All giggles and gowns as Jennifer Coolidge comes Down Under

It’s quite a scene to imagine: Harper’s Bazaar Australia editor-in-chief Jillian Davison and the magazine’s chief writer, Patty Huntington, huddled in a Los Angeles toilet cubicle with the undisputed 2023 queen of Hollywood Jennifer Coolidge, swaddled in a dramatic, frilly pink Catherine D’Lish ballgown.

In the pink: Jennifer Coolidge in Harper’s BAZAAR Australia.Credit: Polly Borland

Between fits of giggles, the three women are trying to shoot a video to promote one of Australian publishing’s biggest coups of the year: a world-exclusive cover shoot and interview with Coolidge which goes on sale Thursday.

There is no diminishing how significant this moment is. Harper’s Bazaar Australia was unceremoniously axed in the great COVID magazine purge of 2020, only to be resurrected 18 months ago by a small but ambitious Sydney publishing group, the family-run Switzer Media.

The team from Down Under finally got the go-ahead, after months of behind-the-scenes work and planning, when the green light was given by Coolidge – one of the most in-demand celebrities in the world. It is fortuitous timing as Coolidge was later revealed – in a totally coincidental and separate deal – as the star guest at Sydney’s upcoming Vivid Festival.

Coolidge on the June-July cover of Harper’s BAZAAR Australia.Credit: Polly Borland

Refreshingly, Coolidge has no products to flog or brands to endorse during her extensive interview.

The actress was shot by acclaimed Australian photographer Polly Borland, who has captured everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to Nick Cave. The images are spectacular.

Thanks to her standout performance in The White Lotus series, Coolidge has won more than a dozen gongs including an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a SAG Award and two Critics Choice awards.

She even made the cover of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023 issue, but this is her first true high-fashion magazine shoot.

Coolidge tells Huntington her role playing the series’ unhinged heiress, Tanya McQuoid, almost didn’t happen. “I just wasn’t feeling it ... I just didn’t want to be in Hawaii on the beach in skimpy clothing and bikinis,” she says.

Three years later aged 61 she’s wading through a mountain of scripts. “Some very cool things are happening,” she says. “But I’m a little bit frozen. Because I have to make some big decisions about the next move.”

Meanwhile, she gets to play dress-ups for her new pals from Australia, one of the unexpected bonuses of her “Jenaissance”.

“If you were to say, ‘Jennifer, what are the perks?’ [I would say] it’s fashion people wanting you to wear their clothing. I would never have predicted that,” she says.

So far, that has included custom gowns from Tom Ford, Balmain, Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent and Dolce & Gabbana.

“When big fashion houses offer you a dress and you put it on and it’s the best you’ve looked in your life, you just can’t believe it,” she says. “The difference between struggling and being where I am now is that the clothing improves 1 million per cent.”

Zonfrillo’s family welcomes support

The public outpouring of love and support since the shock news of MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo’s death three weeks ago has not been lost on his grieving widow Lauren.

Zonfrillo with baby Isla and wife Lauren Fried in 2021.

Sources close to the family, who have been given consent to speak, inform PS Lauren Zonfrillo and the couple’s two young children, Alfie and Isla, have been surrounded by friends and family since his funeral in Sydney last Saturday. The chef also has two older daughters, Ava and Sophia, from two previous marriages.

The family is also acutely aware of the continuing media interest in Zonfrillo’s death, thanks largely to his position on one of Australia’s biggest TV shows, MasterChef. The 46-year-old died on the eve of the latest series due to go to air on May 1, resulting in its delay.

The series eventually went to air on May 7 with Zonfrillo’s family’s blessing.

Now, in an effort to put an end to persistent speculation and rumours in media coverage since his death, a source close to the family told PS that the chef died of natural causes, effectively ruling out a drug overdose or suicide.

A source also denied multiple reports claiming that Zonfrillo was secretly battling a cancer relapse and had been the subject of multiple welfare checks.

For years Zonfrillo himself had been open about his previous heroin addiction and mental health battles, both topics canvassed in great detail in his much scrutinised 2021 biography Last Shot.

Zonfrillo’s death has been referred to the Victorian Court for Coronial Investigation. A spokesperson told PS that it remained an “active investigation”, and no further comment would be made.

When a death is reported to the court, Victoria Police are asked to complete an initial report of the facts and circumstances. Following initial investigations, the coroner will determine if they request a brief of evidence.

The length of time required to compile a coronial brief can vary depending on the complexity of the matter and the information sought by the investigating coroner. Similarly, the length of a coronial investigation is dependent on the facts and circumstances being reviewed by the coroner.

Findings are published when an inquest is held, recommendations have been made or a coroner otherwise orders they be published.

The court cannot confirm if inquests will be held for matters until dates are set and all parties have been notified.

Fashion star is born

It would be easy to dismiss Afterpay Australian Fashion Week as a trivial sideshow, but there were some seriously wonderful moments this year.

This includes the runway debut of emerging young Sydney designer Nathaniel Youkhana – one sadly missed by the recently installed globe-trotting US-based Vogue Australia editor-in-chief Christine Centenera, who made a blink-and-you’d-miss-her appearance at fashion week between catch-ups with Margot Robbie.

Emerging Sydney fashion designer Nathaniel Youkhana.

A softly spoken dead ringer for a young John Galliano, Youkhana floored buyers and fashionistas around the world with his designs and intricate braiding, drawing the attention of British Vogue fashion director Julia Sarr-Jamois. This was courtesy of an Instagram tagging from fellow designer Nadia Jones, who happens to be the sister of one of the world’s most influential fashion designers, Fendi creative director Kim Jones.

Proud mum Rosa Youkhana at her son Nathaniel’s Fashion Week debut on Monday night.Credit: Andrew Hornery

PS sat next to a woman who burst into tears at the end of the show. She later apologised for her emotional state explaining: “I’m just a very proud mother”. Rosa Youkhana – chicly dressed in a gown created by her son – was clearly moved by the reception, explaining he had invested thousands of hours of “blood, sweat and tears” into the collection, with just as much dedication as any aspiring cricketer, footy player or Olympian we often hear about.

Debut: A model wearing one of Nathaniel Youkhana’s creations at Fashion Week.Credit: Brendon Thorne/Getty

“I knew he was different when he was a little boy. He’d dress his sister’s Barbies in fabulous gowns made of deflated balloons and Chux cloths. They were really something,” Rosa beamed to PS. She herself is a third-generation seamstress. Her mother made patterns drawn on old copies of the Herald which wrapped the beans in her father’s eastern suburbs fruit shop.

“And now hopefully the rest of the world will get to see his wonderful creativity too.”

Eating at Edna’s Table

As tributes have flowed for comedian Barry Humphries, former Sydney restaurateur Jennice Kersh, who with her brother Raymond ran one of the hottest eateries in town, called up PS to share her own anecdote.

Humphries was a regular at Edna’s Table, amused by the fact it was not named after his alter ego but in honour of the Kershs’ late mother. During one visit in late 1985 – decades before Hannah Gadsby chronicled her vulnerabilities through comedy and took him to task over his off-stage transgender comments – Humphries was feeling particularly depressed.

Lonely at the top: the late Barry Humphries photographed in 2016.

“He phoned me up saying he was down in the dumps after his show had been panned by the critics. He told me how lonely life could be when times are bad because he felt he had no one to turn to. I invited him in for lunch, and we had a very long talk,” Kersh says.

Humphries then hatched an idea of hosting a lunch for all the great comedians of the day: a way to connect with his peers, and hopefully build a few bridges. Humphries would pay for the lunch to let his fellow comics know how appreciated they were.

“Well, they all wanted to come. We had Noeline Brown, Grahame Bond, Willie Fennell, Norman Erskine, Doug Mulray, Jan Adele ... even though none of them really knew Barry, they were just so flattered he would invite them,” Kersh says, adding Humphries didn’t want any fanfare. “He really was just such a lovely man.”

Tina Turner performs in London, 2009.Credit: Reuters

Tina’s right-hand man

TINA: The Tina Turner Musical has finally made it to Sydney after an eight-year gestation, and while audiences are loving the sweeping tribute to one of rock and roll’s true legends, there is an equally intriguing character on the stage that Sydney can call its own: music impressario Roger Davies.

It is because of Davies, who was Turner’s manager at the time, that What’s Love Got To Do With It heralded the singer’s massive comeback - aged well into her 40s and largely written off by the music business. It would go on to become the biggest-selling song of her career.

Mat Verevis, who plays Roger Davies, and Ruva Ngwenya, who stars as Tina in The Tina Turner Musical.Credit: Janie Barrett

The quiet Australian: Uber music manager Roger Davies.

Davies is being played by young Sydney actor Mat Verevis, who agreed the shy music executive’s story was an inspiring one. These days Davies splits his time between Sydney and the United States, where he still manages artists including Pink.

“I have read a lot about him and one day I hope to shake his hand,” Verevis told PS ahead of Thursday’s opening night.

There would be few other Australians who have had quite as significant an impact on the modern music scene as Roger Davies, who was recognised by the industry in 2017 with an ARIA Icon Award.

Davies set up the Sunrise booking agency with Michael Chugg in 1972.

Their clients included Sherbet, which under Davies’ guidance would go on to become one of the most popular acts in the country, helped launch his career into the showbiz stratosphere and claim the likes of Olivia Newton-John and Cher on his books.

Davies, who has also managed Sade, has long avoided courting personal publicity. His oldest friends say he would prefer to let his stars do the shining.