Grace Tame has spoken out about that infamous bong photo in her new book, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner: A Memoir.
In case you missed a serious case of pearl-clutching that went on earlier this year, a 2014 Instagram image was brought to the spotlight by the Daily Mail, who posted the relatively tame photo showing a smiling Grace playing on her phone while seated next to what looked to be an (admittedly impressive) two-foot glass bong on a sofa.
The post was deleted after Scott Morrison’s wife, Jenny, made comments on 60 Minutes of Tame’s poor manners and disrespectful attitude following her giving him the stink eye during the 2021 Australian of the Year awards.
But despite the photo being deleted, Twitter went into overdrive sharing the image, with many siding with Tame over the casual sesh snap.
“Grace Tame’s bong has preemptively been awarded Australian of the Year,” The Shovel tweeted.
“I’d rather see Grace Tame with a bong than Scott Morrison with a ukulele,” another user tweeted, referencing ScoMo’s interesting ukulele bit on a 60 minutes segment.
Another user tweeted that ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has even admitted to smoking marijuana in the past before getting the Nation’s top job, so the fact that Grace Tame was seen posing with a bong should not be nearly as pearl-clutching as it was made out to be.
Now, Tame has spoken out about her previous drug use to detach from her trauma, while insisting that she does not “own a two-foot bong”.
“And I know if I go sky high, it goes sky high with me too. When I was younger, the comedown came later. Now it starts before I even hit the top. I have learned my lesson,” she added.
She candidly continued, “I’ve written at length about drugs, and their dangers. I’ve learned to sit with my trauma. I’ve used and abused them. I’m not here to condone or shame their use.
“It’s not as simple as saying ‘drugs are bad’. Yes, they have harmful effects. I’m not here to argue with that. But there are many people, who, through no fault of their own, have been shown no other means of getting by,” she continued.
“I have come to the point in my life where drugs do not mean the same thing they once did.”
“I will be very frank with you: there have been times in my life where I have sincerely enjoyed myself while being high on drugs,” Grace explained. “This was not because of the drugs, though, but because of the people I was with.”
You can buy Grace Tame’s The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner: A Memoir here.
