Patti Newton slams claims Matthew and Bert were in a ‘rift’

Patti Newton has slammed suggestions there was a ‘rift’ between her late husband and son, who won’t be attending his funeral.

Patti Newton has confirmed Matthew Newton will not attend his father’s state funeral, but has rubbished media reports suggesting there was any sort of “rift” before Bert’s death on Saturday at the age of 83.

Speaking to Daily Mail reporters on Monday, the showbiz icon’s widow said Matthew wouldn’t be able to attend his father’s funeral due to the pandemic, adding that “the press are just desperate to find a little glitch into (their relationship).”

“It’s just the logistics of it all, and with Covid, and with everything else,” she explained of her 44-year-old son’s situation.

Confidential first reported the 44-year-old Underbelly actor, who has been living in New York since 2012, was “unlikely” to return to Australia for his father’s state funeral, after Bert died on Saturday, aged 83.

Bert and Patti Newton with children Matthew and Lauren at Lauren's christening in 1979.

Matthew’s relationship with his parents was understood to have been quite strained over the years in the wake of alleged domestic violence claims against him, with Patti assuring media today that the rough patch was behind them.

“I’ve had so many conversations with (Matthew). We had a conversation last night and all the family were here. (The media) want to make it a rift, but there was no rift. There was never a rift with Bert,” she said.

“All that baloney about Matthew’s devastating childhood — I mean, I have two children, Lauren and Matthew both had the same childhood. They both had a wonderful childhood.”

She went on to explain: “The major dramas were when Matthew was in Sydney and he had his major dramas, but it was really nothing to do with us and as most parents say: ‘You can only be there for your children’. And we’ve always been around.

“And Bert more than me really. He was always saying ‘have we spoken to Matthew, have we done enough and have we said enough’.

She added: “I mean maybe he needs to put a statement out to stop everybody thinking that there’s a rift or something.”

Bert Newton and son Matthew in 1988.

While Patti told reporters Bert and Matthew spoke regularly via video call before the entertainment icon died in palliative care on Saturday, their relationship wasn’t always easy.

Newton and wife Patti spoke of their heartbreak to A Current Affair in 2010 following two alleged domestic violence incidents involving then fiance Rachael Taylor at a hotel in Rome.

Matthew Newton allegedly “punched Taylor in the face before being sedated by ambulance officers”. Taylor suffered a concussion and took out an apprehended violence order (AVO) against Newton.

Bert told of his pain after he picked his son up from the airport and took him to Wentworthville’s Northside West Clinic.

Patti Newton (R), joined by her husband, Bert Newton (2/R), her son, actor Matthew Newton (L) and daughter Lauren Newton, during Mother's Day concert.

“We should have seen the signs … but we didn’t,” Newton told ACA, admitting his son’s life had become a “train wreck”.

“When it concerns your child you say ‘well, of course we love him and we support him’,” Newton said. “I think I made an error in saying that because I do love him and I do support him, but I don’t support or condone any of the things that have happened.”

Matthew Newton, who had impressed critics with roles in Looking for Alibrandi and Underbelly, had four years earlier faced court over charges he assaulted his previous girlfriend, Neighbours star Brooke Satchwell. He pleaded guilty to one count of common assault and was given a 12-month good behaviour bond but his conviction was later overturned on mental health grounds.

Matthew Newton and Brooke Satchwell in 2005.

Matthew Newton and lawyer Chris Murphy in court on Brooke Satchwell charges.

Bert Newton confirmed his son had long abused drugs and alcohol, although he said they were not the root of his problems.

“His biggest problem is the fact that it’s not a drug, it’s not an alcohol problem as much as it’s a mental health issue,” Patti said.

“He’s always had a bit of a problem with his temper, even as a kid, but I do think it’s accelerated. We don’t know how to handle it.”

“There was a bomb about to go off somewhere, sometime,” Patti said.

Rachael Taylor and Matthew Newton in 2009.

Matthew Newton and lawyer Chris Murphy in 2010 for breaching Rachael Taylor AVO.

Matthew Newton’s problems didn’t end after his split from Taylor.

In 2011, he was charged with breaching the terms of the AVO Taylor had taken out on him. Then in December he was charged with assaulting a 66-year-old taxi driver twice in the Sydney suburb of Crows Nest, but was unable to attend court because he was not allowed to leave the US because he was also facing charges there.

Those charges related to two incidents in Miami, Florida.

He was charged with trespassing and resisting officers as well as battery after he attacked a hotel receptionist.

In November 2012 both matters were dismissed, conditional upon Newton completing 50 hours of community service, writing a letter of apology to the hotel clerk, Ariel Bory Vargas, paying $US11,500 restitution to Vargas and staying away from both him and Mr Moe’s, the bar where he was accused of trespass.

Bert, Patti, Matthew and Lauren Newton on the beach at Mornington in the early 1980s.

Newton stayed in the US, settling in New York where he met Catherine Schneiderman, 28, the daughter of New York’s former Attorney-General Eric Schneiderman.

The pair secretly married three years ago but none of the Newtons were reportedly at the wedding.

Newton managed to stay out of the headlines for years until 2018 when he was forced to step down as director of Jessica Chastain’s movie Ava, which he also wrote, when she was criticised for being an advocate for the Time’s Up movement while appointing a director with a history of domestic violences offences.

Bert Newton and son Matthew in 1991.

Matthew Newton said in a statement that he understood the backlash and was trying to be a better man.

“Over the past eight years I have been working extensively with healthcare professionals to help me overcome my addiction and mental health illness,” he said. “I have lived a quiet and sober life. All I can do now is try to be a living amends and hopefully contribute to the positive change occurring in our industry.”

Patti, Matt Welsh, Lauren holding baby Eva, Matthew holding nephew Sam and Bert at Eva’s christening.

Despite working on his mental health and addiction issues, Newton reportedly refused to travel home to Australia to see his ailing father despite being urged to be his wife, Catherine.

“She understands there is bad blood between them and Matthew has deep trauma from the way they lived such public lives while he was struggling with his mental health,” a source told New Idea earlier this year. “But Cat can’t bear to see Matthew’s family missing him at such an important and distressing time. Her biggest fear is Matthew not burying the hatchet with Bert and living the rest of his life with unresolved grievances.”

It is unknown if the Newtons were on better terms with Matthew at the time of Bert’s death.

Originally published as Patti Newton slams claims Matthew and Bert were in a ‘rift’