Nadia Bartel’s ‘white powder’ scandal was just the start of it

Nadia Bartel’s Kmart plate “white powder” video was one of the biggest scandals during lockdown, but there’s so much more to it.

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If there’s one type of scandal that I’m obsessed by it is celebs being caught red-handed with ‘white powder’.

Forget crocs, baggy jeans or celebrities discovering a new cleanse – I only have eyes for famous people embroiled in a white powder scandal.

This type of scandal has boldly defined the past two years of pop culture. No matter what was happening in the world, a celebrity or influencer was always caught on camera with a white powder substance. It was the kind of stupidity we could count on.

White powder stories helped break up a pretty bleak news cycle. We had lockdowns, Covid-19 outbreaks, interest rate surges and Russia going to war with Ukraine. Still, we also had some celebrities who were silly enough to pose with a white substance – and it was the kind of petty, rich person drama I needed.

Credit where credit is due, Nadia Bartel was the queen of the white powder scandal. It doesn’t matter how many rogue football stars with good hand-eye co-ordination get caught with a white substance, Bartel’s brush with white substance fame is something for the history books. Stand aside boys, this is Bartel’s time to shine.

During Melbourne’s hard lockdown in 2021, a video was leaked of her snorting a white substance while throwing a house party. The white substance was on a $3 Kmart plate and quickly went viral.

I can smugly report I own that exact plate. See? Influencers really are influential.

Nadia Bartel looking chic. Picture: Instagram

Nadia Bartel snorting white powder in a video.

There’s just something chef’s kiss about an influencer hosting an illegal party and being caught with white powder. Tell me you are out of touch without telling me you are out of touch. “I hosted a party in lockdown and a white substance was present!” Done.

Bartel apologised profusely and has since turned her talents to kissing her new beau on the beach and posting photos of her ‘real’ stomach. Oh, to be an influencer!

Recently, Love Island Australia star Cassidy McGill posted and then quickly deleted a snap on her Instagram story. In the deleted photo, she was holding a plate containing two lines and a bag of white powder.

Love Island star Cassidy McGill. Picture: Supplied

Cassidy in the deleted photo holding a plate with white powder. Picture: Instagram/CattCity

She has since apologised for the photo, but there’s something so relatable about being silly enough to post it on your own Instagram. First, McGill didn’t find love on a reality television show and now this. The woman is going through it!

White powder scandals aren’t just for influencers, though. AFL legend Wayne Carey ended up in what can only be described as a complete kerfuffle, when the Herald Sun, reported that the 51-year-old was evicted from Crown Burswood in 2022 after a zip-lock bag containing a white substance dropped from his pocket onto a gaming room table. Carey has since denied it was an illegal substance.

Wayne Carey denies he was carrying anything illegal. Picture: Nine News

West Bulldogs sensation and dreamboat Bailey Smith found himself part of a white powder scandal when a video and photos leaked that showed the star holding a small bag of white powder and a clip emerged that appears to show Smith sniff an unknown substance.

Bailey Smith of the Bulldogs in action. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Bailey Smith with his white powder.

He has since apologised and it has actually led to some crucial conversations about mental health. Hence, why he gets to keep his dreamboat title.

Maybe it is wrong of me to relish in the white powder scandals so much. But there’s something a little bit comforting about seeing your favourite celebrities mess up.

Sure, I might not have had my own white powder scandal, but I’m armed with my Nadia Bartel Kmart plate for when the time comes.