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7de Laan actress opens up about her character’s ‘dark side’

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Quinne Brown Huffman. (Photo: Supplied)
Quinne Brown Huffman. (Photo: Supplied)

Cape Town - Viewers are buzzing about 7de Laan character Connie’s strange behaviour after her face was deformed in a bomb blast.

We chatted to actress Quinne Brown Huffman (39), who plays Connie, about her character’s story line.

In October last year Connie’s face was scarred when a scuffle between Xander (Theodore Jantjies) and a Haven soldier resulted in a bomb exploding. But it now seems Connie’s deepest wound hadn’t been physical, but psychological.

Quinne, who’s an original 7de Laan cast member, left South Africa in 2004 and moved to America.

In 2016 she returned to SA – and to 7de Laan – to resume the part of Connie. Her character returned with a dark secret. It would later transpire that Connie’s husband, Matt, had been physically and emotionally abusive.

“It’s great fun to go from being a nice person who forgives and forgets to a character with a dark side,” Quinne says about Connie’s transformation.

She says 7de Laan’s writers are taking the soap in a new direction – away from simply fluffy, light entertainment to a show that reflects relevant issues in society. Quinne is excited about the move.

“Connie’s inner journey after she was wounded is one that many people underestimate. After watching interviews with burn victims and after my own personal trauma, I found it easy to identify with Connie. Fire and bombs are so aggressive,” Quinne wrote on Instagram next to a picture of her in the make-up chair being transformed into scarred Connie.

SEE THAT POST HERE:

Quinne says our society fails to give mental health the necessary acknowledgement and empathy.

7de Laan fans weren’t shy about having their say on social media about Connie’s storyline.

“Why would you want to make us despise such a good character?” one viewer asked on YouTube. “You could’ve done better with the storyline – like portraying a strong, independent woman who doesn’t care what others think of her face. There are people who survive acid attacks and whose entire faces are deformed who still have more self-confidence.”

“Everyone fights their fights differently,” another fan wrote on YouTube, adding that some people might accept it sooner than others, while some victims never gain acceptance. “My uncle is the victim of an acid attack. It left him blind – he can’t see when people stare at him. It took him years to accept what had happened to him.”

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