The way that you present yourself’s rarely true to how things really are
Model-turned-comic Michelle de Swarte chats about semi-autobiographical comedy drama Spent and the danger of keeping up appearances,
ON the surface, Mia seems like she’s got it all together. She’s beautiful, has gorgeous clothes and a worldclass skincare regime, a model fresh off the catwalk with a fancy life in America.
Below the surface, though, all is not well when we meet her in Spent. Written and created by Michelle de Swarte, who also stars as Mia, Spent tells the story of a model whose career is over and who doesn’t know what to do with her life – partly inspired by de Swarte’s own experiences.
Broke, homeless and staring into the void of the poverty she worked so hard to escape, Mia realises her proclivity for the finer things in life has left her bankrupt and lost. To escape from her woes, she has to admit to her nearest and dearest that she’s struggling – and, indeed, to come to terms with it herself.
Michelle, 43, has some things in common with her character. Hailing from south London, she was model scouted at 19 and went on to walk some of the most coveted catwalks in the world: Gucci, Versace, Burberry and more. But when her fashion career ended abruptly at 35, she returned to London with nothing to show for it.
Thankfully, Michelle forged a successful career in comedy, performing standup and starring in Katherine Ryan’s
Netflix series The Duchess, and now she has a hilarious series of her own.
Let’s hear some more from Michelle about what we’ve got to look forward to when Spent comes to BBC2.
What’s it like making a comedydrama based on your own life?
Fun! When you tell funny stories, especially for me doing stand-up, and then getting to a place where I’m like, ‘Hold on, can I make a TV show? Like, a whole TV show?’ So that’s been great. It’s been a great experience.
Much like my stand-up, I like to try and talk about things that I have some firsthand experience with, or things that, I guess, if it wasn’t in a comedy setting, would be quite weighty. I love to try and tackle real-life topics in a way that is light.
Spent shows us how quickly a life can fall apart, and gives an insight into hidden homelessness. Why did you want to explore these themes?
The world that we live in now, where you have this outward life on social media, and your actual real personal life... the way that you present yourself’s rarely true to life, true to how things really are.
And I think the relatable story, hopefully, with Mia is that she’s lived beyond her means, and she’s done it to the point that has been detrimental to her life.
Where does Mia’s story overlap with your own?
Well, Mia, for me, she was inspired by the fact that I modelled for years. And so many of my friends, like myself, that were really successful models and did really well, when we got to the end of our career, didn’t have anything to show for it...
Also, we sold stuff. We were part of advertising that sort of sold this lifestyle. And it really resonated with me how quickly things can turn.
When I first got money, I spent it like it had a sell-by date! I was like, ‘Wow, how lucky am I? I’d better make the most of this’. And so you just go on this crazy, like, supermarket sweep, where you’re just like, ‘I want to get all the things that I was never able to buy’.
You want to fill a void, you know, (and) that normally stems from insecurity, or growing up and not having, and all of a sudden, you can fill all of those gaps. And you fill it with stuff like bags and shoes and trainers and holidays. And then you go full circle.
What did you enjoy about playing Mia?
It was really fun, actually. Mia is entertaining, and she’s charismatic, and engaging. And in many ways, she can be very vacuous as well. She’s extremely avoidant. And I think there’s a certain amount of charm to that, especially when you realise that the people around her don’t really care about all of her airs and graces, it’s very much for Mia’s sense of self-worth. A lot of her selfworth
is grounded in something quite superficial – her identity is formed around how she thinks she’s perceived. And that’s really entertaining to dig into as a character, and just kind of thinking about why we do that, as people.
Mia finds it hard to admit to her financial difficulties, which is something quite common in our culture, isn’t it?
Yeah, I completely agree with you. I think what Mia is struggling with is that in order for her to move forward, she’s going to have to admit, with complete transparency, what her starting point is. And because she sort of lacks the awareness to be able to do that, and the trust, I think, it’s the thing that’s in the way of her being able to get out of that situation.
I think a lot of us have, like, agreed to go to a birthday party, or agreed to go to celebrate someone and sit down for a dinner that we actually can’t afford... We shouldn’t feel ashamed to be like, ‘That is beyond my means, and by me saying that I can do this thing, it’s going to put me in a situation that is going to lessen the quality of my life long term.’
I think a lot of us have been in situations where we’re trying to save face... We’re all so ashamed of just being able to say, ‘I don’t have it, I don’t have the money for this’.
When I first got money, I spent it like it had a sell-by date! Michelle de Swarte
While there are some serious themes in Spent, it’s also so funny, and Mia gets herself in some truly hilarious situations. Why was that important to you?
Humour will get you through some of the darkest moments in your life. Sometimes you need a little bit of time to look back and reflect on it, but I think that humour will get you through a lot, man. It’s important, even when things are going bad, to laugh. Even if it’s at yourself.
Spent starts on BBC2 on Monday at 10pm