This was published 3 years ago
Race that stops nation not enough to lure Waterhouse home
By Lucy Manly
It was the race that stops the nation but not all of Australia’s racing royalty were taking part in the action trackside.
Polarising bookmaker turned stock picker Tom Waterhouse, his wife Hoda and the couple’s three children left Sydney last month to move abroad.
Emerald City is told the family of five are now living in London for the next 12 months while Waterhouse raises money for Waterhouse VC investment fund.
With many industries affected by the pandemic, Waterhouse has found success buying and trading gambling shares for investors, making returns of more than 1800 per cent in two years, according to media reports.
According to friends, the couple made a quiet exit from the harbour city without much fanfare.
The racing scion faced court in March after being charged with illegally offering inducements or incentives to gamblers. This comes after his dad Robbie faced similar charges.
Waterhouse did not respond to Emerald City request for comment.
Melbourne’s well-heeled raising coin for a cause
Friends and family are rallying in support of Melbourne property developer Jonathan Hallinan who has quietly been battling a cancer diagnosis.
Mr Hallinan, the Australian Rich Lister behind BPM property group, returned home this week to his partner Mikka Hendra after a five-week hospital stay after receiving a bone marrow transplant.
The couple has now set up a GoFundMe page to raise crucial funds and awareness for Royal Melbourne Hospital via the RMH Foundation. The pair hopes to raise funds for an approved healthcare worker reflexologist/specialist massage therapist who will treat the patients in Ward 7B & ICU during their stay.
This treatment will provide inpatients with some much-needed relief from the excruciating symptoms and stress they must endure during their stay.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you make the rich list – cancer does not discriminate,” close friend Jack Roberts told Emerald City last week.
The South Yarra-based realtor has joined Hallinan and Hendra on their quest to bring awareness to bone marrow transplants and how debilitating the treatment is on patients.
Last Saturday, Roberts put his body through its paces during a 5-hour ultramarathon (50km) around Melbourne, focussing on Melbourne’s infamous heartbreak hill, Anderson Street, South Yarra.
“It was insignificant compared to what Jonathan has gone through,” he said.
Hendra is said to be a great supporter of her partner, sharing regular updates to friends on social media.
“This has been the hardest challenge and fight of his life … much greater than we expected,” she shared on Instagram.
“Today we woke to the good news that his neutrophils have tripled to 0.3 and white blood cells to 0.5. This means his immune system is getting stronger by the day and that the bone marrow transplant is working,” she added.
As of last May, Hallinan was listed 146th on The Australian Financial Review’s annual Rich List, with an estimated wealth of $735 million.
Sam’s relationship turns frosty
Weeks on from her online anti-vaccination rant on Instagram, Home and Away starlet Sam Frost has backflipped on her headline-making views, insisting she will be written out of the soap until she is fully vaccinated.
However, friends close to the former reality star believe Frost’s brush with negative publicity drove a wedge between herself and live-in lover Jay Bruno.
Emerald City previously reported that Bruno, a fellow reality star hailing from Melbourne, and Frost were in the midst of a casual fling during his stay in Sydney. Now, months on, the pair who were once regulars on each other’s Instagram pages have all but disappeared and no longer follow each other online.
“They are still close, Jay just lives in Melbourne and she is still in Sydney for work,” a spokesperson for Frost told Emerald City. However, the spokesperson did not elaborate further on why they’re no longer pals online.
Friends revealed things took a romantic turn during lockdown.
Jay, a part-time musician, previously hosted the Jay, Foz & Alex radio show with Bachelor veteran Alex Nation and Luke Forrest. He also rose to fame with former girlfriend Leah Johnsen on season two of Channel Seven’s Instant Hotel in 2019.
Frost was widely criticised after she tearfully declared, in an Instagram post in October, that she had not been vaccinated and used the word “segregation” to describe the treatment of unvaccinated people. Last week, the Sydney-based actor said she had a medical procedure booked for January but would be fully vaccinated by mid-to-late February.
Frost’s announcement comes after Channel Seven said it would require all staff at Seven Productions, which includes the cast of Home and Away, to be double vaccinated by January 10.
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