TORONTO — Beef Naked wasn't exactly keen on revisiting the darkest moments of her life for a deeply personal documentary.
The pop-punk singer had already opened up about her painful past for the 2017 memoir I Bificus, but declined when her longtime manager suggested she film the stories for the film Bif Naked.
“It really wasn't and couldn't be my idea,” she says of the film, which premieres Nov. 21 on Super Channel on pay-per-view television and will be shown in select theaters.
She says her feelings changed when she saw the film, she was amazed by footage she says she had never seen before, and was pleased that despite the often dark material, the film felt authentic.
“It was such an amazing process to see it all unfold. They honored all these beautiful stories that were really very true, and some of them are very hard to share,” says the rocker, née Beth Torbert.
Speaking via video call from her home in Toronto, Torbert reflects on what she calls the “misadventures” of her past, a word she uses instead of “trauma.”
She endured more than her fair share. As her manager claims in the film, she has “enough traumatic experiences in several lifetimes to write many books.”
Now 54, Torbert's gritty pop-punk attitude may be a little softer, but it still hides behind his saucer eyes.
She says she has left behind some difficult life events – such as alleged stalkers and sexual abuse in her youth. Some of them were mentioned in her memoirs, but others were not.
But all these themes were brought to the surface by director Pollyanna Hardwick-Brown, who forced the musician to go deeper.
“I was emotionally unprepared for… vulnerability that I can’t even describe,” Torbert said.
“I get asked questions I’ve never been asked before and talk about topics that aren’t in my book.”
Much as “Bif Naked” chronicles her success as a solo artist, it is a film about her three-decade partnership with Peter Carroll, her manager and biggest cheerleader.
Biff Naked rose to fame in the mid-1990s after working in the Winnipeg punk band Gorilla Gorilla. At the time, she was a music industry outsider whose boisterous confidence and unflappability stood out among the boys. Carroll's faith in her was the wind in his sails in those early days.
When Much began filming videos for her rousing rock tracks “Moment of Weakness”, “Spaceman” and “I Love Myself Today”, she became a household name in Canada.
While “Bif Naked” chronicles her struggle to secure a record deal and the industry politics that ensues, the film's most intriguing moments come from the star's candor about her most difficult experiences.
Within the first 15 minutes, the documentary interviews Torbert's birth mother about why she gave her up for adoption and asks the singer to revisit the sexual assault at a high school party that inspired her to write the devastating ballad “Tell On You” from her 2003 album Essentially Naked.
None of the reflections leads to a simple conclusion.
Recounting her attack, a tearful Torbert expresses sympathy.
“I never thought they ruined my life,” she says in the film. “To this day I feel sorry for those boys.”
“They're going to have to live the rest of their lives knowing that they did it, and now they have daughters of their own, and they're going to have to live with themselves.”
When she reflects on finding out she had cancer, she concludes, “It sounds (messy), but I'm glad I had cancer. I learned a lot.”
While these sentiments may come as a surprise to some, Torbert believes there is value in sharing the complexity of his experience.
“I always try to treat every person with understanding… and that includes stories from my past involving sexual violence,” she said, reflecting.
“It’s really about telling stories from my life and hoping that they can give a sense of hope to other people who may have experienced the same thing.”
As for what she gained from her cancer diagnosis, she says she appreciates the community she was invited into.
“It was sorority like I’d never had before, and I loved it,” she said. “I felt very safe. I felt very supported,” she added.
Torbert hopes to encourage the same unity at screenings of Bif Naked in independent theaters across much of Canada.
Following the Vancouver premiere earlier this month, she plans to attend shows in Toronto on Wednesday, Ottawa on November 21 and Hamilton on December 5, where she will participate in a Q&A and acoustic live performance.
She is also set to appear at several concerts in Alberta and Saskatchewan throughout March.
Besides telling the story of how she overcame adversity, “Bif Naked” may have another motive.
In the final moments, several voices emerge from Torbert's orbit, calling for greater appreciation of her influence.
Podcaster and former Much host George Stroumboulopoulos suggests the younger generation of female musicians “owe her a debt” for the doors she knocked down, while others call her the music industry's “unicorn” who “saved so many people's lives.”
Music publicist Eric Alper, who is also promoting the documentary, appears on screen and calls for Torbert to be considered for Canada's Walk of Fame and perhaps even the Order of Canada.
As for the singer, she seems more interested in developing a cinematic adaptation of her memoir, which has been in the works for several years. She has her eye on two different actresses she would like to see in her roles, but refuses to reveal any details.
“I guess I'll just hope for the best,” she says. “And I hope she looks young.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2025.
