What it’s like being a ‘husband of Instagram’
Taking 600 photos of your wife to get that perfect ‘influencer’ shot, recording her cooking dinner so she can tag the meal kit company, or spending your holiday as designated Instagram photographer. Here’s what life is like behind the little squares.
Lifestyle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It’s taking what feels like 600 photos of your bikini-clad wife as she poses on a beach.
It’s helping your partner make dinner, but having to pause while she speaks into her phone about the meal kit company that supplied it.
It’s donning a life-size vulva costume to promote your wife’s new show.
But it’s also helicopter rides, free swag and an enviable lifestyle.
Welcome to life as a husband or boyfriend of an Instagram influencer.
Instagram — the ubiquitous picture and video sharing platform with 9.7 million Australian users — is the app that’s launched a thousand careers, with countless self-styled influencers across lifestyle, fashion, food, beauty, parenting, health … and every other sphere in between, making a living off the sway they hold over followers.
But just as the wives and girlfriends of sports stars have to accept the WAG moniker — and everything, the good, bad and indifferent, that comes with it — being the significant other of an Instagram celebrity has its prerequisites, perks and problems.
The “other halves” often get to enjoy the VIP parties and complimentary holidays, but also understand the intrusion and scrutiny that can be part of the deal.
ROZALIA AND NICK RUSSIAN
Nick Russian — a celebrity of sorts himself having run Melbourne nightspot Eve for a decade and starring on one of Australia’s first reality TV shows, Temptation Island, in 2002 — is today better known as the husband of Insta heavyweight Rozalia Russian.
She boasts 247,000 followers and is described by her agent as “Australia’s ultimate style crush”.
In 2011, shortly after Instagram launched worldwide, model Rozalia, a former ballerina who came to Australia as a toddler after fleeing the former Soviet Union, started posting from her then-private account, simply “sharing her life”, Nick says.
But it didn’t take long for things to get serious and now Rozalia, 31, mum to daughter Willow, 6, and son Kingston, 3, is represented by LMB talent management and makes a living from sponsored posts on the platform and the real-world roles it’s helped her land.
“In many ways, Rozalia ended up an influencer by accident,” Nick, who now runs Together Events, says.
“She was posting selfies and things like that before the kids were born, and it happened organically that more and more people were asking to follow her, until she made it public.”
Then came the stuff.
“Businesses and brands started sending her stuff, lots of it. In the beginning, it was things like handbags and dresses because they wanted her to wear them and share them with her followers. While she was grateful for the seemingly endless flow of gifts, we realised if she took it seriously, she could probably monetise what she was doing, even though social media was still a relatively new thing,” Nick says.
And that’s exactly what Rozalia did about five years ago.
With the help of her management, Rozalia wrote a strategy and starting charging for posts. How much influencers charge is something of an industry secret, but it’s rumoured to be up to several thousand dollars per post at the high end.
As Rozalia’s follower count grew, so did offline opportunities.
To date, she’s collaborated on a shoe collection and held ambassador roles with Emirates, Schweppes, Anton Jewellery, Mercedes Benz, Crown Resorts and the Grand Prix, which see her attend countless events.
“Rozalia is a clever girl and she’s worked really hard to build what she has. Ultimately, it’s now a business she runs every day, her job,” Nick says.
And it’s like any other job, he insists.
“Everyone has moments with their job, don’t they? When it gives them the s---s, no matter how much they love it overall. Rozalia might get a job at the last minute and we think, ‘Argh, how can we juggle this with the kids?’, but we make it work.
“Some days, I feel like I take 600 photos of Rozalia for a post, but really it doesn’t faze me as it’s her job and she’s making a living out of it. It’s mostly positive as far as I’m concerned.”
The upside, Nick says, includes free holidays, tickets to sporting and social events, and more. “It really can be fantastic fun. We’re pretty lucky.”
JANE AND JOEY SCANDIZZO
Melbourne hairdresser to the stars Joey Scandizzo is no Insta slouch, with more than 100,000 followers. But his wife Jane — model and reality TV star — is definitely the bigger deal in the social sphere, boasting 629,000 fans.
Jane, who started modelling at 16 and married Joey in 2011, was an early adopter of social media, but never gave it much thought until her first appearance on Yummy Mummies in 2017 catapulted her into the limelight.
“As a model, Jane had Instagram for work purposes but wasn’t really active, but once she did the show, it started to grow and quickly,” says Joey, who has styled the tresses of A-listers Anna Wintour, Solange Knowles and Lindsay Lohan.
Like fellow influencer Rozalia, Jane quickly found herself beneath an avalanche of packages.
“She was getting bombarded with things and people were asking her questions on Instagram, so it became a bit of a side job, as we were building our house and starting our family,” Joey says.
Now, the mother of three is “doing a brilliant job and doing great out of it” sharing her love for “fashion, food and living a healthy, happy life” via the little squares.
And that means some cool perks for the pair’s sons Jagger, Jensen and Juke. There’s been helicopter rides, amazing meals out and even holidays.
“Some of the best things to come out of it have actually been opportunities for the kids,” Joey says.
“We have such hectic lives, we’re always so busy that when Jane gets offered something that we know the kids will enjoy, we get to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.
“At Christmas, there was a great circus event in Melbourne we were all invited to, and for the days leading up it, everyone was excited, so that’s a pretty great perk of her job.”
But there’s negatives, too.
“People do say some unkind things online, but you’ve got to have a tough skin and be able to put those things aside and move on.
“It’s people who have got nothing better to do. That’s the one thing I worry about, that sort of thing affecting Jane, but she’s smart and resilient.”
Joey himself has to be resilient on occasion too, when he’s roped into helping Jane, often calling on his former profession as a photographer.
“Last year we were in Byron Bay sitting on the deck relaxing, but Jane had a job to do and she asked me to take a photo, with the beach in the background. At times like that, when you’re on holiday and you’re hanging with the kids and you have to get a photo or something done, it can become a pain in the arse, but at the end of the day, that’s the income coming in, so it’s a minor inconvenience,” he says.
The couple are very clear on what they will and won’t share online.
“We know what we don’t want to share on our profiles and we talk about that, especially when it comes to the kids. We never post the front of our house for example and we’re always in control of how the kids are presented. Even though social media is part of our lives, it’s not our whole lives. We’re just a normal family.”
ABBY GILMORE AND LEIGH WELLINGTON
For Leigh Wellington, Instagram fame — and fame more broadly — was just part of the deal when he met his now-partner Abby Gilmore.
Gilmore, the ex of AFL player Jake Stringer, was already established as a “keeping it real” mummy blogger when she met Wellington through friends in 2017.
She has two daughters — Milla and Arlo — with Stringer, and she and Wellington welcomed son Mason in May last year. The family now features on her Instagram account, which reaches 114,000 followers.
For 29-year-old Wellington, who hails from Riddells Creek near Macedon and runs a carpentry and construction business in Melbourne, sponsored posts — like for food kit delivery service Hello Fresh, which Gilmore promotes — and occasionally being recognised, are now part of life.
“To be honest, it’s not too bad, it’s her job,” Wellington says.
“If I didn’t like it, we wouldn’t be together. I think like any job, it definitely has its ups and downs. But I like it, because it allows her to be home with all three kids, as well as work doing something she’s passionate about. She’s happy, so I’m happy.”
READ MORE:
WHY YOUR WINE AT ‘WITCHING HOUR’ IS NO JOKE
CARLTON AFLW TWINS SHUTDOWN BROWNLESS JAB
Laid-back Wellington doesn’t care what his partner shares online.
“I honestly don’t mind. Her stories and her kids are mainly what floods everyone’s feeds, which makes people smile. She’s grown a lot over the last few years, so I think what’s to come for Abby is very exciting, and whatever she is sharing will be of substance to someone somewhere.”
Wellington says being an influencer gives Gilmore a powerful public podium.
“She has her own platform to do whatever she likes and because she’s such a loving girl, people listen. She only ever wants to help people.”
The only drawback? The malice and mummy shaming that social media has become infamous for.
“You can get nasty people on social media, but I think Abby does a great job at blocking all that stuff out now.
“She doesn’t really focus on anything negative.”
Far from party invites and free products, Wellington sees flexibility as the biggest perk of Gilmore’s gig.
“The upsides would be the flexibility of it all; that Abby can be home more with the kids, as that’s what she loves doing, but can prioritise work.”