Annette Sharp: Rich and powerful pick sides in Charlie and Ellie Aitken split

Days after their marriage breakdown scandalised Sydney society, Charlie and Ellie Aitken’s impressive circle of friends, associates and society schmoozers are picking sides, writes Annette Sharp.

Ellie and Charlie Aitken’s marriage is over and friends are choosing which camp to follow. Picture: Kai Godeck

Days after their marriage breakdown scandalised Sydney society, the lines are fast being drawn in the break-up of much feted finance glamour couple Charlie and Ellie Aitken.

Having sold their trophy five-bedroom/four-bathroom Darling Point home — with interiors by Thomas Hamel and gardens by Paul Bangay — in 2016 for $10.3 million to help finance their investment company AIM, the Aitkens have no real estate assets to carve up as they rush to dissolve their 20-year union.

Ellie and Charlie Aitken. Ellie is expected to walk away from the split with the lion’s share of the couple’s friends. Picture: Jake Scevola

Apart from furniture and Ellie’s impressive wardrobe (including vintage designer threads from Collette Dinnigan, whose boutique would once shut its doors to allow Ellie sufficient privacy for shopping) and gems, the Aitkens have never owned luxury yachts, polo studs and weekend retreats — although they’ve frequented many during their years together.

This leaves only a precious handful of things to quibble over.

The family Labrador would be among these, along with the unremarkable Aitken conveyance, a Range Rover, although sources hinted yesterday Charlie might be happy to relinquish the
family saloon.

The value of the family investment business (which manages about $100 million in funds) remains to be evaluated, along, of course, with an impressive circle of friends, professional associates and society schmoozers.

Rob Rankin.

Julie Bishop.

Sanjeev Gupta.

Terry Biviano.

Friends yesterday indicated that Ellie, a peerless social networker, will likely walk away with the lion’s share of the couple’s well-heeled friends.

Among these is expected to be former Crown chairman (and Karl and Jasmine Stefanovic’s rumoured matchmaker) Rob Rankin, who acquired a 19.99 share of the Aitken funds business in 2017, though hasn’t been sighted in the country in recent years, preferring the solitude of the Cotswolds in England to the rigours of Patricia Bergin’s damning inquiry into Crown’s operations.

Also believed to be firmly in Ellie’s camp is James Packer’s bestie Ben Tilley, Ellie’s well-connected hospital fundraising mentor Skye Leckie, society maven Deeta Colvin, former Federal Liberal party politician Julie Bishop (the guest of honour at Ellie’s 40th birthday in 2019), CEO of Naked Brand Group Justin Davis-Rice, entrepreneur Joe Cross, dancer choreographer Adam Williams, a ladies-who-lunch-loving tribe of Ascham graduates to whom she remains close, and some of Sydney’s most stylish socialites, including Kate Waterhouse, Kathryn Eisman Reynolds and Terry Biviano.

Charlie Aitken, meanwhile, has Hollie Nasser (pictured inset with Ellie) in his camp.

However Charlie Aitken has Hollie Nasser (pictured with Ellie) in his camp. Picture: Instagram

Rich-listers also said to have been utterly charmed by the attractive mother-of-two and one-time Clayton Utz paralegal-turned-fashion designer were steel billionaire Sanjeev Gupta, and property developer and sworn bachelor Charles Mellick, Ellie’s new boss at Pallas.

Hospitality boss Justin Hemmes (who spent yesterday entertaining half a dozen immaculately dressed young women over lunch at his Narooma restaurant Quarterdeck) is also believed to be a fan, as, too, is Russell Crowe, with whom she partied at a pre-Oscars event in 2016 in Beverly Hills.

Charlie, meanwhile, seems prepared to cut and run socially, although he is expected to walk away with at least one of his wife’s former best friends firmly in his corner — that being Hollie Nasser, the wife of one of AIM’s founding investors, Chris Nasser.

It seems Charlie won’t be relying on any further support from one-time backers Kerry and Ryan Stokes, and may have kissed off James Packer some time ago after the two parted ways after failing to see eye-to-eye on the value of PR man Grant Vandenberg, whom the Aitkens once employed to bolster their media profiles.

This association is believed to have been both the catalyst for Ellie’s friendship with Souths owner and Gladiator Crowe, and an obstruction to Aitken’s burgeoning association with Packer leading, we reliably hear, to Packer withdrawing his offer of a discreet investment after reading about himself in the business papers — a deal-breaker.

On Saturday, close sources said the Aitken marriage hit the wall about four months ago, and reported that Charlie quit the family home and moved into a serviced apartment in Bondi Junction a week ago.

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