Shortland Street's Ria Vandervis has been on the show for a decade. Photo / Rob Trathen.
The fan favourite shares her experiences of being a mum to son Teddy, life on the Street and some new projects she has on the go.
Ria Vandervis is in a rush. So far today the Shortland Street actress has dropped her son, Teddy, off at daycare, headed into work, shot a couple of scenes, headed back home again to let a tradie in who’s installing a new garage door, and then jumped on to this Zoom call. After our chat, she’ll be racing straight back to work for an afternoon of filming. She’s not entirely sure when the director will call cut and she’ll be able to leave the office.
It’s the sort of non-stop schedule and juggling act of work/life balance that will sound all too familiar to many working mothers.
“It is a really hectic pace. But life on the Street is awesome. I’ve been there over 10 years now so I feel like I’m part of the furniture,” she laughs. “I had Teddy 20 months ago, so life has been quite different since then. It’s a cliche, but the juggle is very real. I’m in the thick of the juggle.”
I note that she’s crammed a couple of huge milestones into one small sentence and she grins and says, “Before you ask, no, I didn’t get a gold watch or anything.”
There may be no flashy timepiece commemorating her decade of service, but it’s an admirable achievement. Her character, Dr Harper Whitley, was initially brought in to tear through the Street like a tornado, whipping up havoc and mayhem before spinning away six months later.
Only Harper quickly became a fan favourite. Her mysterious past, which she would only hint at vaguely, captivated viewers and her no BS attitude and tendency to embroil herself in saucy love storylines - including a fling with nurse Nicole Miller and a love triangle with two surgeons - kept them engaged. When the six months were up, Vandervis was offered a permanent contract.
Off-screen, Vandervis is good value. She’s chatty and shares the same outgoing, straight-up qualities of her character as we talk about everything from her postnatal depression, anxiety, going to couples therapy and the reality of being a working mum in Aotearoa. Even a famous one.
“I went back to Shorty when Teddy was 8 weeks old. I went back a day a week for three months and then full-time after that,” she says. “I was often starting at six in the morning, sitting in the makeup chair with the breast pumps out. It was hectic.”
She would have loved to have spent Teddy’s first year with him at home. But no matter what’s happening in the real world, life on Shortland Street goes on.
“You’ve got to be in the viewers’ lives and their living rooms every night for them to remember you,” she says. “It was awesome that it was just a day a week those first few months. But yeah, breast-pumping... I got so sick of it. Having said that I’m a person that likes to work. The idea of being a full-time, stay-at-home mum isn’t appealing to me. I love going to work, having that ‘me time’ and using my brain in that way.”
No matter how many people go on about the life-changing impact of parenthood, how many books you read or antenatal classes you attend, having a baby is something you can’t actually prepare for, or even really understand, until you’re living it.
“It was incredibly hard. My husband and I found it difficult,” she says. “It was really hard on our relationship. And very stressful.”
Vandervis has a history of depression and anxiety and had been taking antidepressants up until she got pregnant. The couple had been trying for a baby for six years and, thanks to her sister donating an egg, begun their fourth try at the physically and emotionally arduous process of IVF.
“With IVF there are no guarantees. It’s brutal. You’re getting pumped full of all different sorts of stuff, your hormones and your moods and just everything is all over the show. It’s a wild ride. You feel so out of control. And at the end of it all there’s no guarantee. It feels like a lottery. So I feel so bloody lucky that it worked for us because I know it doesn’t work for everyone. I love being a mum.”
To eliminate as many variables and potentially negative effects as possible - no matter how slim - Vandervis decided to go off her antidepressant medication during the pregnancy. She says she felt okay until after the birth.
“I fell into bad postnatal depression. I’m back on the medication and seeing therapists so I feel like I’m through that now. But we had a really traumatic birth and it took me a little while to bond with Ted. The trauma of the birth made my husband suffer a bit of post-traumatic stress we later found out. So we did quite a lot of counselling.”
Then she smiles and says, “Now we’re in a good place. I highly recommend counselling.”
She’s now on the other side of the brutally exhausting newborn period. Her body’s beginning to recover and she’s starting to rediscover her old self.
“I’m feeling a lot more positive,” she smiles. “I’ve had pelvic floor issues, which so many women have, because I had a really brutal forceps delivery and everything got kind of smashed. I’ve been having physio and have only really recently been able to start exercising again. That’s made a huge difference to my mental health.”
As she was already battling postnatal depression being unable to exercise was a mental double whammy.
“It was so frustrating and I found it really, really emotional. Jogging used to be my thing. It was quite meditative for me. With the pelvic floor not holding up, I was getting so, so upset. Running still isn’t great but I’ve found something that’s working. It’s more of a weights-based thing. I’m feeling like I’m getting my ownership of my body back. I feel like I’m finally getting my groove back.”
Another part of finding herself again is that she now has the time, mental energy and physicality to dive back into her fun time.
“I’m an active relaxer,” she says. “Always have been.”
An enthusiastic DIY-er, her idea of a good time is an afternoon on the tools. Before switching to acting she was at uni studying to become an architect. It’s in her genes. Her grandfather was a builder and her parents were always renovating houses before moving on to the next one.
“I grew up constantly around all this stuff, which is why I love it,” she beams. “It’s a passion. I get so much joy from it. This is like my ‘me time’ or my relaxing time. I put my headphones on, put a podcast on and get to work making or building. I’m developing more and more and learning more and falling in love with it more. Which I guess makes sense because I’m possibly getting better at it. I’ve started woodworking and building furniture and that kind of stuff.”
There’s a big difference between, say, banging up some drywall for a DIY reno and the craft behind detailed cabinetry. I’m visibly impressed that she’s getting so deep into it.
“Yeah,” she laughs. “I’m in deep. But you’d be surprised at what you can teach yourself. I’m not trained in any of it. I grew up around it but I’m self-taught. I watch videos on YouTube and just give it a go.”
She hints at a new project she’s working on in “renovation-based media”, but despite being clearly jazzed about it, manages to avoid being drawn into any spoilers of what this may be.
Vandervis has gone through some dark days but faced them head-on, whether through medication, counselling or therapy. With a healthy son, a happy marriage, a freshly renovated kitchen and plans to get stuck into the bathroom next, she’s now in her happy place and clearly back on track.
“Yeah,” she agrees.
Then she laughs as she remembers what has become a brutal yearly tradition at work and says, “Hopefully I won’t get killed off at Christmas,” before saying goodbye and rushing back to Shortland Street.
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