Karl Stefanovic’s girlfriend defends him from ex-wife’s biting criticism
KARL Stefanovic’s shoe designer girlfriend has stepped up to defend her new bloke just days after his ex-wife said the Today host and father of their three children was “dead to her”.
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KARL Stefanovic’s shoe designer girlfriend has stepped up to defend her new bloke just days after his ex-wife said the Today host and father of their three children was “dead to her”.
Speaking candidly to The Daily Telegraph, Jasmine Yarbrough said the high-profile relationship had its challenges but that the Channel 9 star was very supportive.
The pair began their whirlwind romance after meeting through friends last December, just a few months after it was announced Stefanovic had split with Cassandra Thorburn, his wife of 21 years.
“Karl is such an amazing, major supporter of me. He is such a great guy,” she said. “He is a lovely man. I feel so lucky and supported. I am very happy.”
Yarbrough’s comments follow Thorburn’s Woman’s Day interview last week where she talked bitterly about the grief and depression that followed the end of their marriage.
“The children still have a father but I don’t have a husband. He really is dead to me and no, we won’t ever be friends again,” she said.
Thorburn’s interview last week came after some tough days for Stefanovic, with his Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson abruptly leaving the show and moving to Ten amid claims of sexism around the sizeable difference in salaries between the pair.
Yarbrough’s solo appearance at Melbourne’s Caulfield Cup did not go unnoted and media eyebrows were raised.
Yarbrough said her time in the spotlight had been difficult, but her close network had helped her cope.
“I have great friends and family around me and they have been an amazing support,” Yarbrough said. “I am blessed to have such support.”
The model-turned designer said Stefanovic had even travelled to Paris with her for a show, in the first week of October, which kept him away from Wilkinson’s ceremony to renew her marriage vows with author husband Peter FitzSimons.
Despite bouncing between Australia and Los Angeles for years, Yarbrough has tamed her itchy feet and is now calling Sydney home, and is believed to be living with her new partner.
However Woman’s Day reported last week she has yet to meet Stefanovic’s children.
Still, they are now social scene fixtures, with Stefanovic attending the Sony Foundation’s Wharf4Ward solo as Yarbrough stepped out at the Cosmopolitan Women of the Year awards, before the pair reunited on Friday night for Dom Perignon at Palm Beach.
And despite the challenges of her new romance, Yarbrough’s career is powering ahead, with her footwear label Mara & Mine, created with best mate Tamie Ingham, really beginning to take off.
The line has been signed to David Jones and they have collaborated with Victoria’s Secret Angel Candice Swanepoel.
“It has been a great year,” Yarbrough said. “Working with Candice would have to be a highlight. We are also working on a collaboration with an Aussie celebrity, but we can’t say anything yet.”