Em Rusciano has invited WHO into her home. Each room in the Melbourne two-storey is vastly different to the next, but equally as colourful as the comedian herself. “I never let anyone see my house. We’ve been offered a lot of people to come – it’s because it’s pretty unique,” she says. Unique indeed, the 1970s inspired digs is home to Rusciano, her husband Scott Barrow and their three children, Marchella, 17, Odette, 11, and six-month-old Elio Arthur Rusciano-Barrow.
When asked about her new bundle of joy, the 40-year-old is ecstatic and touches on how much he’s changed the dynamic of their family. “It’s just been wonderful for our family, and he’s great.” A ray of sunlight for the family, who have seen darker days. In 2017, Rusciano suffered a devastating miscarriage, describing the loss in a Facebook post as the “most exquisite pain I can possibly fathom”. Two years on and the comedian is doing her very best, “surviving” while juggling the responsibility of a newborn, a pair of teen girls and starring in her own show, The Rage and Rainbows Tour.
WATCH: Behind the scenes of WHO’s shoot with Em Rusciano
How is baby Elio?
He’s not sleeping much at the moment. He’s going through a bit of a growing phase, so I’m getting about three hours broken sleep at night at the moment, which is not ideal, but I have one who’s nearly 18, and I can’t get her out of bed. So, I know it doesn’t last very long.
Has he changed your life?
Oh yeah, absolutely. It’s been incredible. It’s almost like it’s meant to be. He came at the right time. He kind of saved me. I focused on that rather than the s–tstorm that was going on around me. Staying healthy, to carry him full term.
Parenting is hard at any age and your children have a big age gap – do you ever feel like you’ve got mum guilt dividing your time?
I have absolutely no mum guilt whatsoever. My kids get the best of me. I think the best thing I did was have two helpers who replace babysitters … It’s been much easier this time around having my two big girls help out, and they got to experience seeing a pregnancy. They played with him when he was born … not in the room but afterwards. And yeah. I love it. I don’t know why everyone goes on about worrying about a big age gap. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong. I mean, I think there’s too much riding on mothers.
Are you a very strict mum?
Yes! My kids and I are friends, but I make sure that they know that they need to respect their father and me and we have certain expectations of them. We have a ‘No d–kheads policy’ in our house. So I’m tough but fair. I expect them to be respectful, to remember their manners, to honour and look after the most vulnerable in society and – all that stuff that was instilled in me by my parents: work hard, don’t walk around as though anyone owes you anything, don’t be an entitled person. They know I’ll always be fair, but I set reasonable standards for them because you’ve got to teach your kids to be resilient and that they’ve got to work hard if they want to get somewhere.
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