twice, both at the Court of Criminal Appeal and the High Court of Australia, but lost.
However, with a non-parole period of six years the predatory actor, who played family patriarch Martin Kelly on the top-rating show, could be freed from protective custody as soon as April 2020.
“Truthfully, I don’t really think about him most days,” smiles proud survivor Sarah,
a patron of the Heal For Life Foundation, dedicated to helping trauma sufferers.
“The past six years of his life can’t have been enjoyable, so he got to live out what his victims lived through all those years.”
“Hopefully he has found some kind of peace in prison. I wish him no ill will anymore.”
Measuring just 1.5m, Sarah has always been courageous through necessity.
She became her family’s breadwinner at the early age of 9, after her beloved father Brian died of a heart attack when he was just 36.
That’s why, she explains, she could not leave Hey Dad..! despite the ongoing abuse by Hughes.
Going public with the truth so many years later, sadly, ended Sarah’s relationship with her mother Linda, who hated the spotlight it shone on the family.
“There’s been no reconciliation at all between us,” sighs the outspoken TV Blackbox podcaster.
“But I have a great relationship with my elder brother Mark and his three kids, who see me as their mad Aunty Sarah.
“Unfortunately, Mark is going through a divorce at the moment, so I’m visiting Sydney to give them all a big hug. That’s what I love.
“As an aunt, I can play with Byron, Maddie and Beau and then it’s like, ‘Aaaaand I’m out of here!’ I can give them back when they’re annoying!”
Sarah has no regrets that she and Matt resolved never to have children of their own. She simply could not bear to see them scarred the way she has been.
“Besides,” she jokes, “Our boat is called No Kids. We couldn’t afford it otherwise!”
The couple, who met at a Brisbane restaurant in 1999 – she was waitressing, while he was a patron – have stuck together through thick and thin.
“I could not have done any of this without Matt,” Sarah says fondly of her 42-year-old spouse.
“He’s very strong and makes me stronger. And he backs up everything I do. We’re just really happy and enjoy each other’s company.”
Today, 25 years after the last Hey Dad..! episode went to air, Sarah stands tall.
“I’m not scared of anything anymore. Nothing at all. I have zero fear, and zero tolerance for bulls–t,” she says.
“It sucked going through it, but it gave me b—s.”
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or family violence, call the 1800RESPECT hotline or visit www.1800respect.org.au/.
For more, pick up the latest copy of New Idea on sale now!
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