The Townsville Pool and the Tulip Were the Best Bits

Helen Reddy, The Woman I Am: Memoir. Sydney: Harper Collins, 2005.

Reviewed by Melissa Giles

I remember lying in bed with the phrase, 'I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman' going over inside my head. I wasn't even too sure what invincible meant, so I decided the phrase must be inspiration from above.

However they came to her, these first empowering words to Reddy’s optimistic song, 'I am Woman', were composed in a spirit of protest against the negative portrayal of women in popular music. ‘I searched for lyrics that reflected the pride I felt in being female and descended from so many strong women. Where were the songs that celebrated that?’ she asked herself. Reddy decided she would write one. Despite strong anti-feminist sentiment and initial opposition from radio stations, the song eventually went to number one in the US, won Reddy a Grammy award and was used as the theme for International Women’s Year in 1975.

As expected, Reddy writes a great deal about 'I am Woman' in her memoir, as well as her roles as a feminist and entertainer. But what may not be expected is the large portion of the book which focuses on Reddy’s spiritual life, incorporating hypnotherapy, genealogy and reincarnation. For example, Reddy passionately describes some of her own psychic experiences, shares with readers her research on Lady Diana’s matrilineal (rather than patrilineal) ancestry, and explains her thoughts on the healing potential of past-life connections and positive thinking.

As the daughter of showbiz parents, Reddy's life as an entertainer might have seemed inevitable. But it was an immense struggle for her to realise that dream and achieve internationally in so many arenas. She did everything from acting on film, to having her own television program, recording albums as a singer and performing in theatre. Reddy paid a high price emotionally, physically and financially for following the life she wanted to live, which led her to move to the United States in 1966. However, she was rewarded in many ways, one of which, Reddy says, was an honour ‘which surpassed anything else’: having a tulip flower named after her in Holland in 1975.

Reddy’s memoir intersects on several levels with Dawn Fraser’s life and autobiography, Dawn: One Hell of a Life (2001). In addition to mentioning the thrill she got from swimming in the Townsville pool as a teenager, because she was doing laps where Dawn Fraser had swum, Reddy draws a link between sports people and musicians. Both are glorified by the public because they are the only professions where people can ‘go to work in order to play’. Fraser and Reddy were not simply occupied with homework and school friends in their youth, they worked hard and ‘performed’ in the public world.

Their fame also led to insensitive treatment by journalists and other people in the media. Like Fraser, Reddy uses her book to highlight some examples of this. When Reddy was in the middle of a marital break up, an article in People magazine, which was supposed to be about her new album release, turned into a cover story on ‘Hollywood’s Dirtiest Divorce’. Around the same time, Reddy says the talent coordinator of Good Morning America! told her there was no point coming on the show if she wouldn’t talk about her divorce (which would have meant being in contempt of court) because viewers were only interested in her personal life, not her music.

Both women’s books are written in a style that is readily accessible to most readers. Fraser was born in Sydney in 1937 and Reddy in Melbourne in 1941, so their books shed light on similar periods of social history, particularly with reference to restrictions placed on women as they were growing up in Australia. Both had their books published when they were in their early 60s and old enough to look back on the most well known parts of their lives with more clarity.

In retelling her life story, Reddy makes much of her achievements, but does not overlook her many failures and emotionally painful times. She believes life experience is the ‘only true wealth’, so accepts that everything is valuable. She writes honestly about her three terrible marriages, not leaving out her personal responsibility for the problems in these relationships. Despite divulging personal details about them, Reddy does her best to conceal the names of her husbands by calling them Number One, Two and Three. Overall, she succeeds in portraying herself as a woman with a rich and diverse set of experiences, philosophies, ambitions and achievements.

Reddy also discusses the lives of several other wonderful women in her memoir. One I found particularly interesting was Australian journalist in New York, Lillian Roxon (related to Shadow Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon) whom Reddy befriended when she moved to the US. In the 1960s, as a ‘woman journalist’ she was relegated to writing about ‘women’s issues’ such as fashion and beauty, despite her talents and interests. Another was Reddy’s Aunt Nell (also called Helen Reddy) who, as a world-travelling spinster-by-choice, is an inspiring example of a woman who led a fulfilling life outside the traditional roles of marriage and motherhood.

The book ends on an optimistic note: Reddy says her ‘autumn years’ are the best so far. After re-assessing her life and achievements, she shifted her focus from the entertainment world. She followed her calling to study clinical hypnotherapy and to help others through this practice. Reddy discusses life as an older woman who is single and while, not immune to being lonely, regularly takes herself on dates and shows herself a good time. In the final two pages, Reddy recalls one night she was in a restaurant dining on her own and noticed the people at the other tables. At two of the tables were unhappy-looking couples, but at the third, two women older than herself were enjoying themselves, laughing and talking together. She says: ‘I decided I wanted to be one of them when I grew up.’

Melissa Giles is a freelance writer and journalist from Brisbane. She currently writes art reviews for Scene Magazine and Eleven Magazine.