Geoffrey Edelsten’s obsession with online dating sites revealed in affidavit

Geoffrey Edelsten’s obsession with online dating sites opened the door to an alleged extortion attempt by a lover, court documents claim.

Brynne claims she was dependent on her late, former husband Geoffrey from the very start of their relationship.

The secret world of Geoffrey Edelsten and his obsession with online dating sites has been blown open as his ex-wife Brynne Gordon takes legal action against his estate seeking proper maintenance and support.

While Gordon was portrayed as the love of his life in public, in an affidavit filed in support of her legal action, Gordon claims Edelsten was regularly unfaithful to her and conducted numerous affairs during their relationship.

One of those affairs even threatened to accuse him of rape if he did not provide her with “the Range Rover, the Bentley, a house, a business”, emails included in affidavit reveal.

“I found out that Geoffrey was having affairs with various other women. A lot of the communication with these women involved discussions about him transferring money to them,” Gordon states in the court document.

Edelsten with former partner Gabi Grecko.

“I confronted him with emails and phone messages from other women and requested an explanation from him. When I did this he would abuse me and call me names. He called me a ‘whore’ and a ‘gold digger’.”

Edelsten died on June 11, 2021 aged 78, leaving an estate valued at just over $1 million.

In his will he left nothing to Gordon, whom he separated from in 2013 with their divorce becoming official in early 2015.

He left $50,000 to his son and gifted money to friends, business associates, the Carlton Football Club and several charities.

Gordon, who is being represented by DSA Law partner Joseph Alesci, is claiming she received no entitlements or settlement after their marriage ended and was also excluded from the will.

Edelsten was known to frequent ‘sugardaddy’ dating sites, using names such as savvy4u2c and savvy123 and correspond with people with a variety of tempting monikers such as ababydollface10 and serioussweethart.

However a disturbing chain of emails contained within the affidavit exposes how grubby Edelsten’s secret life had become by mid 2011.

Emails show one woman, with whom he allegedly had a two year relationship, asking him to buy her expensive cars.

Geoffrey Edelsten.

Brynne Edelsten. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

She was particularly keen on a Bentley.

“I really, really want this baby car before my birthday, darling,” she wrote.

“It’s the MY11 Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible Ice (ISR) with Beluga hide and white contrast stitching and piping.

“Please honey, can you call him (the car dealer), let’s get me in this sexy car.”

By mid-September that year their secret arrangement had soured after the woman discovered he was not separated from Gordon.

She threatened to go to the police and claim Edelsten had raped her unless her “needs” were met.

“I trusted, believed you, stuck by your side, been a hidden, good friend, “sex toy,” she emailed.

“Now listen to me once and forever.

“The Range Rover, the Bentley, a house, a business and I’ll walk away now.

“If not then let’s go, give me your attorney details.

“I am relentless and trust me sweetie, I will go public. We will be all over TV, 60 Minutes, covers, newspapers. I will press charges for rape.

“I’ve been kind, sweet, nice to u hoping we can at the least take care of my needs.

“I suggest you make a Sydney trip (for) lunch or dinner with me ASAP.”

Edelsten replied that he had not made any promises to the woman describing her claims as baseless allegations.

Gordon states Edelsten called her a “whore” when she confronted him about the woman.

“I found correspondence between Geoffrey and XXX which was sexually explicit,” she states.

“Geoffrey also transferred large amounts of money to XXX. When I told Geoffrey I knew of his affair and asked him why he was seeing her he became verbally abusive towards me.

“He also called me a ‘whore’ and other degrading names.”

Explosive claim Edelsten tried to strangle Brynne

Former reality star Brynne Gordon has claimed her then husband Geoffrey Edelsten tried to strangle her with her headband after she confronted him about his rampant infidelity as their high profile marriage hit the rocks in March 2012.

Gordon also alleges in court documents Edelsten made her a $50m marriage deal with a midnight deadline just two weeks after the pair met on a blind date in 2008 and that she had just $79.28 in the bank when they separated in December 2013.

She has, as well, claimed he abused prescription medication during their marriage and would regularly steal her ADHD pills for his own use.

The dark allegations about one of Australia’s most famous celebrity marriages have been detailed in an explosive affidavit filed by Gordon as she sues Edelsten’s estate in the Supreme Court of Victoria for proper maintenance and support after she was cut out of his will and did not receive a divorce settlement.

Geoff Edelsten and Brynne at the 2013 AFL Brownlow. Picture Jason Edwards.

“I was then (at the time of her separation), and am now, in a poor financial position and I have not received any entitlements as a spouse of Geoffrey whilst he was alive, nor under his will. He has failed to make proper provision for me,” Gordon states in the affidavit.

Gordon is being represented by DSA Law partner Joseph Alesci.

In the affidavit, Gordon claims Edelsten made her a marriage offer promising vast riches.

“On October 30, 2008, two weeks after our first date, I received an email proposal from Geoffrey with the subject headline ‘urgent $50 million plus proposal’,” she said.

The email, which is included in the affidavit, reads in part: “Please read carefully and respond if you wish before midnight tonight or this proposal lapses.

“I’ll pay you twice as much as you earn now and increase these payments monthly until you receive $100,000 per year. I will only want you working for very few hours per week so you can undertake study, training, travel, whatever you would like.

“If we are together at the end of a year I will bequeath to you $1 million and this will occur at the end of each year. After 1 year I will ask you to marry me. If you agree then you will receive an engagement ring – large – costing more than $250,000.

“We will marry after (a) one year engagement. We will sign a prenup but you will receive a bequest of a minimum of $10 million. All these terms are subject to no infidelity.”

The pair got engaged on December 6, 2008 and wed in November 2009.

“From the start of our relationship I was dependent on Geoffrey. In some ways he was very generous with glitzy jewellery and a glitzy lifestyle but in other ways he did not provide me with the support he had promised me,” Gordon’s affidavit states.

The '$50 million plus proposal' email Brynne allegedly received from Edelsten two weeks after the couple met on a blind date. Picture: Supplied

The visa Edelsten arranged for her meant Gordon could not earn an income in Australia until 2012 and money from lucrative TV and magazine deals and appearances on reality shows went to Edelsten, not her.

Gordon claims in the affidavit she became aware Edelsten was cheating on her before their wedding and that he courted numerous women during their marriage.

Supporting that claim, an email contained in the affidavit purports to be from Edelsten to a woman on a dating site in 2010 where he describes himself as having been “named as one of Australia’s sexiest top 10 included with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts and others”.

Brynne claims Edelsten became violent when she confronted him about his cheating. Picture: Mark Stewart

“A woman contacted me shortly before our wedding. She told me she was involved with Geoffrey. As a result of her contact I became aware that Geoffrey was active on a number of dating websites and that he was seeing other women and paying large amounts of money to some of them,” Gordon said in the affidavit.

The cheating came to a violent head in March 2012 after Gordon went through Edelsten’s phone as he prepared to leave for a trip to America.

“I saw a number of text messages and emails on his phone from numerous women who he had arranged to meet whilst he was away,” the document read.

“I began to call them. I spoke with one woman and asked who she was and why she was sending inappropriate messages to my husband.”

Discovering his wife was on the phone to one of his planned hook ups, it is alleged an infuriated Edelsten chased Gordon around their Melbourne CBD penthouse and punched her in the chest.

Brynne claims Edelsten once choked her so hard she was gasping for air.

“I managed to kick him off me and sat on the couch to catch my breath,” she states.

“Geoffrey then came over to the couch and stood in front of me. I was wearing a stretchy cloth headband that wrapped around my head. He pulled that cloth down so that it was wrapped around my neck and began to choke me. I could not breathe and began coughing and gasping for air. I threw Geoffrey’s phone across the room and he let go of the headband around my neck and retrieved his phone.”

Gordon claims she called the police but did not pursue an intervention order to avoid unwanted publicity.

The couple started seeing a marriage counsellor, which lasted for two sessions.

“We saw the marriage counsellor to discuss Geoffrey’s infidelity and his physical and verbal abuse of me,” she states.

“Geoffrey did not take the counselling seriously. He denied his infidelity and ridiculed my weight gain, calling me ‘obese’ in these sessions. He also complained that the sessions cost too much.”

Following their split Gordon said she was in financial distress, was living on instant noodles and microwave meals and was homeless for a period.

She claims her taxable income for 2020 and 2021 was just under $13,000 in both cases.

Gordon is listed as taking action against Michael John Webb and Lindsay Lawrence Hosking as the executers of Edelsten’s will.