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Sydney’s most intriguing couples revealed for 2021

They are the couples whose relationships captivated us throughout the year, from the breakups to the pairing ups and everything in between. See the full list and vote for your favourite top 10.

2021: a year in review

The hook-ups, breakups and power pairings.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Annette Sharp (AS), Briana Domjen (BD) and Lisa Mayoh (LM) take a look back at who we’ve been talking and speculating about all year, rating them from number 1 to 38.

Vote for your favourite couple from our top 10 below.

1. Gladys Berejiklian and Arthur Moses

When one door closes, another opens – and so it was for then NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian after she retained top lawyer and former president of the NSW Bar Association Arthur Moses to represent her during ICAC’s 2020 inquiry into her former MP boyfriend, Daryl Maguire.

Gladys Berejiklian’s relationship with Arthur Moses was revealed in 2021. Picture: Julian Andrews
Gladys Berejiklian’s relationship with Arthur Moses was revealed in 2021. Picture: Julian Andrews
Gladys Berejiklian takes a walk with her partner, lawyer Arthur Moses. Picture: Adam Yip
Gladys Berejiklian takes a walk with her partner, lawyer Arthur Moses. Picture: Adam Yip

By February, Sydney’s legal circles were swirling with talk Berejiklian, 50, and divorcee Moses, had started lunching together.

The stresses of the previous year seemed to fall away from Berejiklian as her appearance softened.

Then in June Berejiklian’s sister posted a photo of “Glad and her Boo” confirming the pair’s relationship — this despite Berejiklian previously telling this newspaper she’d given up on love after being burnt by the corrupt Maguire.

Berejiklian, who has never married and has always put her career before love, introduced her “Boo” to her elderly Armenian parents mid year, confirmation she’s taking this relationship seriously. AS

2. Taika Waititi and Rita Ora

New Zealand film director Waititi, 46, quickly became smitten with British singer Ora, 31, after the pair met earlier this year in Sydney where Waititi was directing the Marvel film Thor: Love And Thunder and Ora was working on The Voice Australia as a coach.

Taika Waititi and Rita Ora are still going strong. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Taika Waititi and Rita Ora are still going strong. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

The pair outed themselves as a couple in April on her Instagram page and have been inseparable, revelling in the public adoration and promotional opportunities, since.

They attended the premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under at the Opera House in April, flew to the US to attend the LA launch of The Suicide Squad in August, hit the Met Costume Gala in New York in September, Budapest in November and managed to fit in an introduction to her parents in the UK before returning to Australia last month. AS

3. Ash Barty and Garry Kissick

In November Ash Barty stunned the nation when she announced on Instagram her engagement to long-term partner Garry Kissick, a trainee golf professional at Brookwater Golf and Country Club in Queensland.

“Future husband,” she posted after Kissick’s November 15 proposal. He responded with a public declaration of love on social media: “I love you @ashbarty,” he wrote.

Ash Barty and her future husband Garry Kissick. Picture: Instagram
Ash Barty and her future husband Garry Kissick. Picture: Instagram

The pair started dating in 2016 after meeting during a casual round of golf. No word as yet when the world’s current number one ranked women’s tennis player, 25, and Kissick, 30, will wed. AS

4. Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon

Having been shattered by the end of his marriage to Labor MP Carmel Tebbutt in January 2019, Labor leader Anthony Albanese had said he was in no hurry to find love again when he found it with 40-something Jodie Haydon, who works in superannuation.

Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon. Picture: Damian Shaw
Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon. Picture: Damian Shaw

The 58-year-old pollie told this reporter the pair met at a Melbourne conference in late 2019 after he polled the room to ask if there were any Rabbitohs supporters in the room and only one person, Haydon, raised their hand.

There are rumours the couple in fact met on dating app Tinder. Albanese is yet to open up about the relationship but looked more at home on the red carpet at the Sydney premiere, in March, of musical Hamilton with Haydon – who has never married or had children – at his side. AS

5. Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz

The February bombshell from Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins, who alleged she’d been raped by a male colleague inside their boss Defence Minister Linda Reynold’s office in March 2019, unexpectedly cast a light on Higgins’ relationship with David Sharaz, a former press gallery journalist who once worked as a media Adviser in the PM’s department and who, from 2018 to 2019, was briefly married to another parliamentary staffer.

Brittany Higgins with her partner David Sharaz. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw
Brittany Higgins with her partner David Sharaz. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

As Higgins, 26, found her voice in the media, so too did Sharaz, a one-time teenage intern on Nine’s Today show turned WIN, Mix FM newsreader and Sky News reporter who publicly supported Higgins and posted the #IstandwithBrittanyHiggins to his Twitter page.

Following Higgins’ resignation from parliament Sharaz left his new job as business manager of media monitoring company Streem, which offers monitoring to government departments.

His position had become untenable yet, he said, he “had no regrets in choosing to support my partner” though he was “angry and sad”. They have relocated to the Gold Coast. AS

6. Stuart MacGill and Maria O’Meagher

After breaking up with Sydney socialite Julie Singleton, the sixth ex-wife of John Singleton, after a two-year relationship (the break-up still loiters in public memory after she had him served with an AVO on Boxing Day 2016 – he agreed, without admitting fault), retired Australian Test cricketer Stuart MacGill moved on quickly with mother-of-two Maria O’Meagher.

MacGill soon started working for O’Meagher as general manager of her Neutral Bay restaurant Aristotle’s.

Stuart MacGill with partner Maria O'Meagher. Picture: Supplied
Stuart MacGill with partner Maria O'Meagher. Picture: Supplied

It was at Aristotle’s that the one-time leg-spinner got into strife this year after it was alleged he introduced a customer, a cocaine dealer called “Sonny”, to O’Meagher’s brother Marino Sotiropoulos. On April 14 MacGill, once married to actor Rachel Friend, allegedly became collateral in a failed drug deal after “Sonny’ allegedly negotiated to buy $660,000 of cocaine from Sotiropoulos. Police allege when the cash didn’t materialise, MacGill was kidnapped from outside his Cremorne home and beaten before being released.

Last month O’Meagher said a traumatised MacGill deserves to be treated better: “I love him. He’s a beautiful man.” AS

7. Phoebe and Sam Burgess

Phoebe and Sam Burgess have had arguably the most public marriage breakdown Sydney has seen in a long time with the tit for tat still playing out in the mainstream media almost two years after their split.

Ex NRL star Sam Burgess. Picture: Instagram
Ex NRL star Sam Burgess. Picture: Instagram
Phoebe Burgess spoke out after her split from Sam.
Phoebe Burgess spoke out after her split from Sam.

Sam has done his best to rehabilitate his reputation in recent months following a stint on SAS Australia, while mother-of-two Phoebe has made a name for herself as a women’s rights advocate, speaking out publicly about the pain and humiliation she experienced throughout their tumultuous four-year marriage. BD

8. Charlie Aitken and Hollie Nasser

The story of the breakdown of the marriage of high-profile former stockbroker turned funds manager Charlie Aitken and his wife of 20-years, the glamorous Ellie, scandalised Sydney in November when it emerged the Aitkens had split after the fund manager fell for Hollie Nasser, the wife of one of Aitken’s founding investors.

On the day Aitken confirmed his split from his wife, pubs investor Chris Nasser, who in 2015 tipped between $5 and $10 million into the Aitken’s business AIM (Aitken Investment Management), confirmed he had split from his wife Hollie.

Ellie and Charlie Aitken have split. Picture: Kai Godeck
Ellie and Charlie Aitken have split. Picture: Kai Godeck
Hollie and Chris Nasser are also no longer together.
Hollie and Chris Nasser are also no longer together.

A baby monitor is believed to have confirmed Nasser’s suspicions about his wife in early November.

Just as the dust was beginning settling on the twin marriage breakdowns, Ellie scored a bizarre own goal when she posted to Instagram a private message in which Hollie alleged Ellie had for two years been having an affair with actor Russell Crowe.

Ellie denied it – and promptly deleted the social media post. AS

9. Deborah Hutton and Andrew Marsh

After a series of false starts – repeated public denials, a series of police charges for him and a bitter marriage break-up – model turned television presenter Deb Hutton finally confirmed one of Sydney’s worst kept secrets in September when she told The Sunday Telegraph’s Stellar magazine she’s in a relationship with meditation guru Andrew Marsh.

Deborah Hutton and partner Andrew Marsh. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Deborah Hutton and partner Andrew Marsh. Picture: Jonathan Ng

For 18 months Hutton denied the relationship after the pair became close on a mystical tour to India in late 2019 where it’s been reported Hutton had a row with fellow enlightenment seeker, Real Housewives Of Sydney star Victoria Rees, a long-time follower of “Marshy”.

A former Hunter Valley winemaker, Marsh fell foul of the law in December 2020 and spent a few weeks remanded on custody and in jail after being busted with cocaine after a drunk Marsh broke into a Bondi home and was charged with common assault.

He pleaded not guilty to three charges under the mental health act. AS

10. Charlie Teo and Traci Griffiths

Eyebrows were raised last year when controversial Sydney neurosurgeon Charlie Teo started escorting one-time model Traci Griffiths, a former patient, to public events.

The couple’s relationship came to light in 2020 — the same year Teo confirmed his split from wife of 30 years Genevieve, the mother of his four daughters.

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo and girlfriend Traci Griffiths.
Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo and girlfriend Traci Griffiths.

However property records would show that in April 2018 Teo’s secretary bought Griffiths’s ex-partner out of his share of a shared home in Woonona. Two years later Teo acquired the secretary’s share for $1.

Close sources claim the couple were initially introduced by ex-model Michelle Leslie.

Griffiths, who is about 20 years 63-year-old Teo’s junior, then consulted him around 2011 when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

It’s understood the vegan animal conservationist has twice been operated on by the high-profile brain surgeon. AS

11. Tim and Bonnie Paine

The former Australian cricket captain and his wife have suffered through — and survived — his career-ending sexting scandal twice.

Once privately when it happened back in 2018, and again last month when it was brought to the public eye.

While the mother-of-two has forgiven her husband and vowed to stick by him despite the lewd messages that saw him stand down as the country’s Test captain, she has expressed her pain over having to re-live the betrayal for a second time — this time with the world watching.

Tim Paine and wife, Bonnie. Picture: Instagram
Tim Paine and wife, Bonnie. Picture: Instagram

She even expressed sympathy for what Paine was going through, showing incredible strength at a time of adversity for their family.

“I have had my time of getting angry, and venting, and to get upset, and we fought and we talked, and then we both decided to move on with life, and do it together,” she told The Sunday Telegraph last month.

“I feel a bit frustrated that it’s all been brought up and aired in the public when we’d put it to bed years ago. I have moved forward since then. I feel like there is a lot of injustice for it being dragged out again.”

12. Russell Crowe and Britney Theriot

Practised at keeping his romantic endeavours under wraps following his sensational split from wife Danielle Spencer in 2012, the pandemic forced Russell Crowe’s latest love affair into the open when actress-turned-real-estate agent Britney Theriot, 30, an American some 26 years the actor’s junior, became marooned in Australia thanks to the pandemic.

Russell Crowe and Britney Theriot in Bangkok. Picture: Instagram
Russell Crowe and Britney Theriot in Bangkok. Picture: Instagram

It soon emerged Theriot, a fitness enthusiast and keen tennis player who in 2021 managed to persuade Crowe to put down his beloved gaspers and pull on his sneakers for a hit of tennis at Moore Park, first appeared on the screen with Crowe in the 2013 film Broken City alongside Mark Wahlberg.

US media claim the couple have been dating quietly since 2019. Theriot, a petite blonde, confided to sources during lockdown she was keen to get home to her American family but has loitered on Australian soil long enough for the relationship to be taken seriously. AS

13. Lyndon Watts and Patrick Whitbread

Hamilton star Lyndon Watts comes to life on stage, a love shared by his partner Patrick Whitbread, who also starred in hit musicals Matilda, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and Cats.

The pair, who juggle their relationship between their Melbourne home and Sydney, where Watts has been wowing audiences as Aaron Burr at the Lyric Theatre, both attended the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth, kicking off their successful theatrical careers.

Hamilton's Lyndon Watts (right) and partner Patrick Whitbread. Picture: Instagram
Hamilton's Lyndon Watts (right) and partner Patrick Whitbread. Picture: Instagram

From swims in the ocean to snorkelling and hanging out with friends, the couple share a firm love of the arts, fashion and music.

“Lyndon is my family and he makes me feel safe, always,” Whitbread shared on social media.

“I have more love for him than I know what to do with.” LM

14. Sam Neill and Laura Tingle

The three-year relationship of Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill and ABC political journalist Laura Tingle was reportedly on – and off – and on again – in 2021 and at year’s end the couple were still keeping us guessing having not been sighted together since March when they attended the opening of Opera Australia’s La Traviata in Sydney.

Neill, 74, started flirting with Tingle on Twitter in 2017, the same year her divorce from political journalist Alan Ramsey was finalised.

Sam Neill (right) with Laura Tingle in March. Picture: Don Arnold/WireImage
Sam Neill (right) with Laura Tingle in March. Picture: Don Arnold/WireImage

The couple started seeing each other in 2018 and upstaged every politico in Canberra when they outed themselves at 2018’s terribly drab and un-Hollywood Mid Winter Parliamentary Ball. Last Christmas came reports Tingle, 60, and Neill had stopped seeing one another but their appearance together in March set tongues wagging again, delighting fans, before Neill returned to his native New Zealand for the latest Covid lockdown.

Distance and the coronavirus have proved obstacles to the relationship. AS

15. Sam Stosur and Liz Astling

Two years after confirming Australian tennis’s worst kept secret – that she is gay – tennis star Sam Stosur and her partner Liz Astling are revelling in their new-found openness after welcoming a baby daughter, Genevieve, into their family in 2020.

Sam Stosur (right) and partner Liz with their daughter. Picture: Instagram
Sam Stosur (right) and partner Liz with their daughter. Picture: Instagram

“It just got to the point where I was sick of not being able to acknowledge her,” said the intensely private Stosur, who at 35 had never spoken about her love life or sexuality and had been frightened of the stigma associated with coming out.

Astling, a physical therapist, met Stosur in 2015 and started dating in 2016. AS

16. Liam Hemsworth and Gabriella Brooks

On the rebound following the breakdown of his 10-year relationship and marriage to ubiquitous US pop star Miley Cyrus in August 2019, US-based Liam Hemsworth found love with a model from an unlikely place — Sydney’s northern beaches.

Quiet, unassuming and half Singaporean-Chinese, 25-year-old Brooks had experienced the rigours of fame herself after dating The 1975’s British frontman Matt Healy, a confessed heroin addict.

Liam Hemsworth with his girlfriend Gabriella Brooks in Byron Bay. Picture: Media Mode
Liam Hemsworth with his girlfriend Gabriella Brooks in Byron Bay. Picture: Media Mode

That ended, after four years, in August 2019 when she moved out of their London flat. Scouted to modelling at age 14, Brooks has appeared in campaigns for Chanel, Calvin Klein and Topshop before being signed as Seafolly’s new ambassador. Although she has attended recent public events with Hemsworth after locking down with him in Byron Bay in 2021, Brooks is reluctant to comment on her relationship with the 31-year-old The Hunger Games star.

This month she dismissed an attempt by The Sunday Telegraph to probe the relationship saying: “My personal relationship is very important and very sacred to me.” AS

17. Kate Ritchie and John Bell

The year started with actor turned radio presenter Kate Ritchie, 42, spotted out and about with a new beau, 25-year-old John Bell, during a holiday in Byron Bay.

The unlikely pairing followed Ritchie’s split from husband and former St George Illawarra player Stuart Webb, the father of her young daughter Mae.

Kate Richie was seen with a new beau earlier this year. Picture: Dylan Robinson
Kate Richie was seen with a new beau earlier this year. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Ritchie’s relationship with ex-NRL star player had been in trouble for years before it finally ended in late 2019 after a court issued an AVO in October of that year.

In December 2019 Webb’s atrocious drink driving history was revealed after he was pulled over and breathalysed and blew 0.083.

Bell, a cyber security solutions businessman, looked like a tonic when he appeared walking hand-in-hand with NOVA FM personality Ritchie at the start of the year but little is known on the present status of the relationship. AS

18. Jessica Marais and Jake Holly

When former couple Jessica Marais and her photographer beau Jake Holly caught up in August 2020 and posted a picture to Instagram of the pair snuggled together on a Sydney beach, reunion rumours were always going to spark in the media.

A second image, taken in March of this year of the former lovers out walking in Coogee, where they once shared a home, further raised suspicion as did another image posted in May.

But at year’s end it appears the emotionally delicate Packed To The Rafters actor and Holly are not together but just supporting each other as friends.

Holly, a one-time youth program co-ordinator in Waverley and Hillsong Church member, has been a steadying influence in Marais’s life during a rollercoaster few years during which she checked into a Sydney rehab facility, was admitted to another Sydney hospital and pulled out of a slate of acting work including the Amazon reboot of Back To The Rafters. AS

Jessica Marais and Jake Holly. Picture: Instagram
Jessica Marais and Jake Holly. Picture: Instagram
Loved-up Mitch Grimm and Felicity Palmateer. Picture: Instagram
Loved-up Mitch Grimm and Felicity Palmateer. Picture: Instagram

19. Felicity Palmateer and Mitch Grimm

Fearing backlash from some of her “creepier” social media followers, blonde Australian surf sensation “Flick” Palmateer was once reluctant to reveal the identity of her boyfriend but more recently the 28-year-old – who has previously identified as bisexual – has opened up about her relationship with her manager Mitch Grimm.

The new-found openness followed Palmateer’s stint on the Australian TV series Survivor and the death, at age 52, of her mother Pauline from a rare form of dementia mid year.

Last month Palmateer posted to Instagram her dreams of having children with Gimm – and raising them on a sail boat. AS

20. Janet Roach and Sam Gance

The Real Housewife of Melbourne star Janet Roach had been married and divorced twice when in 2017 she met Sam Gance, the multi-millionaire chief executive and co-founder, with his brother Jack, of Chemist Warehouse.

Sam Gance and Janet Roach. Picture: Tim Carrafa
Sam Gance and Janet Roach. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Now four years on, the couple look to be hitting their straps after splashing out $43 million on a Toorak mansion – the bid breaking records in the southern capital.

Roach has said of the union: “You fall in love and it just makes everything better; everything brighter. You have a partner to play with. It’s fantastic.” AS

21. Bobby and Xanthe Oatley

High school sweethearts Bobby and Xanthe Oatley are much loved regulars on Sydney’s social scene.

Bobby, the son of Ros Oatley (from Australia’s winemaking and yachting family) married Xanthe in June and the pair split their time between their Potts Point apartment and his mum’s lavish, waterfront Mosman home.

Car-obsessed Bobby has an impressive collection of vehicles, namely his red Mercedes the couple drove on their wedding day.

They’re both creatives and recently launched a new sake brand, Sake Sake. BD

Xanthe and Bobby Oatley. Picture: Supplied
Xanthe and Bobby Oatley. Picture: Supplied
Anna Kedzoir and Mark Taylor.
Anna Kedzoir and Mark Taylor.

22. Anna Kedzior and Mark Taylor

Construction mogul Mark Taylor and model Anna Kedzoir met through a mutual friend shortly after she returned from New York, where she was based for a number of years modelling.

In their spare time, the couple enjoy going for long walks in the Botanic Gardens, where Kedzoir photographs birds.

They share a love of sailing and often head up to Pittwater for a few days on his One O One superyacht and also enjoy scuba diving together. BD

23. Jon Adgemis and Megan Mackenzie

Jon Adgemis is a Sydney businessman, while Megan Mackenzie is a glamorous model and actor on the rise.

The genetically blessed pair met through mutual friends on the beaches of Mykonos in 2017 and have been inseparable ever since.

Adgemis is hardworking while Megan is complementing her popular modelling career with acting.

Jon Adgemis and Megan Mackenzie.
Jon Adgemis and Megan Mackenzie.

Covid has done nothing to slow Adgemis and his JAGA group down, with the handsome businessman splashing more than $50 million on pubs including The Town in Balmain, The Kurrajong in Erskineville, The Exchange in Darlinghurst and The Camelia Grove in Alexandria.

Mackenzie has just finished filming her first lead role in an upcoming ABC TV series Barons airing in 2022.

The couple spends their weekends on board Adgemis’s superyacht Hiilani where they enjoy the company of close friends and family.

The hot couple have just returned from a holiday in the US, where they celebrated thanksgiving with Mackenzie’s parents after two years apart. BD

24. Nicky Oatley and Jonathan Pearce

Nicky Oatley, heiress to Australia’s winemaking and yacht-racing Oatley family and financier Jonathan Pearce tied the knot in January and welcomed their first born, a baby girl named Eva, earlier this year.

The pair are mad dog lovers and spend their weekends gardening or on their Palm Beach boat with their bub and dogs by their side. BD

Nicky Oatley and Jonathan Pearce. Picture: Jake Scevola
Nicky Oatley and Jonathan Pearce. Picture: Jake Scevola
Nadia Fairfax and Michael Wayne.
Nadia Fairfax and Michael Wayne.

25. Nadia Fairfax and Michael Wayne

They tied the knot in a star-studded, lavish wedding in March, but The Sunday Telegraph can reveal a second wedding is on the way for this pair.

Fairfax has recently converted to Judaism ahead of their second nuptials in Turkey which will happen in July next year.

The pair tout themselves as foodies with Wayne said to have a penchant for trying new restaurants, often ones off the beaten track.

Since saying their “I do’s” the couple have focused on renovating their Paddington terrace with interior designer to the wealthy, Tasmin Johnson. BD

26. Justin Hemmes and Madeline Holtznagel

He is Australia’s most high-profile pub baron and she is the leggy model fast making a name for herself since the pair hooked up. Meet Sydney’s newest hot couple – Justin Hemmes and Madeline Holtznagel.

Justin Hemmes and model girlfriend Madeline Holtznagel. Picture: Instagram
Justin Hemmes and model girlfriend Madeline Holtznagel. Picture: Instagram

They kept their romance on the down-low for months, after The Sunday Telegraph revealed in April 2020 that Holtznagel, along with three model besties, had been shacked up at Hemmes’ grand eastern suburbs property during Covid lockdown.

Since the cat was let out of the bag, Hemmes has been seen parading the 24-year-old beauty around many of his Merivale venues, most recently at The Newport where he threw her a lavish long lunch for her birthday. BD

27. Guillaume Brahimi and Tamie Ingham

They had been desperate to keep their relationship under wraps, after Brahimi’s messy split from his wife Sanchia, but in recent weeks the pair have let their guard down and finally debuted their relationship at the Moet and Chandon Effervescence event earlier this month.

With a mutual love of the finer things in life and dining out, the couple are said to be madly in love and recently returned from a sojourn in the city of love. BD

Chef Guillaume Brahimi.
Chef Guillaume Brahimi.
Tamie Ingham. Picture: Supplied
Tamie Ingham. Picture: Supplied

28. Annie and Mike Cannon-Brookes

So private, incredibly generous and the best kind of power couple is how close friends of Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes describe this wealthy pair.

Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes.
Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes.

Cannon-Brookes, who is worth $23.5 billion after co-founding software firm Atlassian, and his long time fashion designer wife donate huge amounts of money to charity, in particular the Sydney Children’s Hospital.

While so much is known about Cannon-Brookes’ tech company, his personal life and details surrounding his four children is still very much under wraps. BD

29. Michael Clarke and Pip Edwards

On-again-off-again-on-again-off-again. Pip Edwards and Michael Clarke like to keep us guessing.

The fashion designer, 41 and retired Test cricketer, 40, were close friends for decades, before taking their relationship further in June 2020, following Clarke’s split from wife Kyly.

Michael Clarke and Pip Edwards have been on and off again. Picture: David Swift
Michael Clarke and Pip Edwards have been on and off again. Picture: David Swift

While they denied their relationship early on, claiming to just be working together on a PE Nation project, Clarke was spotted leaving Edwards’ home in the early hours of the morning, forcing them to acknowledge their romance.

They were hand-in-hand at the funeral of cricket great Alan Davidson together in early November but the relationship is so volatile it had changed again by the time of going to print. BD

30. Daimon Downey and Georgia Gorman

He is everyone’s favourite party boy and she is the beautiful woman who keeps her husband in line and runs the family’s law firm.

Daimon Downey and Georgia Gorman have been fixtures on Sydney’s social scene for over a decade, having met 12 years ago at North Bondi Italian.

Uber talented Downey is an incredible cook, artist, entrepreneur and muso, having starred in Sneaky Sound System between 2001-09.

The madly in love Bondi-based couple are obsessed with cats – and often adopt strays they find – but even more so with their three-month-old son Sterling.

Downey is always considered the life of the party and can’t resist picking up the microphone for a jam, proving he still has a bit of ‘Sneaky’ in him. BD

Daimon Downey and Georgia Gorman.
Daimon Downey and Georgia Gorman.
Tash Oakley and Theo Chambers. Picture: Instagram
Tash Oakley and Theo Chambers. Picture: Instagram

31. Tash Oakley and Theo Chambers

Bikini model and co-founder of Monday Swimwear, Tash Oakley celebrated three years with mortgage broker boyfriend Theo Chambers last month.

The co-founder of Shore Financial, Chambers grew the company from three employees to 54, currently writing $200 million in loans per month.

While they’ve been on-again, off-again in the past, Oakley and Chambers are clearly on again, with Oakley paying tribute to her ‘best friend’ for three years of love, fun and adventure, celebrating with a special anniversary lunch at Bondi’s Icebergs.

Recently ranked 71 out of 100 on the Financial Review’s Young Rich List, Oakley co-founded Monday Swimwear with friend and fellow model Devin Brugman after the success of their blog A Bikini A Day, which they started in 2012. LM

32. Koby Abberton and Olya Nechiporenko

Bra boy and surfer turned polarising SAS AustAsia contestant, Koby Abberton now calls Bali home with fiancee Olya Nechiporenko and their son Makua.

Koby Abberton and Olya Nechiporenko with their son Makua. Picture: Instagram
Koby Abberton and Olya Nechiporenko with their son Makua. Picture: Instagram

He spends his days surfing, teaching private surf lessons and doing yoga, regularly boasting how proud he is of Olya, a jewellery designer, who he has been with for more than eight years.

Their new life is worlds apart from growing up in the controversy of the Bar Boys on Maroubra Beach, but as he told The Sunday Telegraph earlier this year, this is the future he designed and they couldn’t be happier. LM

33. Jana Pittman and Paul Gatward

Pregnant with twins, the mother-of-four and former Olympian married second husband Paul Gatward, a finance lawyer, last year.

Wowing SAS Australia fans for her part in the show just six months after giving birth to son Charles, the budding obstetrician met Gatward years ago, reconnecting on a coffee date in 2019.

Jana Pittman with her youngest child Charlie. Picture: Richard Dobson
Jana Pittman with her youngest child Charlie. Picture: Richard Dobson

Her kids are her world, and for many years and through all of medical school she was a single mum. After a tough divorce she powered on to have two more children through IVF as a solo parent, before meeting Paul and starting their new lives together. LM

34. Jimmy Barnes and Jane Mahoney

They’ve almost been married 40 years, but rock legend Jimmy Barnes and his singer wife Jane Mahoney, got even closer through Covid lockdowns this year.

The couple famously uploaded daily videos of themselves performing together in their loungeroom during the pandemic then released new cookbook Where The River Bends in October.

Jimmy Barnes and his wife Jane Mahoney. Picture: AAP/Stefan Postles
Jimmy Barnes and his wife Jane Mahoney. Picture: AAP/Stefan Postles

Their social media presence was eaten up by fans, with their catchy videos clocking up more than 100 million views. Jimmy and Jane married in 1981 and had four children — son, Jackie and daughters, Mahalia, Eliza-Jane and Elly-May. LM

35. Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli

Famously meeting on Married At First Sight in 2019, Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli are getting ready to make it official after recently announcing their engagement.

Make-up artist Martha is at home in front of cameras, developing a strong social media presence since ending the show, with Michael, an unassuming primary school teacher, along for the ride.

There was an instant connection between the pair at their TV wedding, with Michael saying he’d “struck gold”.

“It’s crazy to think we started our relationship on TV and many of you saw the first time we locked eyes on each other,” she wrote on Instagram after their engagement.

“Fast forward three years and so many people are still following our life journey, something we are truly grateful for.” LM

A MAFS success story: Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli. Picture: Instagram
A MAFS success story: Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli. Picture: Instagram
Kyle Sandilands and Tegan Kynaston are considering having a baby. Picture: Instagram
Kyle Sandilands and Tegan Kynaston are considering having a baby. Picture: Instagram

36. Kyle Sandilands and Tegan Kynaston

KIIS FM’s Kyle Sandilands and girlfriend Tegan Kynaston first went public with their relationship in 2019 following his split with girlfriend of eight years, Imogen Anthony.

Before that he was married to singer Tamara Jaber from 2008-10, but it seems Kynaston is ‘the one’.

Meeting at work — Tegan is the director of communications for her boyfriend’s company King Kyle Pty Ltd — the loved-up pair has recently spoken about having a child together, with the outspoken radio host sharing that his priorities had changed with Tegan, as children were not in his plans in the past. LM

37. Sophie Monk and Joshua Gross

Despite her crown as Australia’s very own Bachelorette, reality star Sophie Monk didn’t find her happily-ever-after with winner Stu Laundy but she has with her now fiance, Joshua Gross.

The 41-year-old met Gross, a 42-year-old marketing executive and fellow Aussie, on a business class flight back home in 2018.

Sparks flew instantly, and while the relationship started out long distance, the Love Island host announced their engagement in January and had a lavish engagement party at their home in April. LM

Sophie Monk is getting married to partner Joshua Gross. Picture: Instagram
Sophie Monk is getting married to partner Joshua Gross. Picture: Instagram
Love Island TV couple Josh Moss and Amelia Marni. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
Love Island TV couple Josh Moss and Amelia Marni. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

38. Amelia Marni and Josh Moss

The only couple still together from season one of Love Island Australia, Amelia Marni and Josh Moss moved into a Bondi apartment together in July.

Announcing the news to fans on their YouTube channel, they showed off the new digs not far from the country’s most famous beach.

“We’re just so happy in our new home,” Marni told her 108,000 followers.

“It’s just so nice to have your own space again … I loved living with friends but obviously we’ve been together for a while so we just felt like it was the right time.”

Moss, who describes himself as an ‘old-school romantic’, met his match while filming the reality show in Spain, and by all accounts they are both grateful to have found each other. LM

Originally published as Sydney’s most intriguing couples revealed for 2021

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/sydneys-most-intriguing-couples-revealed-for-2021/news-story/726a22a06c7076fc31bf9d46c4aa39d6