Back in 2015, Celeste Barber was struggling to prove just how funny she was.
But, as the actor, comedian and writer told ABC RN’s Stop Everything! this month: “I’ve always been quite the hustler when it comes to my career, always knowing that I needed to create a lot of what I wanted to do, and just kick down doors myself because they weren’t always open for me.”
That year she began re-creating celebrity photos and posting them to Instagram, with the hashtag #celestechallengeaccepted.
“[Instagram] was a way to push out what I do, show the world that I’m funny and … it went gangbusters,” she says.
She had only posted a handful of photos, when one — Barber imitating a photo of Kim Kardashian in barely there lingerie, lying on a mound of dirt — went viral.
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Barber has since amassed 9.5 million followers on Instagram, including Gwyneth Paltrow (who only has a measly 8.3 million followers herself) and Taika Waititi.
And, now aged 40, she has become a celebrity herself. She has graced the covers of Vogue Australia and Vogue Portugal and even passionately kissed fashion designer Tom Ford as part of his 2018 New York Fashion Week campaign.
But she doesn’t see any tension between parodying and inhabiting the same world.
“I’ve always felt that I’m five minutes away from walking for Tom Ford; I’ve always felt that I’m living in my own reality TV show … So now when I’m in that world, it doesn’t feel foreign to me.”
As Barber’s star has risen, so too has her list of famous fans, including Kris Jenner, Cindy Crawford and Zooey Deschanel. She has also been interviewed by Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Kimmel.
But Barber says she never gets starstruck.
“I see it [celebrity] for what it is, and now that I’m in, I’m gonna blow it up from the inside,” she jokes.
“But I’ll get the free sunglasses first — I’m not an idiot.”
While maintaining her gargantuan Instagram following, Barber has also built an impressive comedic resume including a…
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