Actress Rachel Ward has delivered a powerful rebuke to online trolls who targeted her appearance as she promoted her sustainable farming business.
A Wave of Cruel Comments
The 68-year-old star of the iconic mini-series The Thorn Birds took to Instagram last month to thank customers for supporting her ethical meat initiative, Farmthru, throughout 2025. However, the post was met with a barrage of unkind remarks about her looks.
One follower commented, "I read she’s 68. Looks way older! I’m 62 and can’t believe she’s only a few years older than me." Another posted, "OMG what the hell happened to u? U were so pretty???" A further critic baselessly attributed her appearance to "years of neglect."
Defence and a Powerful Retort
Many supporters quickly leapt to Ward's defence, praising her beauty and work. In reply to a supportive comment, Rachel Ward shared her profound perspective on the incident.
"Thanks, you dear lady, coming to my defence," she wrote. "I just feel sorry for those poor souls who fear ageing so much. They will learn that it’s ultimate freedom as a woman to let youth and beauty go."
She added a message of experience and liberation: "It was lovely while it lasted, but so much more to life. You can’t know its pleasures until you get there."
A Lifelong Partnership Forged on Set
Rachel Ward runs her beef cattle farm in Australia with her husband of over four decades, fellow actor Bryan Brown, 78. The couple met and fell in love on the set of The Thorn Birds in 1983, playing on-screen spouses Luke O’Neill and Meggie Cleary.
They married that same year and went on to have three children: Rosie, 42, Matilda, 39, and Joe, 34.
Reflecting on their instant chemistry in a 2019 interview, Ward was candid. "He had nice pecs. I mean, you know, it’s pretty chemical, isn’t it? It’s pretty basic," she admitted. "I fancied him. You know, that was about it."
When asked who made the first move, she humorously threw her husband under the bus: "He was slow as a wet week. Really took forever. I think I probably did."
