Petunia was recently interviewed by TheCelebrity.Online Magazine and below is the Q&A session we had with Petunia.
Petunia As Cover Story Interview – October 2025 Magazine Edition
How do you introduce yourself?
I am Petunia. I am a dentist by profession. I do modelling and some acting for fun. I love rock and roll. I try and do walks and pole fitness occasionally when I get time.
Struggle – What hardships have you gone through in life?
I had an arranged marriage as they do in my country and only personally met my husband the day before the wedding. I thought I was marrying the best person as both our families come from a very religious background. Sadly he was a narcissist and the control started from day one to replace my identity with his. I had been cut off from friends and could only make short 5-minute conversations with family with him listening on the other end. I was a singer but he made sure he put a stop to that. He said in church just move my lips without sound. He did this as the pastor wanted me to join the choir. When I accepted the offer, he told me I cannot be on stage. I could not connect with the Indian community here. He had elderly friends mainly as they were no threat to him. Anyway, I was in this prison for a very long time. I was the main breadwinner but he controlled every dollar. He did not like me wearing any clothes that exposed my skin and did not like makeup or long earrings or do anything with my hair. I had to dress up several sizes bigger to hide my figure. I told him it was unfair but he told me he will commit suicide if I told anyone. This went on for more than a decade. I lived in fear. He wanted only 2 things from me money and sex whenever he wanted it. I prayed to Jesus to give me a breakthrough. I wanted freedom. I told my late husband, I am not going to put up with this behavior. He threatened suicide again and said I will regret it and be miserable. He tried to kill me once by going extremely fast in our sportscar saying he has no regrets if this was the last day of his life. I prayed desperately and he slowed down. He tried fasting until death once and I took him to the psyche ward but they said it was cultural and did nothing. He could fool anyone by his smile and nice talk and caring behavior to others. Anyway, I continued to hold my stand with prayer and after a lot of threats, seeing I did not budge, he did end up taking his life in 2020. He left me with a huge debt that Jesus helped me pay off. He took a huge life insurance for himself if I died but not vice versa. He thought he had left me in ruins as a payback. When he ended up taking his own life in 2020, little did he know that this started an amazing journey of freedom and rebuilding my identity again.
Current Life and Freedom
I connected with long-lost friends and family. Jesus helped me to get out of debt and He gave me a second chance. I met this amazing person Stratos in 2021 and he was the opposite of my late husband. He wanted me to enjoy things I missed out on like fashion, modelling, trying out different things. I am so blessed to have him in my life. I was dating others but when I said no sex or living together until we are married, they all fizzled out. Strat was determined to wait if that is what it took. He kept his word as a gentleman. He made a covenant. He proved to me that he was not after sex or money. He even went to the extent of doing a prenuptial. Jesus brought him to me to repair my broken heart and mind and give me confidence. Strat supports me in everything I do and wants my happiness more than anything. I got married to him in 2023 after we dated for 2 years in the Covid times. Did not meet in person until 3 months after we started texting. We met through Christian connections. We first personally met in my dental practice. I got married and I moved to live with him. I sold my dental practice where my late husband was the practice manager controlling everything and found a job closer to Stratos’ home. I do modelling in the weekends and on my day off whenever I can. I did training through Tanya Powell, CGM, and Australian Academy of Modelling. I was represented by Fashion Republic many times on billboards, calendars, and magazines. Doing pole fitness was my choice as recommended by my myotherapist to strengthen my shoulders as I need that to do difficult extractions. Strat supported me to do whatever I wanted to.
What sets you apart from others?
My faith in Jesus which has helped me throughout my life in all my ups and downs. That’s why I talk about faith in my songs when I post some reels that have helped me to be strong and to empower others. I am wild, young at heart, fun-loving. My modelling and acting age is 35 to 40 and I will leave it at that. Age is just a number. I prefer not to be reminded as I live like I am 25.
What are your upcoming major events?
For the future, I plan to have fun as much as I can both in my profession and in modelling enjoying every bit of time left. I have to catch up for lost time. I am collaborating with photographers to do mini-reels for promotion on magazines, I am looking forward to fashion walks and engaging with people young and old from all walks of life. I am making new friends and I am thankful to Jesus for everything I am and I am nothing without Him. I have been brand linked by CGM and looking forward to it. I am really looking forward to my Melbourne boat exhibition photo shoot with Marquis Art Book this month and to the Kingpin events.
Tom Harrecks is an Author at TheCelebrity.Online Magazine who has a vast experience of covering interviews in various international media agencies.
