Close friends have fallen out and been sued; counsellors, priests and lawyers have breached the sanctity of the confessional; spivs and crooks have been hired and discarded for incompetence or mendacity.

Money, predictably, is at the root of it all, and Schapelle Corby's undying ability to earn it. Even now, an exclusive TV interview with the Seven Network's Mike Willesee, and a rumoured magazine deal are in the offing, and expected to earn millions.

If there is a curse, though, it has affected Schapelle Corby most of all. She has spent nine years in prison, and she's done her time hard.

Report after report suggests she is mentally ill, struggling. In the view of Indonesian officials who have visited her since her release, she is "stressed", a word that could describe anything from mildly irritated to a full-blown breakdown.

In this dysfunctional family, the most dysfunctional member of all is the star.

"She wants to go home immediately but she's stressed because of all the media attention. She feels like she's chained," said Indonesian parole office official Ketut Sukiati after interviewing the Corby clan on Friday.

But she cannot go home, because nowhere is as secure as her current compound, and every story that's let slip, every paparazzi photo that is taken before the exclusive interview airs reduces its financial value.

Of course, the Indonesian justice ministry's move on Thursday night to ban the interview under pain of Corby being returned to prison, means it may never go ahead.

There was little room for doubt in the deputy Justice Minister's statement: "If you're going to do the interview, especially if it's going to be paid, it will cause ... restlessness in the community, so I have instructed the officer here ... to advise the family not to do it."

In the face of this, though, Mike Willesee still insisted he could proceed, though he conceded on Friday he had talked neither to the family nor Seven Network management about that view.

Quite apart from the legal considerations, it's unclear whether, and when, Corby may be up to doing an interview.

It's a diabolical dilemma for Corby, whose very freedom is on the line.

The sensible choice would be for her to make a detailed written statement to all media, have a professional photographer release a series of beautifully posed post-prison pictures to replace the stock photos we all use of her behind bars, and then ask all to respect her privacy. Then she could go home and start getting well.

The only hints about Corby's new, albeit temporary, life inside Villa 30 of the Sentosa Seminyak villas, the gilded cage she has swapped for prison and where she is checked in as Jodie Hawkins, are not promising.

First was the release of a photograph of her, unmasked and drinking beer after Woman's Day agreed to pay $20,000 for it. The magazine ultimately refused to pay after News Limited breached the exclusivity of the image. Mercedes threatened legal action, and old hands nodded sagely and muttered, "Ah, the Corby curse."

The photograph showed Corby posed looking awkward and slightly manic while drinking beer in her brother Michael's company. She was still in the hat and shirt she wore on her mad dash outside prison, though without the veil. Was there not time even for a shower before the family took a photograph? That someone then tried to hawk the image for cash reasserts a familiar pattern.

That photograph — and her luxury surroundings — obsesses the Indonesian media, which spent Thursday interviewing Australian journalists about the fact that she is inside luxury digs, not the family home, while on parole. They also questioned her "partying" and "perhaps being drunk".

A Balinese employee of the hotel, which is hosting the waiting media summed up a common view, telling this journalist on Friday: "It's not fair. She's spent nine years not having to work in prison, and now she will get rich talking about it."

Then there was a video released on Thursday by Mercedes talking down the size of the interview fee, and exposing her obsessions by taking a swipe at Queensland Premier Campbell Newman over the Schapelle telemovie.

The unexpected behaviour of Willesee has also given us hints. He has emerged several times from the compound he shares with the Corby family only to reveal that he has less idea about crucial developments than the media outside.

On Saturday morning, after the family announced that they would not be doing any interview "at this stage", this reporter asked Willesee if he had discussed that statement with the family.

"I've only got what's in the public domain," he replied.

Whatever his contract or agreement says, it must leave significant room for doubt — and provide little guarantee of communication with the family.

Willesee is sounding slightly concerned.

Perhaps he's reassessing his decision to throw his lot in with the Corbys. Perhaps he's concerned that the next victim of the Corby curse will be him.