Inside Guy Sebastian’s personal life, career and controversies

Guy Sebastian’s life changed forever when he won Australian Idol in 2003. Now, after almost two decades in the spotlight, we look back at the singer-songwriter’s personal and professional life.

He shot to fame when he won the first Australian Idol singing competition in 2003 — and Guy Sebastian has managed to keep his career flourishing over the years.

From working as a judge on The Voice to performing in Eurovision, the singer-songwriter still manages to pack out stadiums tours — with his most recent national tour showcasing his ninth album T.R.U.T.H.

In 2020, his former manager Titus Day was charged with 50 counts of fraudulently embezzling about $900k of royalty, performance and ambassador payments which were allegedly meant to go to Sebastian.

Day, 49, pleaded not guilty to all charges. Sebastian gave evidence at Day’s trial, which began in May 2022.

On June 30, a jury found Day guilty of 34 charges including the fraudulent embezzlement of more than $620,000 of Mr Sebastian’s earnings including royalties and performance fees.

Guy Sebastian has become a household name. Picture: David Swift

Guy Sebastian toured Australia in 2022. Picture: Glen Pokorny

In November 2022, Day was sentenced to a non-parole term of two-and-a-half years in jail and was also ordered to pay more than $620,000 in restitution to Mr Sebastian.

We take a look back at Guy Sebastian’s personal and professional highlights since he was thrown into the public eye.

Career

Guy Sebastian won the Australian Idol competition in 2003, narrowly beating Shannon Noll.

Since then, his music career has gone from strength to strength, leading to other opportunities like most recently being a judge for The Voice Australia, and he was also on the judging panel for X Factor from 2010.

Guy Sebastian in 2003 after winning Australian Idol.

Sebastian with his fellow The Voice coaches (from left) Rita Ora, Keith Urban and Jessica Mauboy. Picture: Supplied

He has not only won a number of ARIA accolades but also hosted the ARIA Awards in 2019.

In 2015, he became the first Australian to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest — where he came fifth overall.

He has sold almost four million albums and has had six number one singles and two number one albums on the ARIA charts.

His first album Just As I Am went platinum six times and included his debut song from Australian Idol — Angels Brought Me Here.

His other albums include Beautiful Life, Closer To The Sun, The Memphis Album, Like It Like That, Twenty Ten, Armageddon and T.R.U.T.H.

Sebastian and his wife Jules set up The Sebastian Foundation in 2013 to help families across Australia in services covering domestic violence, mental health and teen mentoring.

Controversies

* In January 2023, Sebastian sought an AVO against his neighbour following a long-running feud about his Maroubra property. Phillip Richard Hanslow was charged with stalking with intent to cause physical harm and damaging property and must not contact the singer or go on his property.

* Guy Sebastian gave testimony at his former manger’s trial, which was marred by a number of delays including the sudden death of the presiding judge, and Sebastian’s positive Covid diagnosis.

Guy Sebastian at Downing Centre Court in Sydney for the Titus Day trial. Picture: Richard Dobson

Sebastian’s former manager Titus Day pleaded not guilty to the charges. Picture: Richard Dobson

* In May 2022, Sebastian was forced to defend himself after teenagers allegedly provoked him and captured it on video, as revealed by The Sunday Telegraph.

* During the Titus Day trial, the pop star’s huge earnings were revealed in court including receiving a standard fee of $66,000 for corporate appearances and more than $50k for singing at weddings. During the trial on June 2, more details emerged about Sebastian earning $2.9 million for six shows he performed in 2015.

* After Day was found guilty, Sebastian said he felt “vindicated” and “relieved” upon hearing the verdict, calling it a “pretty challenging time”.

* In 2021, Sebastian was forced to clarify his stance on vaccination after he was involved in a war of words following a social media post in support of the #VaxTheNation campaign, organised by leading figures in the entertainment industry.

Sebastian removed a social media message and then posted an apology video saying he would “never, ever tell people what to do when it comes to their personal health choices”. This caused a furore with Sydney 2GB radio host Ray Hadley calling Sebastian out on this backflip, saying he had to “get off the fence”. In the tense interview, Sebastian confirmed he was double vaccinated: “I haven’t said I don’t support vaccinations – I’m double-jabbed myself. My point is that there are people who I have personal relationships with that also fall into a category of consideration,” Sebastian said at the time.

Sebastian on The X Factor judging panel with (from left) Adam Lambert and Iggy Azalea.

* During his time on X Factor in 2016, there was some tension with fellow judge Iggy Azalea. While he denied there was feud with the Aussie rapper, he admitted to Kyle and Jackie O on their radio show in 2019 that Iggy was “awful” to him.

Following that interview, Iggy followed up with a number of tweets, some of which have since been deleted, saying: “I want to talk about how Guy Sebastian is a complete liar, let’s get into it!”.

Personal life

Guy Sebastian and Jules Egan have known each other since they were teenagers after meeting at a church group. They started dating when Guy was 18 years old and after a long-term relationship — which included a brief break-up — they tied the knot in 2008.

Guy and Jules got married in 2008. They met when they were teenagers in Adelaide.

Jules and Guy with their sons Archer and Hudson, who are now aged 10 and eight.

They now have two sons, Hudson James and Archer Jones, nicknamed Archie.

The family of four live in the southern Sydney suburb of Maroubra in a multimillion-dollar home. According to realestate.com.au, they bought a five-bedroom home at auction but knocked it down to create their own dream house.

In an interview with Stellar magazine, Sebastian and Jules — who is a TV presenter, podcaster and stylist — talk about the suicide of loved ones, and how they are parenting their young boys.

Sebastian is also a fan of the Adelaide Crows and loves to play cricket and golf.

Guy Sebastian started singing when he was a teenager. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Early life

Sebastian was born in Klang, Malaysia in 1981 and when he was six years old, his family moved to Australia.

They initially lived in Melbourne but moved to Adelaide when he was about 10 years old, where he spent his schooling years, including attending King’s Baptist Grammar School.

While he considers Adelaide his “hometown”, he has lived in Sydney since he won Australian Idol.

He started singing when he was 14 and joined a local church group. He met Jules Egan around the same time and their friendship led to a long-term relationship and eventually marriage.

Before he shot to fame, he was working as a vocal teacher and was a singer at his local church.

Originally published as Inside Guy Sebastian’s personal life, career and controversies