“Not Sipping The Kool-Aid”: MAFS’ Lucinda On Why She’s Not Willing To Change Who She Is

In the 2024 season of Married At First Sight Australia, one couple has captured the hearts of viewers across the country — and that's Lucinda Light and Timothy Smith. The couple have already battled many crossroads together, largely in part due to Timothy's traumatic past and inability to unravel himself from his 'Tin Man' identity. But after watching the couple have an emotional breakthrough, we thought they might just have gotten through it all. Now, we're not too sure.

The episode saw Timothy unable to open up emotionally and walking away from Lucinda, prompting a revelation on her end — that she isn't going to change herself in order to win Tim's affection. For Lucinda, she simply wanted to come into the experiment with the knowledge that she could be herself fully. In an exclusive interview with Refinery29 Australia, Australia's favourite bride spoke of her complex relationship with Timothy and why she shouldn't need to change who she is as a person.

"I didn't come in with a strategy, it's just me being me," Lucinda tells Refinery29 Australia. "My whole mantra coming into this, if anything, was just to be the full blazing, authentic expression of myself."

It's something that hits particularly hard after the most recent episode, with Lucinda explicitly expressing that she felt that she wasn't being valued for who she was. In episode 30, Lucinda said that her relationship with Timothy was "not what I want for me in a partnership" and that she didn't want to "superimpose myself onto someone who doesn't want or celebrate me."

Lucinda wants to be understood and loved for who she truly is but recognises that she might not be everyone's cup of tea. "People say, 'Oh, she's an actress' or 'That accent can't be real, she speaks in curvaceous fonts' — all this sort of stuff. But that's me," Lucinda tells Refinery29 Australia. "I'm unleashed. I'm not a television watcher. I'm not really sipping the conventional Kool-Aid. I'm beating to my own drum and doing my own thing."

And while Lucinda has easily become a season favourite, she admits that she didn't think it would go down quite like this. "I didn't think I'd get such a positive response if I can be honest," she tells us. "But I'm delighted that people are receiving me positively. That's amazing."

In every interaction of Lucinda's, it's hard not to notice her maturity and emotional intelligence, especially when handling difficult situations concerning her on-screen husband, Timothy. But Lucinda says that her secret power is something everyone can tap into. "I just think it's the most wonderful thing that you can work on in your life being a human is, is emotional intelligence and attunement with others," she says. "There are so many ways to attune and fine-tune our emotional intelligence as humans and I love that."

"I'm a Cancerian so I'm a big softy, generally," she tells us. "I love people and I am a little bit of the mother archetype. But also, it's been people management."

Dealing with relationships for over 30 years, Lucinda says that forgiveness is one of the most powerful components to harness, which may have played into her willingness to stay with Timothy despite his flaws — and her current exhaustion. "I've had a lot to forgive and get over in relationships — both intimate and family — and lots of trauma and things that have fallen apart, so I believe in really extracting the jewels there and trying to continue to better my being."

As to how she continuously works on herself, Lucinda emphasises the power of words. "I do lots of workshops. I read lots of nonfiction books and self-development books," she explains. "I'm a big reader so I love words and all the things that are sort of going to enhance the human experience."

"I'm always trying to improve myself and do my best to forgive and forget and get on with it and learn better ways of communicating," she explains. "But I do have fire in my belly. I can get worked up like when people really push me. I can get into trigger."

After episode 30, many viewers have been left wondering if Lucinda has really called it quits and if this is the end of her and Timothy's relationship. In a previous interview with Refinery29 Australia, Lucinda reiterated that she wouldn't walk away from her relationship with Timothy unless she had "explored every facet and avenue and every angle."

"Until I've done everything I can to explore and investigate this one and I can't see it going anywhere, but until I've turned over every stone and rock, I'm there giving it a go and giving it my best shot," she said.

But with the trajectory that these two are on, we're left wondering if every stone has been turned over — and if it's time Lucinda puts herself first. Only time will tell.