The comedian is set to feature in the 2025 series premiere of the ABC’s Australian Story, offering an unfiltered insight into her neurodiversity.
Barber – who was diagnosed with ADHD at age 16 – recalls how the undiagnosed condition led to her being badly bullied as a teenager, leaving permanent psychological scars.
“You still question it,” Barber tells Australian Story. “And then if something in life happens and it brings back that feeling, you’re like, ‘oh, I knew it, I knew I was s***’.”
Barber, who boasts 9.6 million Instagram followers, was an out-of-work actor before she burst into public consciousness with her parodies of celebrities and influencers in 2015.
She’s become one of Australia’s best-known performers, winning hearts for her ability to make people laugh while also reminding them not to buy into the unrealistic standards of the beauty industry.
“Celeste just flips it all on its head and I love that,” says supermodel and friend Cindy Crawford. “And I think then it takes the pressure off women to have that perfect Instagram persona all the time.”
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Barber’s fame was twenty years in the making, with the trained actor suffering setbacks, self-doubt and the sudden suicide of her best friend and champion, actor Mark Priestley.
While she still grapples with the shadow of her ADHD, Barber’s success is validation for the young outcast who was constantly being told she was too loud and annoying.
“The reason I’m so proud of her is that she’s just been herself,” says her mother Kath Barber. “She’s being celebrated just for being her, where she never was.”
The series premiere of Australian Story with air on Monday 3 February at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
