Australia’s biggest celebrity scandals and feuds of 2021

From Sam Frost’s anti-vax stance to Matt Doran’s Adele interview fail and celebrity drug busts, 2021 was a drama-filled year at Sydney Confidential.

Never ending lockdowns didn’t stop the rich and famous from causing controversy. Sydney Confidential looks back at the scandalous news from the past year and the celebrities we couldn’t stop talking about …

TROUBLE IN BACHELOR PARADISE

Bachelor alumni Abbie Chatfield and Brooke Blurton were the best of friends … until a man came between them. The two reality TV stars became friends after appearing on the show but their relationship fell apart during Blurton’s recent stint as The Bacherlotte. Blurton claims Chatfield ruined her season by making her relationship with a contestant, Konrad Bien-Stephens, public news before the show had ended.

Unfollowing Chatfield on Instagram, Blurton, the first Indigenous and bisexual Bachelorette, told her own followers Chatfield was a “narcissist” and the relationship with Bien-Stephens was another example of a “white woman displaying what white privilege looks like”. Responding to the post, Chatfield said: “I now understand the timing of publicly sharing our relationship should have been more considered ... My actions had the potential to undermine the importance that this pivotal season of The Bachelorette holds to the First Nations and LGBTQIA+ communities.”

Brooke Blurton and Abbie Chatfield in happier times. Picture: Instagram

Home and Away star Sam Frost has quit after refusing the Covid vaccine. Picture: John Grainger

FROST FROZEN OUT BY VACCINATION STANCE

During the peak of Sydney’s second lockdown, Home And Away actor Sam Frost posted a teary video to Instagram revealing she had chosen to not have the Covid vaccine. Frost was heavily criticised for the clip, where she opened up about the “harsh judgment” and “segregation” anti-vaxxers were experiencing. Frost, who has more than 500,000 followers, later took herself off social media and removed the video. She then had to explain how she could appear on the Channel 7 soap after it was revealed the network would only engage with fully vaccinated presenters, cast and crew. It’s been reported that Frost has since quit the show.

SOCIAL MEDIA STARS CAUGHT IN DRUG SCANDAL

Two popular influencers were embroiled in drug scandals during lockdowns. Beauty therapist to the stars Kristin Fisher was caught with drugs in a police dial-a-dealer sting in Bondi in July. Court documents reveal Fisher was found in the back seat of a dealer’s car with two bags of cocaine at her feet. She overturned her possession conviction in October and was re-sentenced to a six-month bond with condition not to use drugs.

High-profile beauty therapist Kristin Fisher leaving court.

Nadia Bartel snorting white powder in a video during lockdown.

South of the border, fashion designer and influencer Nadia Bartel was seen snorting a white substance in a video that was accidentally posted to Instagram. Bartel, ex wife of AFL player Jimmy Bartel, was seen snorting the white powder at an illegal gathering during Melbourne’s lockdown. Later, Bartel issued an apology to her 560 000 followers saying, “I take full responsibility and I’m committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure I make better choices in the future.”

ADELE FANS DON’T GO EASY ON MATT DORAN

Global superstar Adele releasing her long-awaited album 30 was one of the biggest entertainment moments of the year. Which is why, when it was revealed Channel 7 journalist Matt Doran had butchered his interview with the Grammy Award winner, it made global headlines. The Weekend Sunrise star was the lucky journalist flown to the UK for an exclusive interview with Adele, but returned empty-handed after he admitted to the megastar when the interview had finished that hadn’t listened to her album.

Adele had a controversial interview with Weekend Sunrise host Matt Moran. Picture: Getty Images

Weekend Sunrise host Matt Doran with his crew in London before the interview. Picture: Instagram

Doran was suspended for two weeks and when he returned to air, he issued a grovelling apology saying “The day after we landed in London an email came through from Sony; it didn’t mention Adele but it did contain a link to her album. The genuine, deadset, hand on heart truth is that I missed it. By an absurdly long margin the most important email I’ve ever missed in my life.”

Doran wasn’t the only one taken off air for their behaviour in 2021. Television journalist turned Bachelorette star Georgia Love was disciplined by employer Channel 7 following backlash over a social media post where she shared a photo of a cat inside an Asian restaurant with the caption: “Shop attendant or lunch?!” and a laughing emoji.

Lawrence Mooney quit his Triple M breakfast radio show.

RADIO STAR’S SHOCK EXIT

After weeks spent off air, with no explanation for his absence and rumours swirling, last month it was announced that comedian Lawrence Mooney would be leaving his Triple M breakfast radio show Moonman in The Morning, despite still having a year on his contract. Parent company Southern Cross Austereo announced the departure in a bizarre statement saying: “Lawrence ‘Moonman’ Mooney leaves the Triple M Sydney Breakfast show today.” He has since engaged the services of top employment lawyer John Laxon.

REAL LOVE FAR FROM DRAMA-FREE ON FARMER WANTS A WIFE

Farmer Andrew Guthrie and Jess Nathan.

Farmer Andrew Guthrie and Jess Nathan.

It’s the reality show that promises contestants find real love, however that doesn’t mean that comes drama free.

The last season of the Channel 7 reality show was by far the most dramatic.

Farmer Andrew Guthrie and his chosen partner Jess Nathan, who are still together, revealed they regularly felt bullied during filming and believed producers tried to keep them apart.

Nathan explained the two went to producers declaring they had fallen in love and requesting to leave the show, however “they said no”.

Another contestant, Hayley Love, welcomed her first child with co-star, Farmer Will Dwyer, even though he didn’t choose her.

Love confirmed on Instagram that she was pregnant and had only connected with Dwyer after filming wrapped.

The two briefly dated, but it wasn’t until after deciding to end things that Love learned she was pregnant. Dwyer responded saying: “If this is in fact my child, I’ll be there whenever the child needs me.”