Tweet
Amelia 'Milk' Sewell describes the last six months as perhaps the most trying time of her life.
Since June of this year, Milk has been humiliated by the release of a video footage of her performing oral sex on her boyfriend, which resulted in her being fired from her job late September as host of the popular Hit List on CVM TV. She was also evicted from her home (she is now "kotching with a friend"
and, as a consequence, is now separated from her son. Milk has also had to endure a countless number of lewd and hurtful emails, voice messages and phone calls.
"I am afraid now to answer a call from a private number," she reveals.
Her life in tatters, Milk went to ground, having to provide for her son, without a steady job, and trying to salvage her broadcasting career and her reputation.
She resurfaced recently in a lead role in Shaggy's hit video Bad Man Don't Cry. It marked the start of what she hopes will be her way back to local television. "I have to give thanks to Jay Will, Shaggy and Robert Livingston, who saw that people were giving me a hard time and took the stance that 'we are the ones who are going to give you a break'," she said,. "And, what a role they gave me? I am happy with it."
In hindsight, she acknowledges that she made a mistake in making that harmful tape but, the greatest damage, she believes, was done by the statement released by her former employer after they had parted ways.
"It's been really hard for me because you see the statement that CVM came out with about them not having confidence in me as a presenter and a producer, that made it seem to the public that it was because I couldn't do my work," she said.
That statement alone made my life more difficult
In the six years she was employed by CVM, she said she never received a memo, questioning the quality of her work, so, for CVM to make such a statement, when everyone knew her firing had to do with the sex tape, only served to make her life more difficult.
"If I want to go out there now and say, I want to do a 9 to 5, the boss is going to say, 'Why would I hire Milk when a big company like CVM says they have lost confidence in her as a presenter and as a producer?' That statement alone made my life more difficult than the tape itself," she said.
Getting back up after such a precipitous fall has not been easy because it has become almost like starting over.
"My challenge now is to find a place to live because I am separated from my son (now living with his grandmother)," she said. "My second challenge is to repair my name somewhat because it turned out into some kind of moral issue, people are still having issues with it, and my next challenge is to get back on top."
The dark clouds, though, have come with silver linings. Her son, she says, has seemingly come out unscathed. She had a long talk with him about the situation and he seems to be fine. Also, the school he attends did a marvellous job in ensuring that he did not suffer for her indiscretions. And, after enduring a difficult period, she and her boyfriend are still together. It was on his phone that the incriminating video was recorded.
She also has some major projects coming up in 2009 with Livingston and Shaggy and hinted that she could be back on television soon.
Milk leaned a lot on her mother and grandmother, both of whom have helped her make it through so far. Members of her family, especially one aunt, she said, were very embarrassed by what happened but they were there for her. Conversely, there were people, who, she thought, were friends, who were not.
Undaunted, she moves into the new year with renewed hope, leaving 2008 behind and starting anew. She is going ahead with a planned birthday party celebration dubbed the 'Milky Way' on January 10 at the Quad, and she wants everyone to come out to see "my new look, my new vibe and a new leaf."
Comment