OPINION
Celebrity psychic Jackie Gillies apparently didn’t see it coming when advised that former I’m A Celebrity campmate Peter Rowsthorn had called her ‘b****face’ in a flash of anger, or that Danny Green had cruelly described her as ‘the most unintelligent person in the world’.
But she does know that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are going to have three children – two boys and a girl – including one son who will be born this year. That’s what she said while mediating an alleged communication by Princess Diana, who apparently had a hell of lot to say to a visibly startled – and seemingly impressed – Paul Burrell.
Di’s cameo was inarguably I’m A Celebrity’s biggest celebrity appearance since producers successfully tempted Marcia Brady onto the show. And the late royal didn’t even charge a fee!
Plenty of people have opinions about psychics, and Jackie’s campmates were no exception, with some dismissing her with dramatic winks and eye rolls, and others – apparently including Paul – forced to consider that she may have a real talent.
Is Jackie a “b****”, as Peter claimed? That depends what that often very unpleasant word means to you. If it means being assertive, knowing what you want, having plenty of opinions and owning all of it, then guilty as charged.
But if you hold a darker definition, that label is not only gross, it’s more than unfair. There was no evidence during her stint on the show that the forthright Jackie was driven in any way by cruelty or malice.
And despite what Danny said, one thing she definitely isn’t, is dumb. Parlaying her stint on The Real Housewives of Melbourne into a growing brand, she’s now arguably Australia’s best-known psychic.
The jury will always be out on whether Jackie or any psychic can really talk to the dead – believers who feel she’s connected them with departed loved ones will cite the tantalising details she produces during readings; things they feel no one else but the deceased could have possibly known. Others will credit belief in psychics to the tricks of cold reading and hot reading, wishful thinking on behalf of those seeking solace, and a propensity to ignore or discount any things the psychics get wrong.
Jackie’s claims that Diana is now enjoying fixing her own dinner in the spirit world, that she has pulled back on sugar in her coffee, and is enjoying sleeping in silk, will have people asking questions – some of them about the boringly familiar nature of the afterlife.
Just don’t expect any definitive answers.
Belief in psychics is always going to be a personal matter – one informed by your views of the world, your life experience and, very possibly, open mindedness.
Let’s see if Jackie’s predictions about Harry and Meghan’s kids come true. Paul doesn’t have to wait that long – the celeb psychic says Diana is going to prove to him the reality of their psychic encounter by busting all the lights in his hallway when he gets home from South Africa.
What a right royal inconvenience. But then, Di always did insist on doing things her own way.
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