Inside Roxy Jacenko’s scandal-plagued career after she steps down as the director of PR firm, Sweaty Betty

From a mystery poo jogger to public celebrity feuds, the self-appointed “PR Queen” Roxy Jacenko is no stranger to a public scandal.

After an 18-year tenure manning one of Australia’s most well-known PR firms, Roxy Jacenko is no stranger to being in the public eye.

On Thursday night, the 42-year-old announced her imminent departure with a throwback photo of herself in 2014.

“Eighteen years ago this was me. A hungry 24-year-old desperate to succeed (at something, actually anything),” she wrote in the caption.

“No uni degree and a half-finished TAFE course, four months’ PR experience and a small office with a fax machine and cordless phone.

“Fast forward to today and I have weathered storms one could only assume you would see on a miniseries and heck, I think I’ve done it with gusto – but now it’s time for me to hang my PR shoes up (and no they were never stilettos they were trainers – why? Cause you can’t run in them) and say goodbye to my working life as I know it.”

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Roxy Jacenko announced she was stepping down as director of Sweaty Betty, sharing a throwback photo of her early days. Picture: Instagram

Dubbing herself as a “PR Queen,” Jacenko has undoubtedly weathered her fair share of scandals during her lengthy career. From mystery poo joggers, celebrity feuds and the public incarceration of her husband, Oliver Curtis, here are some of her most notable.

Sweaty Betty offices plagued by a ‘poo jogger’

In October 2019, Jacenko revealed her Sydney offices had become targeted by multiple instances where human faeces had been found on the property.

Located in the affluent suburb of Paddington, the PR boss shared three videos showing an activewear clad woman relieving herself between two parked cars, with the incident launching an investigation with the NSW Police.

At the time, Jacenko told news.com.au she didn’t believe the incident was targeted.

“This isn’t targeted, this is a person who’s getting a thrill. Some people have sex on the beach, some people sh*t in the street,” she said.

“This is something people get off on. I get thrills having a vodka and a wedge of lime, others do this.”

Public opinion around Roxy Jacenko’s outing of the poo jogger was mixed. Picture: Roxy Jacenko/Instagram

Never one to miss out on an opportunity, Jacenko later inked a sponsored video with fibre supplement Metumucil, which she “dedicated to our Paddington Poopinator”.

“I suppose you could say I have a knack at commercialising even the most random situations,” she told news.com at the time.

“I’m a businesswoman, it’s in my blood!”

Roxy’s husband jailed, breast cancer announcement

One of the most sensational controversies to hit Jacenko’s family, in 2016 her husband was sentenced to one year in jail for insider trading.

Just a few weeks later Jacenko was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Later Jacenko told The Morning Show that she found a lump “the size of a mandarin” while removing fake taken, and underwent surgery to remove the cancer a week later. She also underwent radiation treatment and was placed on a cancer blocker treatment, which she will continue until 2027.

Speaking to this publication, she referred to that year as “the worst 12 months of my life”.

Oliver Curtis and Roxy Jacenko photographed entering the Supreme Court in 2016. Picture: Adam Yip

Headlines later continued when Jacenko was pictured getting intimate with ex-boyfriend Nabil Gazal in the two months before her husband’s release from jail.

While her marriage with Curtis ultimately survived, Jacenko admitted to speaking to a divorce lawyer while her husband was serving time at Cooma Correctional Centre.

Speaking about the photos, Jacenko said they were taken while both her and Mr Gazal were “drunk and stupid and mucking around”.

“We were stupid … that’s where it starts and that’s where it stops. My marriage in my eyes had come to an end … it had been a seriously tough 12 months,” she said.

Her marriage with Oliver Curtis ultimately survived. Picture: Instagram

In 2017, police were called to investigate after the building was vandalised at least three times with “foul-smelling sludge” and ink-injected eggs following an extensive $1.4 million renovation.

She said she believed the culprit was “someone close to home” though no one has ever been charged.

House-deposit sized children’s parties

Always sure to start criticism, Jacenko has became famed for her elaborate children’s parties.

This year, her oldest child, Pixie’s 11th birthday saw her parents fork out $40,000 for Pixie and her 45 closest friends in a nightclub-themed party.

Some of the highlights included a 360-degree photo booth, a personal hair stylist, a professional DJ, two zebras and even fireworks.

The 11th birthday cost Jacenko and Curtis a plum $40,000.

However Jacenko was quick to defend the party, stating it was paid for with money Pixie has made from the toy business she launched in lockdown, Pixie’s Pix.

“It was a celebration of not only her 11th birthday but her business,” Jacenko told Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon.

“She has a toy business. She started in Covid … and it went gang busters.”

It was a celebration of Pixie’s business success.

A long list of public feuds

No stranger to a public feud, the Sweaty Betty founder has had significant spats with personalities including Olympian Stephanie Rice (who Jacenko called “one of the rudest and laziest people” she’s ever met), and gossip columnist Andrew Hornery (patched up as 2021).

Perhaps most notable, was her public friendship breakdown with friend and cricket WAG Candice Warner.

At one point Jacenko was Warner’s publicist, and friend, and was seen by her side during her husband’s ball tampering scandal in 2018.

Roxy Jacenko comforting Candice Warner who was in tears at her husband David Warner's press conference. Picture: Fox Sport.

Their relationship turned sour after Jacenko was punched multiple times by Warner during a one-on-one boxing match in the 2020 series premiere of SAS Australia.

“Is she really my friend anymore? No. You know why I never hit back? Because it’d be like being in a ring with Jackie. You’re my mate, and I’m not going to smack you in the face for other people’s entertainment,” she told KIIS hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.

“You look back and go, ‘F**k, I should have whacked her one,’ but you know what? I’m bigger than that and I’ve got respect for other people,” said Jacenko, speaking on the Kyle and Jackie O Show.

“People will always let you down. I believe after what I did for Candice that it was a real smack in the face, pardon the pun.

While Warner offered an olive branch and told Kyle and Jackie O that it was “never an intention” to lose Jacenko’s friendship, the attempt was dismissed by the PR guru.

Jacenko later told the Daily Mail, the former ironwoman was “delusional” if she thought their friendship could be salvaged.

Offices hit by graffiti vandal

Six months before the infamous poo jogger, the Sweaty Betty offices also fell victim to what she labelled as a “childish and pathetic” series of graffiti attacks.

The late night attacks saw the phrase “Roxy is a c***” scrawled on the wars, with police called to the Sydney address at 8.15am.

Cruel words were scrawled in giant letters on the wall of her Sweaty Betty office.

Vandals also sprayed graffiti on the traffic barrier near Syd Enfield Drive that read: “Roxy Jacenko is a crook”, as well as writing “Roxy is a dog” on the road.

Jacenko however seemed unphased.

“Call me names all you want, I will continue to rise above it, each and every time,” she told news.com.au.

“You aren’t upsetting me one bit. All you are doing is wasting your time and firing me up to succeed.”

The brutal attack comes after reports her “noisy” $400,000 Aston Martin Vantage V8 that she parks illegally in a no-stopping zone outside her office had angered neighbours.

However, Jacenko said she only resorted to the sneaky park when there was “no other parking” available.