‘My world for 28 years’: Beauty guru Gry Tome makes emotional tribute after husband’s death

Victorian entrepreneur Gry Tomte has paid a heartbreaking tribute to her husband after he was found dead outside their Queensland home, describing him as “my world for 28 years”.

• Teens charged with murder over death of beauty guru’s husband

The grieving wife of Zdravko Bilic has paid tribute to her husband after his body was found outside their Queensland home.

Beauty entrepeneur Gry Tomte posted a statement on her Instagram account on Thursday morning saying Mr Bilic had been more than just “the beauty mogul’s husband”.

Ms Tomte released the statement just hours after the announcement that two teenage boys had been charged with the alleged stabbing murder of her husband.

Mr Bilic’s body was discovered outside the Sunshine Coast home he shared with Ms Tomte on Monday after she asked neighbours to check on him following a prolonged period of no contact.

Gry Tomte raised the alarm with a neighbour when she became worried after not hearing from her husband. Picture Instagram

Ms Tomte said she was heartbroken at losing her “everything”.

“There is no way I can capture the immense grief I feel over losing the most beautiful man. My world for 28 years,” she said. “The man who was so much more than ‘the beauty mogul’s husband’. He was my everything.”

The pair had been married for 28 years. Picture Instagram

Ms Tomte released a statement through Queensland Police on Thursday afternoon, speaking of her deep love for her husband and how his death has left behind an “unbearable” void.

“Zed was my entire world for 28 years,” she said.

“From the moment we met, both of us living away from family in the new country we had fallen in love with, we knew instantly we were each others’ ‘person’.

“We were complete opposites – and together we made a whole.

“People say I’m the strong one – but I could only be strong because he allowed me to be, and because he wrapped his arms around me daily to make sure I could.”

Ms Tomte says there’s ‘no way’ she can capture her ‘immense grief’.

A heartbroken Ms Tomte also spoke about her husband’s love of Melbourne Victory and the impact he had on those who met him.

“He was an avid soccer fan – he’d fly down to go to matches with his close group of friends – in 10 years I think he missed two Melbourne Victory games,” she said.

“He was the MLP (most loved person) in his soccer teams – both in Melbourne and on the Sunshine Coast. And he loved them right back.

“He was loved by more people than I can put into words. As one of our neighbours said yesterday: ‘no offence, Gry, but he was the whole street’s favourite person’.”

“If you’ve had the privilege of being in Zed’s presence, you’ll know that he was literal sunshine.

“And the world is a little less bright without him in it.”

How Gry Tomte became a beauty entrepeneur

Ms Tomte was born in Norway and grew up in a small town about 30 minutes outside the capital city Oslo.

She studied Social Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Oslo.

She first moved to Australia nearly 30 years ago while still in her twenties, before moving to Canada, where her idea for a beauty business was born.

Not long after, she returned to Australia to live permanently.

Originally from Norway, Gry Tomte founded Melbourne-based skincare company HUD Skin and Body, with clinics in St Kilda and Northcote.

In 2017, she founded HUD, a high-end skin and beauty clinic in St Kilda, before a second was opened in Northcote.

Business boomed with HUD quickly becoming “one of the most awarded skin clinics in Melbourne”, offering laser treatments, clinical facials and needling among other treatments.

In August 2005 MS Tomte married partner Zdravko Bilic, with his death coming shortly before the pair’s 20th wedding anniversary.

Ms Tomte thanked her husband in an interview with Jasmine Alexa for helping her get HUD off the ground.

“It made me super nervous but luckily my husband and some very entrepreneurial friends of mine told me ‘what’s the absolute worst that can happen?’,” she said.

Originally published as ‘My world for 28 years’: Beauty guru Gry Tome makes emotional tribute after husband’s death