Annette Sharp: Footy mum Julie Burgess in new relationship
She has been not so lucky in love since migrating to Australia a decade ago to be with her footy playing sons but has all that changed for Julie Burgess? “Mrs B” has found a new beau who might test her loyalties to the Rabbitohs, Annette Sharp reveals.
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The fascinating romantic adventures of Julie Burgess, mother of Sam, George, Tom and Luke, is once again the talk of Sydney with “Mrs B” enjoying the attentions of a new man, one whose Sydney City Roosters’ loyalties are creating a stir in Rabbitohs’ red and green territory.
The 58-year-old has found love again with retired Sydney policeman Gary Ballard — an athletic beach-loving divorced dad from Sydney’s south.
On July 30 a clearly chuffed Ballard posted a shot to social media showing Burgess enjoying dinner with the ex-detective inspector, his son and another young woman.
In the attached photo caption he posted “love your tribe”, alongside a string of heart emojis.
In the picture, Burgess, in trackie top, sits in front of a fine looking plate of meat and veg with a wide smile on her face.
Following word last week of “Mrs B’s” new attachment came whispers her loyalty to the Bunnies and owner Russell Crowe might now be under serious threat.
While the club once employed all four of her sons today only one of them, Tom, still plays for the team.
Former star Sam, meanwhile, has been moved into an administrative role with the club.
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Yesterday this column approached both Burgess and Ballard for comment but our request fell on deaf ears.
“Mrs B” — a teacher at elite Bellevue Hill boys school Scots College where Crowe’s sons attend school — has been not so lucky in love, since migrating to Australia a decade ago.
After initially being linked to Crowe — Sam denied it — she went online to find love.
One former love, a police officer who asked not to be named, opened up for the first time on their break up last week, saying things didn’t work out between the two.
“She later tried to rekindle the relationship but I wasn’t interested.”
SELLING-OFF DESIGNER SCRAPS OF MARRIAGE
If you’re to be left with just the clothes on your back following the breakdown of a long marriage, best those clothes be Hermes, Gucci and Chanel.
Former Harper’s Bazaar editor turned Hermes Australia MD Karin Upton Baker may not have lived by that ethos during her 37-year relationship to husband and property developer Gary Baker but she must be grateful today — as indeed must he — that after investing so heavily in one of the most envied haute couture wardrobes in the country during their halcyon days together — before his bankruptcy — neither walks away from the marriage completely skint.
He, as it turns out, has walked away with a stunning collection of ladies’ designer leather trench coats, handbags, scarfs, suits, dresses, blouses, skirts and ankle boots — and some art deco diamond jewellery.
Two weeks after this columnist exclusively revealed the breakdown of the Baker marriage and a forthcoming auction of assets once held in common but now owned exclusively by Mr Baker, the catalogue from Shapiro is — following a hasty last minute name change — now available online.
Originally listed as “SH184: Elegant Couture, Luxury Design, and Fine Antiques Under Instruction From Mr Gary Baker …”, the auction has been revised to “SH184 Elegant Couture, Luxury Design, Fine Jewellery and Antiques” following, this column understands, an appeal from Upton Baker hoping not to be associated with the sale.
Of the 146 lots up for grabs 120 are womenswear and apparel once famously worn by the fashionable and photogenic Ms Upton Baker who has rarely shied from a photo opportunity during the past 30 years and whose handbag collection — 22 of which are listed — has long been one of the nation’s most talked about.
The balance is antiques and art — with one portrait said to be already drawing interest from collectors around the country and the globe.
An 1815 oil painting, entitled French School portrait of Madame Adeline de Nogaret, held pride of the place in the Bakers’ opulent Elizabeth Bay dining room over a decade ago.
Provenance on the piece reveals the artwork was sold at a Sotheby’s auction of fashion designer Gianni Versace’s estate in New York in 2001. The piece found its way to Sydney via collector Leo Schofield before being acquired by Woollahra antiques dealer Martyn Cook who apparently on-sold it to the Bakers.
Cook, who died last year, was one of Elton John’s great friends and one of his preferred antiques’ buyers.
The musician and songwriter was also a great friend of Versace’s - and may have spied the piece when it was hanging in Versace’s Miami home.
With an estimated bidding price of around $40,000-$60,000 on the portrait, there is plenty of interest from collectors — and possibly John — on where the portrait goes next.