Delta Goodrem weighs in on #MeToo: ‘It really hurts my heart’

Delta Goodrem was unwittingly drawn into the #MeToo movement and the debate around sexual abuse in the music industry when she appeared Thursday night on prime-time TV.

The pop superstar appeared on Network Ten’s The Project for a five-minute interview focusing on her multi-platinum career, her health troubles, and her return.

Midway through her Q&A with The Project’s panel, the discussion took a more serious tone when Kate Langbroek asked the Sydney singer for her thoughts on sexual harassment in the music industry.

Earlier in the week, TIO and The Project exposed serious wrongdoings in Australia’s music business.

Reflecting on those explosive investigations, Langbroek quoted figures that suggest upwards of 90% of women in the industry have experienced sexual assault or harassment.

The number was put to Goodrem.

“Listen, nobody deserves to feel unsafe in the workplace. And my heart breaks to hear that figure,” she responded.

Jaguar Jonze. Photograph by Georgia Wallace

But does it surprise her, Langbroek pushed. Appearing flustered, Goodrem was briefly lost for words. “I am shocked by that number, it’s completing surprising,” Goodrem said, “it really hurts my heart to hear that. I’ll continue to support and be there for community and my girls,” she continued. “It’s definitely very troubling.”

TIO’s Poppy Reid and The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson recently spoke with Jaguar Jonze, real name Deena Lynch, about her own life-altering experiences at the hands of sexual predators working in the music industry.

Wilkinson jumped into the conversation with Goodrem and relayed Jonze’s story.

“It’s incredibly important for women to share their story and to speak from their heart and their experience so that other women feel safe to be able to speak and be able to step forward,” continued Goodrem, who at one moment struggled with her earpiece. “So I think it’s incredibly powerful.”

Goodrem wasn’t just pressed on the dark side of the industry.

The veteran artist also discussed her multi-platinum career which has yielded 12 ARIA Awards; her heath battles, including complications with surgery in 2018 which left her voiceless and considering the end of her career; and her comeback, with a sixth studio album Bridge Over Troubled Dreams, a national tour and her first-ever book, also titled Bridge Over Troubled Dreams, published by Simon & Schuster.

Watch the interview in full here.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.