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Bec Judd: The Girl in the Red Dress · Outspoken the Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Episode one, the girl in the red dress. It all
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: started at football's night of nights.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: We have had every person that's come out here.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I said, you're looking good. They have all said you
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: want to see Chris Judd's girlfriend.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Now you are her, are you?
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I am her.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: You look absolutely sensational. Everyone, man, woman and beast have
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: said you look the best.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Rebecca Twigley's appearance at the Brownlow wearing that plunging red
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: dress catapulted her into instant fame. The then 21-year-old model
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and uni student became the face of Maya and the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: brand deals came knocking. Almost 20 years on, Bec has
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: graduated from being a model wag and is now a
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: powerhouse in her own right. She was an influencer before
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Instagram and is now known as the Queen.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: Bee of Melbourne.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: However, despite being in the spotlight for nearly 20 years,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Bec is an enigma. In this series, we get to
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the bottom of how a girl from the Wild West
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: in that dress has become Australian influencer royalty. We are
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: journalists Kate, Amy and Sophie Torber, and this is Outspoken Plus. Now,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Kate and I really had to fight for this series
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: because we have both been fascinated by Rebecca Judd for
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: over 10 years now. 20, really. And the whole WAG culture.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And you, on the other hand, Amy... You weren't as
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: sold on it. Well, I voted for another deep dive
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: that we'll probably get to eventually, but I'm so glad
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: we actually decided to focus on Bec Judd because some
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: of the stuff that's gone down, I had completely forgotten about. Yeah, well,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: she's nearly been in the public eye for 20 years now,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: which is really hard to wrap your mind around. I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: just still think of her as being that 21-year-old girl
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: that we first saw in that dress. Before we dive in,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I want to address the elephant in the room.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: In our intro, we.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Use the term wag, and I want to put it
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: out there that the term wag will pop up a
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: bit during this series. because we are going back 20
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: years to when it was widely used. It's actually pretty
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: funny because during my research, I was like, when did
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: this word pop up? And it was actually in 2002,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: which is pretty close to when Bec Judd made it
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: big at the Brownlow. And there have been so many
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: important discussions had since then about how the term wag
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: is very outdated and sexist. And it is just so
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: demeaning to define a woman based on what her boyfriend
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: or husband does.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: It definitely is.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: But I know at the time when Bec Judd came
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: on the scene, I think a lot of girls wanted
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to be wags and they didn't actually view that terminology
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: as offensive. It was actually seen to be something that
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: people wanted to be.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: It really was.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: It was almost worn as a bit of a badge
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of honour. In this case with Bec Judd, it's ironic
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: to think that she was known as a wag because
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: she's managed to eclipse her famous husband's illustrious football career.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: And that wasn't easy because Chris Judd was regarded as
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: one of Australia's best footballers in the modern game. He's
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: a dual premiership player and he's won two Brown Lows.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: So it's pretty amazing what Beck has managed to do
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: in the last 19 years. So I want to take
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: you guys back to the start, 40 years ago when
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Beck Judd was born. Now at this time, she was
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: known as Rebecca Twigley and was born in a small
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: town called Lehman. The town is three hours north of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Perth and it's known for its crayfishing. Beck's parents actually
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: didn't originate from Perth. So they moved to Perth from
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: New Zealand when Beck's mom was just 17 and her
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: dad was 22. So Beck's parents met when they were
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: working at a newspaper together. And I was surprised to
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: learn that Beck is a quarter Maori. So this is
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: from her mom's side. She said she always has people
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: trying to guess her background, but they never do. I
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: was really surprised when I heard this too, because it's
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: not something that's widely reported on. Now, when Beck was
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: just four, her parents broke up and sadly, her earliest
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: memory is her dad crying when her mom left with
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: her baby sister. So Beck stayed with her dad, but
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: after a custody battle, she moved back in with her
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: mom and her sister, Kate. And despite the custody battle,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Beck says her parents are still friends. It's pretty ironic
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: to think that Beck jarred Copset for being privileged at
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the moment because she did really come from humble beginnings.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: So while her mom didn't want to send her to
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: the local high school because it was too rough, She
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: did say she went to both a public primary school
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: and high school. So she had to catch four buses
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: a day to get to school. Fortunately for Beck, by
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: year 10, her family did move closer to the area.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: And she said they were quite poor and could never
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: have afforded private school. It's pretty funny because Beck's first
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: job at high school was working at Pizza Haven. And
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: she seemed really proud about this job. She said it
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: was the best job she's ever had. And she actually
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: worked on the make bench and was the fastest pizza
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: maker in Thornley. I do love when you hear about
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: these first-time jobs all these celebrities had and you just
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: can't imagine Beck now working behind a pizza bar. It
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: kind of gives her a little bit more cred because
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I think people think that she's too good to do
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: certain things now. And the fact that she was actually
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the fastest pizza maker made me laugh. Now, I always
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: imagined Beck would have been super popular at school, but
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: she didn't have a boyfriend at school. In fact, Chris
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Judd was her first proper boyfriend. In a podcast interview
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: on the Show & Tell podcast, Beck said this about
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: that time. I don't like any boys in my year
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and I don't think any of the boys liked me.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Wow, that surprised me.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: And mum actually said to me in year 12 one day,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: because I was quite tall, gangly, braces by.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Then, no boobs. I wasn't really the girl that the
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: guys would ever go for. Whereas my sister, on the
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: other hand.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: Had the blonde hair.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: The 10 double Ds, the small little ways.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Did you know what a bitch?
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Like super, super babes. Everyone went for my sister and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the boys would call her all the time when we'd
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: get home. And mum said to me one day, this
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: is before mobile phones so mum could see.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: The phone calls.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Why don't boys ever call you? Boys always call, Kate.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Do you not like boys?
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Because that's okay if you like girls.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: That's totally okay.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I was like, no, I do like boys. I just
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: don't like any boys at my school and none of
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: the boys like me. And that's just how it was.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: How awkward would it have been back in the day
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: having to actually ring up someone's home phone? Oh, and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: having your parents aware of the phone calls that you
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: were receiving. A bit of a burn saying, oh, why
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: haven't any guys rang up here, Bec? Yeah, they're always
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: calling your sister. Now on the topic of Bec's sister, Kate,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: while they're close now, there were times when they hated
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: each other growing up. So Bec is the older sister.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: There's two and a half years between them. Let's throw
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: to what Bec said about their teenage relationship.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: So during school and high school, Kate and I used
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: to so much.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: I think I've still got scars on my arm from
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: like catfights with my sister.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: We used to drive each other bananas and like really
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: intense fighting and I hate you and I hate you
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: too and I used to lock her outside of the house.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I was the brain, Kate was the brawn.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So she'd be the physical fighting and I'd.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Just like lure her outside and then lock her outside
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: and leave her outside for hours until mum got home.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: It makes me feel better. But this is just how
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: sisters behave, isn't it?
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: Especially at high school.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I can also imagine that if your sister was two
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: and a half years younger than you, but she was
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: copying all this attention from boys at school, it would
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: be a contentious topic. Yeah, well, things are definitely better
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: between Kate and Beck. Now, Beck gave her daughter, Billie,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Kate as a middle name. And Beck has also partnered
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: up with her sister, Kate, to compete on The Amazing Race,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: which is airing soon. Now, while the boys at Beck's
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: school didn't notice her, Eventually, she did attract attention from
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: modeling scouts. And funnily enough, it was her sister who
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: submitted Beck into the Dolly Magazine modeling competition.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: Doesn't that just take you back?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Can you remember being at your local shopping center and
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: there'd be all these girls lined up? I remember you
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: weren't allowed to have any makeup on. You had to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: come very fresh faced, normal clothes, and they would just
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: judge you. And these competitions were a big deal. I
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: remember Miranda Kerr was scouted from one of them. And
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: now they just go on Instagram and look for models.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Isn't it funny? I do wonder if Beck's sister Kate
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: was trying to stitch her up because she sent in
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a photo of Beck in her Pizza Haven uniform. So
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: she had black pants on, a blue polo top with
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: a red collar and a cap. I actually think that's
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: a good idea because if you can pull off looking
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: good in your takeaway uniform, I think you're going to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: be a model. Oh, well, you can tell she has
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the X factor because she was chosen from that. Now,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: she did go down to the Garden City Shopping Center.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: And while she didn't win the competition, she was scouted
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: by Vivian Models. And Bec described herself as being gangly
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: with spotty skin and crooked teeth at the time. And
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Vivian Models actually advised her to finish school, get life
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: experience and fix her teeth. I think the first two
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: was good advice. So she did end up getting braces
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and finished high school while taking part in Vivian's development
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: programs and workshops. And she spoke really highly of the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: experience with Vivian's and said it was really beneficial to
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: learn about the modeling industry before working in it. Now,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Sophie mentioned earlier that Chris Judd was Beck's first official boyfriend,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: but she did actually have a few situationships with guys.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: And the other was when she was living in Thailand.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: So she hung out with a guy for a little bit,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: but nothing serious happened. It wasn't until she returned home
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: in between modeling trips that she met Chris Judd. So
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: for those who aren't big sports fans, Chris Judd is,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: of course, an AFL football legend. who at the time
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: had just started playing for the West Coast Eagles. Now,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Beck had only been in Perth for a week before
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: running into Chris during a Sunday session at the Cot,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: which was a popular pub in Perth at the time.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Beck was just 19 and Chris was 18. And in
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: a podcast interview with Show and Tell, Beck whimsically spoke
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: about how you'd go to the Cot on a Sunday
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: night and then get the double-decker bus to Clubber afterwards.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: She said it was just epic at the time. Now,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: despite being a football fan, Beck said she didn't know
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: who Chris was because she'd.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: Been living overseas.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I wanted to add a fun fact in here because
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: in this interview, when she was talking about meeting Chris,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: they were saying what a woman. Beck was because she
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: loves footy, but she also is a massive fan of
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: test cricket, which I find hard to believe. It's so
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: fucking boring. It sounds like she's a bit of a
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: pick-me girl. No, do you know what? Some people, some
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: women actually genuinely love cricket. I know growing up, we
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: were huge footy fans. I wonder if Beck was pretending
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: that she didn't know who Chris was and she's had
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to keep it up for so many years. Well, he
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: was only.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: 18.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: He would have probably been a very junior player.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: But if you're a West Coast Eagles fan, which I'm
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: assuming Beck was, she would have known.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: She could have been a Dockers fan.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Well, the funny thing is he was actually drinking with
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: his teammate, Daniel Kerr. And so Beck actually ended up
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: meeting Chris through her friend who had been kissing Daniel Kerr.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Now in the interview, Chris relived seeing Beck for the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: first time and he said only one thing went through
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: his head. He said, she was someone who was incredibly
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: attractive and pretty drunk and that was my sweet spot.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: What a weird thing to say.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's basically saying I'm into hot drunk girls. So
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Chris did say that they chatted, but nothing full on
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: happened between them as he was dating another girl at
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: the time, but they did stay in touch and conveniently
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: when his relationship ended.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: They did get together.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Well, it's funny hearing Beck's side of things because she
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: did talk about the same meeting in an interview on
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the Show and Tell podcast. And she said this about
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the situation.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I met Chris and then he was ended up having
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: this girlfriend and he was with his girlfriend and I
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: was like okay see you later and then we ended
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: up coming back together and he said oh why don't
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: you come over one night and I was like playing
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: it cool like oh.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: I don't know um I might go and.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: See my girlfriends or like try to play cool yeah
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: and then he was like oh okay and then he
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: went to hang up and I thought all right you can't.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Keep pushing boys away because you're shy.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: So then I was like, oh, actually, okay, I'm coming
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: over now.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Bye.
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: And I've never done that before.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: And then I went over and then that was the
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: beginning of everything.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine if you're Chris Jones' ex-girlfriend now listening
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: to this? Oh, it would have been a hard night
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: for her at the Brownlow.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: It does sound like they're kind of glossing over a
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: little bit. Like I feel like I've got more questions
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: about what actually happened at their first meeting. This is
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: kind of like the wedding story. Like it's sort of
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the story that would be told at someone's wedding. You
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: don't need the dirty details about if there was any crossover.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: You just need the overview that they met and they
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: liked each other and fell in love. The love story.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: It's funny because during the interview, Bec said that they
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: were just kids at the time, but she does look
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: back at the photos and laughs about how much hair
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Chris had and the fact that she had no eyebrows. Now,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Bec said the attraction between her and Chris was instant
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: for her, and it was at this point she decided
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: to move back home permanently. Another deciding factor was that
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: she also wanted to pursue speech pathology at uni before
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: her TER score ran out. Now, Beck did graduate university
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: with a Bachelor of Science degree. Let's fast forward to
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: 2004 when Beck's life was set to change forever because
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: of a striking red dress. Now, Chris and Beck, they'd
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: been dating for just 10 months and they were based
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: in Perth at the time.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: And whilst Chris was.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Known in football circles around Perth, Beck had a tiny
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: bit of a profile, but she wasn't known nationally at all. Yeah,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and Chris had a bit of a standout season that
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: year for the Eagles, so he was favorite to take
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: out the Brownlow medal. Yeah, and all eyes were really
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: supposed to be on Chris at the time, but it
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: was Beck who caught everyone's attention. So the then 21-year-old
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: wore a show-stopping red dress with a neckline that dipped
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: below her belly button. a scooped back that skimmed her bum,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and also this really big leg split up the middle
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: of the dress. I think we were only 14 at
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the time, and I still remember this being on the
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: front page of the newspaper. The custom-made dress was designed
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: by Perth designer Ruth Tavides, and it cost.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: $ 2, 000.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: That price tag surprised me because... That's really cheap compared
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to what people would pay now for a Brownlow gown. Yeah,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that does seem shockingly cheap. But you've got to remember,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: she was a bit of a nobody at the time.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I'm sure the dresses that she's worn since this Brownlow
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: moment have cost in the tens of thousands. But when
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: you're a newcomer on the red carpet, you're probably just
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: going to wear whatever you get. Yeah, I think $ 2, 000
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: is that cheap for a Brownlow dress. I did love
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: watching the Brownlow back in the day. What do you
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: guys remember of this moment? Obviously, you saw it on
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the front page of the paper. But did you have
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: some sort of reaction to all of the attention that
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: she was getting? I just remember that throughout the Brownlow
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: medal count, there were just all these sort of like
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: snide comments made about her. It was kind of like
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: these sort of piggish comments. And they kept going back,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: like the camera kept panning onto her the whole time
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and they were kind of like demeaning her. Yeah, the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: camera did keep panning back on the couple. I mean,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Chris was leading the votes. He did end up winning
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the Brownlow medal. So they kept going back to him,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: but obviously the focus was on Beck. And I remember
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: at one point she actually picked up her menu to sort.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Of block her boots.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I recently saw a clip from the footy show and
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: it was Sam Newman doing his street talk at the
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Brownlow and he rushed over to Beck and he seemed
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: very drunk. And he was just questioning her about what
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: she does and where she got the dress from.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: He's like, oh, do you work out a lot?
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: And what do you do?
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: And everyone's talking about you.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: It's actually disturbing when you watch some of the old
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: footy shows and you just realize how chauvinistic it was.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: It kind of freaks me out thinking about the fact
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: that she was only 21 at the time. And you've
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: got this like 50 to 60 year old guy coming
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: up to you and leering at her. As a teenager,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: my overall feeling was that there was just a whole
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: load of gross men ogling her and objectifying her. Now
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: in a 2015 interview, Chris spoke about his reaction to
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: seeing Beck in the red dress for the first time.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: He said, I remember being confused as to why she hadn't.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: Bought a whole dress.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: We had a good year. We can afford a whole one.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know why she bought half of one. He
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: then continued saying, she looked great. My main thought was,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: this is great. I'm taking such a cracker to the
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: brown low.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: That was about as in depth as I got with it.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: And I feel like we need to put it into
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: context because, you know, this was 19 years ago. None
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: of us had ever seen a dress like this on
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the red carpet. It was very risque for the time. Well,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: she clearly knew what she was doing. She was smart
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: enough to know that this was a branding opportunity and
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: all eyes were going to be on her because her
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: partner was touted as taking home the Brownlow that year.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: In Chris Judd's autobiography, he spoke about how the dress
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: and the Brownlow night really.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: Pushed the couple into the spotlight.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: He explained that their relationship had previously been very low profile,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: but that night signaled the end of their privacy. And
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: from then on, they were public property. He gave this quote,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: to be honest, I always had in mind an alternative
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: reality in which I was married to someone who stayed home,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: looked after the kids and had the slippers out and
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the scotch waiting when my day's work was done. I
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: nursed the delusion for a long time. Clearly I was
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: born 60 years too late. I don't like this. That is,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I've never really heard much of what Chris Judd has
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: to say. And I don't think after hearing that, I
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: want to hear.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: Much more of what he has to say.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: The more he talks, it's like, please stop talking. It
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: almost seems like he's quite jaded that his wife has
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: gone on to be more successful than him and pursue
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a life outside of his football career. Well, in a
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: 2013 interview with the Herald Sun, Beck said the red
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: dress launched her career. She told the paper, I don't
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: think I'd be sitting here talking to you today if
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it wasn't for that red dress. It's pretty sad because
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: a year after that interview, the designer of the dress
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: actually sadly passed away and Beck paid tribute to her
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: on Twitter, writing, You changed my life with your red dress, Ruth.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I was really fascinated to take a look back at
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: how Beck's red dress was reported on back in 2004,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: but I quickly discovered that it's actually really difficult to
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: locate articles from 20 years ago. I think it's because
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: we didn't have social media at the time and a
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: lot of the online news platforms that we have now.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine what the commentary would have been like
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: on social media? Well, the media seemed to be just
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: as bad, Kate, because I did come across a really
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: shocking article that was published by The Age in 2008
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: about Beck and her infamous dress. So Felicity Percival, who
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: was the editor of Cosmopolitan at the time, and funnily enough,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the fiance of Geelong captain Tom Harley, She was very
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: outspoken in this article about Bec Judd.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: So she was.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Interviewed in The Age and she said that the first
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: time she had ever heard of the brown low was
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: when Bec wore that dress. It's pretty true because I
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: feel like that did put the brown low on the
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: map as well. Yeah. And whilst this dress did get
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of glowing reviews in Melbourne, Felicity recalls that
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: her editorial team was preparing a feature for their next issue.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: With the headline, Is this dress asking for it?
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: What the hell? Are you serious? Yeah, I cannot fathom.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: I actually gasped when I read this.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I can't believe that a publication like Cosmopolitan would dream
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: of running a headline like this. And a woman writing
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the headline? Particularly a woman who also is, quote unquote,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: a wag. Yeah.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: Like, I just can't believe it.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, it just shows how far we've come with
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: empowering women and getting rid of this slut-shaming mentality. Yeah,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: it's pretty shocking to read something like that and to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: think that it was the mainstream media that was going
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: to publish it. Yeah, and the gross comments just seem
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: to continue from Felicity. So she spoke about how when
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: it was her time to face the Brownlow red carpet,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: she was very cautious. She said, no, of course, I
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: don't think any woman asks for it. But she then
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: went on to explain that she's a breasts in girl.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: And that she likes low necklines, but stylish low, not
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: smutty low. Jeez. She's really taking aim at Beck there,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: isn't she? I feel like she'd be quite ashamed to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: read some of these comments back now. It kind of
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: comes across as being jealous because Beck was touted as
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: the first wag of Australia. Like everyone wanted to be
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Beck at that time. Yeah. Well, I mean, Felicity continued.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: So in another article, she was quoted as saying, for
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: AFL wags, Brownlow Knight is a treacherous test of fashion maths.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: This much cleavage plus that much leg multiplied by makeup,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: fake tan, heel height and glitter factor can equal either
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: a disaster or a goddess verdict in the next day's paper.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: It's so complicated that a technically slutty combination will get
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the thumbs up on one woman and derision on another
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: wow that is so loaded i did laugh when you
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: said the glitter because i remember Andrew McLeod's wife came
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: to the Brownlow one year and she had 23, his
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: playing number, on her back in glitter. That was iconic.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: And then also Nathan Buckley's wife, or ex-wife now, Tanya,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I remember she had that glittery G-string that poked out.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: They had some iconic moments from the Brownlow. I feel
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: like after Beck's dress, everyone just tried to outdo each
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: other because they saw what it had done for Beck's profile.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: They're like, I want to be the next Rebecca Twigley.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: And what shocking thing can I do on.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: The red carpet?
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: That's what Felicity said in this article. She said, ever
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: since Rebecca Twigley wore that dress, there's been a secret
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: struggle between other wives and girlfriends to see who can
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: reveal the most. It's all about less is best. How
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: much skin can you bear? Now, Beck did not agree
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: with this sentiment. She said, I think the girls just
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: want to look as best they can. And every year
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: there will be at least one showstopper. But I genuinely
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: think when you look at Brownlow fashion, everyone looks beautiful
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and really elegant. I just want to play devil's advocate
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: for a moment for Felicity, because we do have to
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: remember that her comments were made 15 years ago when
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Australia was in a very different headspace. And I think
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: at the time, obviously people are looking for think pieces.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: And the general consensus was that it was okay to
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: laugh at the wags and it was okay to mock
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: their outfits. At the time, there were so many best
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and worst lists and people really made it a sport
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: to sit down the next day and take aim at
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the women.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: Again, I'm not saying it's right at all.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think your point is that so many other
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: women were saying what Felicity was saying, but in their
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: lounge rooms. Well, yeah, and I also think that other
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: media organizations and journalists were echoing this same sentiment. I
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: do still think in 2023 that people are making similar
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: comments online.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: I don't think it happens to the extent that... it
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: happen though.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: And they're not slut shaming them. It's more like if
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: someone wears something bad, people will say something about it.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: And I think if someone was to wear a revealing
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: dress like this, everyone would be like, all the females
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: would be like, good on you.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: You look incredible.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: But also it's the norm now as well. The difference
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: would be that people would actually be calling out the
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: commentators of the Brownlow saying how slut shaming they were
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: to Beck. Yeah. I mean, the tone was definitely at
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the time that these women were pieces of meat and
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: they were ready to be judged by all of the
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: armchair experts at home. And It's quite sad because many
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: partners have since revealed that they found the red carpet
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: an incredibly nerve-wracking experience and they felt really uncomfortable with
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the critics and the cameras that were there because we've
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: got to remember that a lot of these women, they
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: didn't have a profile. They just wanted to attend a
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: very glamorous event and they just wanted to be there
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: to support their partners. They didn't want all of the
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: criticism that came with it. Now, just to give you
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: a taste of some of the comments that were deemed
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: acceptable back then, In 2008, entertainment reporter Adam Richards gave
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: his opinion on some of the Brownlow gowns on The
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Morning Show. So when discussing Beck's 2008 Brownlow dress, which
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: was designed by Jaton, he said only drag queens can
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: pull off Jaton and Sonia Kruger. He continued saying that
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the giant belt made Beck look like Xena, the warrior
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: princess going to a wedding.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Gosh, that's bloody harsh.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: I did like your little pronunciation there, Kate. Let's hope
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: you actually nailed that this time. I did French in
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: your eight. I don't know if it showed. Do you
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: guys remember the wagon wheel back in 2011? You're making
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: me hungry thinking about it, but it's not the actual
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: chocolate biscuit. It was a wheel that the Brownlow had
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: set up to display the wax.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: It's just as tacky as it sounds. It was this
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: terrible contraption. It looked like it could barely move around.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: We're going to put a TikTok up showing what it
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: was like, but basically it gave everyone a 360 view
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: of all of the women's outfits. Like a lazy Susan,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: but with the lad standing on a big spin around.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: It was absolutely humiliating. I remember watching that and just
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: laughing at home being like, is this actually for real?
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And then you could tell there were some of the
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: that didn't want to go on it. Like they were like, nah.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: And why weren't the men on the wheel? It just
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: made the women look like they were the possessions of
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the footballers that were being raided. Well, thankfully it was
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: only short-lived. It only lasted a year because Channel 7
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: got rid of it after it was likened to a
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: rotisserie objectifying women. Do you guys remember, though, that that
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: red carpet actually outrated the actual Brownlow medal count? Like
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: it was so popular.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: Of course it was.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Who gave a.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Fuck about the votes? I just wanted to see the fashion.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Now, blogger Annie Nolan, who was also a partner of
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: an AFL player, condemned the wagon wheel. She said they
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: treated women like a pig on a spit. She said
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: women were treated like arm candy and the AFL players
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: can show everyone how well they did for themselves. So true. Now,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: that's where we're going to leave things today. Next week
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: in the second installment of this deep dive series, we'll
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: be discussing Bec and Chris Judd's iconic wedding as well
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: as the scandals that have plagued her career. If you
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: do enjoy this series, we would love it if you
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: can share it with a friend and also share it
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: on your stories. This podcast was recorded on the traditional
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: land of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: pay respect to elders past and present. And don't forget
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to follow Outspoken on TikTok and on Instagram. We're going
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: to be posting some iconic throwback videos So we are
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Outspoken underscore the underscore podcast.