Claudia Karvan: How her daughter helped inspire her latest career move with Witchery

Like most Australian women born in the 1970s, Claudia Karvan spent the better part of her life inhabiting a world that didn’t talk about women’s health or reproductive issues.

Talking about periods, sexual health or something as serious as ovarian cancer was taboo for most of her teens, twenties and thirties and any conversations about them were had in whispers.

Today, the Bump actress’ adult daughter Audrey lives in a very different world and Karvan is glad for it.

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“My daughter is definitely part of her generation – so informed, so open to have conversations with all her friends. It’s wonderful to witness,” Karvan tells 9honey.

“She surprises me constantly. Her generation is so connected, they share so much and learn from each other. It’s beautiful to see.”

Karvan herself has learned a lot from Audrey and the conversations they have about women’s health are more open and honest than any Karvan was having when she was her daughter’s age.

That shift Audrey embodies is part of what inspired her to sign on to be an ambassador for this year’s Witchery White Shirt campaign, which raises money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF).

That, and the fact that in the 52 years she’s been alive, the five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer patients has barely changed at all.

In 2025, an estimated 1800 Australians born with ovaries will be diagnosed with the lethal reproductive cancer and fewer than half will survive beyond five years.

It’s just one of many tragic statistics around the disease, which claims the life of one Australian every eight hours, but it rattled the actress to her core.

“I have ovaries and they’ve served me well, and while I won’t be using them again for procreating, I’d like to make sure they don’t cause my death or any other woman’s,” Karvan says.

Ovarian cancer kills about 1000 Australians every year and there’s currently no early detection test, meaning most cases (over 70 per cent) aren’t caught until the advanced stages.

By then, a woman’s chance of surviving five years is slashed to less than one in three.

Karvan wants to see those figures change – if not in her own lifetime, then at least in her daughter’s – and that starts with raising awareness and breaking the stigma and silence around reproductive health.

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She’s already made strides in that department with Bump, the TV series she co-created for Stan about a high-achieving Australian teen who unexpectedly falls pregnant.

Over five seasons, the show delved deep into women’s health issues and sparked important conversations in homes around Australia.

“I was astonished at how far we could push the boundaries and also manage to make this topic funny and relatable,” Karvan says.

“We got to make jokes about [menstrual] cups and create dramas around heavy periods.”

She also learned a hell of a lot from the conversations that were had when the cameras weren’t rolling, especially among her younger co-stars who – like her daughter Audrey – are so confident and open about these previously taboo topics.

Seeing the discussions Bump inspired on and off the set made Karvan incredibly proud.

“It’s extremely encouraging to hear more and more unfiltered and natural conversations in the public space about women’s health,” she says.

“When I was younger there was much less comfort talking about menstruation, sexual satisfaction, STI’s, vaginal health, you name it.”

WATCH: See the trailer for the final season of Bump

But talking about reproductive health isn’t enough; we need to be taking action if we want to give women diagnosed with ovarian cancer a better chance of surviving it.

To that end Witchery has released a new White Shirt and White Jean designed by Margie Woods, Founder and Creative Director of Viktoria & Woods, and all gross proceeds will go to the OCRF to fund vital research.

Since its inception in 2008, the annual White Shirt campaign has raised over $17 million and Karvan hopes that lending her voice to the cause will help it reach new heights in 2025.

Not that she ever expected to hold so much influence over so many Aussies.

Just 11 when she walked onto the set of her first film, Molly, in 1983, Karvan didn’t have her sights set on becoming a public figure with the platform to create meaningful change; she was just a little girl who wanted to act.

In the 40 years since she’s starred in TV hits like Heartbreak High, Puberty Blues and Doctor Doctor, made a cameo in Kitty Flanagan’s Fisk, and even had a small role in the Star Wars prequels as the sister of Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman).

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Karvan’s become an Australian icon, won multiple AACTA Awards and Logies, and has even been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). The nation loves her.

Even so, it’s hard for her to comprehend just how powerful her voice can be, especially online.

“The megaphones are so much bigger now with social media,” she says, then laughs and adds “I only was introduced to the internet in my mid twenties. What a hilarious thought!”

Witchery will donate 100 per cent of gross proceeds from every White Shirt and White Jean sold to the OCRF to support ovarian cancer research. Learn more and shop online or in-store.

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