2022’s biggest Australian celebrity weddings, babies: full list
A slew of Aussie celebrities tied the knot and expanded their families in 2022. Here are all the actors, models, musos, and athletes who started the next chapter of their lives this year.
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Wedding bells have been ringing off the hook in 2022, with a slew of Aussie celebrities tying the knot, and expanding their families.
There’s been so many knots tied and babies born, especially in the past two months, you could be forgiven for them all blurring together.
Don’t worry, Confidential’s been keeping track.
Here are all the actors, models, musos, and athletes who started the next chapter of their lives this year.
BABIES
Model Shanina Shaik and Matthew Adesuyan
Aussie model Shanina Shaik and boyfriend Matthew Adesuyan could not be more “obsessed” with their firstborn son Zai, who they welcomed into their Los Angeles home in October.
Shaik described the first week of motherhood as “really eye-opening and so beautiful.”
“He’s very sweet. My mum’s mentioned he’s better than I was,” she said.
“He’s a hungry, growing boy. We’re so in love, all of us.”
Actor Rebel Wilson
Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson says she’s “forever grateful” to the surrogate who gave her, and her American girlfriend Ramona Agruma their first child, Royce Lillian.
“I can’t even describe the love I have for her, she’s a beautiful miracle!” Wilson, 42, captioned a snap of her newborn daughter in November.
“This has been years in the making … but I particularly wanted to thank my gorgeous surrogate who carried her and birthed her with such grace and care. I am ready to give little Roycie all the love imaginable. I am learning quickly … much respect to all the mums out there! Proud to be in your club.”
Wilson faced intense backlash just one week later, when after she said she was “crushing motherhood” the couple attended Paris Hilton’s party in Santa Monica.
A clip, which Wilson was quick to delete from her Instagram, showed the new mums hitting the dancefloor with their A-lister mates.
“I sure as heck wouldn’t have left my newborn to go partying the week she was born,” one follower surmised. “Whether I had birthed her myself or not is irrelevant!”
Radio host Kyle Sandilands
Sydney’s FM King Kyle Sandilands was fielding congratulatory calls from the Prime Minister, a former prime minister, a former NSW premier, and the self-styled last King of the Cross, when his fiancee Tegan Kynaston delivered their 3kg baby boy Otto by caesarean.
“We just look at him the entire time, like a couple of goons, just staring at him — and then we look at each other and smile,” an emotional Sandilands told The Daily Telegraph from Prince of Wales Private Hospital in August.
“And then we have a little tear.”
“When I’ve held other friends’ babies I’ve hated it when they have that floppy neck and it’s all a bit much for me – but him, it was different,” he said.
“That natural thing may have kicked in.”
Otto has a preordained best mate too, Elvis, the 11-month-old son of Sandilands’ best mate John Ibrahim.
Singer Conrad Sewell
Becoming a father has ushered in “the next chapter”of chart-topping singer Conrad Sewell’s life, and the former party boy couldn’t be happier.
Sewell and his wife Jasmine welcomed their first child, Memphis, in March.
“I think he is musical,” Sewell said of their son.
“There’s a couple guitars in the house, and if I strum a chord from another room he’ll perk up. I can sit him in his rocker and play and it’ll entertain him more than anything else.”
Memphis prefers the classics to nursery rhymes. He loves Motown, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder.
“He’ll go to bed to full hip hop blasting,” Sewell said.
Sewell’s second album, Precious, is due in 2023, and he said he’s already dreading time apart for his “little person” to go on tour.
“That’s the thing about being a parent. You go from not having to care about anything or anyone, to having to think about everything.”
Sports reporter Hayley Willis and model Fiona Falkiner
Fiona Falkiner and Hayley Willis say the year’s biggest challenge, but also its biggest joy, is parenting two under two.
“I think I said to Fi, the most rewarding thing is getting up each day and having the blessing of two kids who are happy and healthy,” Willis said.
The media personality power couple are mothers to Hunter and Spencer, who was born in August.
Both women fell pregnant through IVF, and used the same sperm donor, so their sons are biologically related.
Falkiner’s pregnancy was more difficult, the 39-year-old shared, because she had pelvic girdle problems that made carrying painful and did maternity leave in lockdown. She got one viable embryo per IVF treatment, of which there were two, that cost about $10,000 a pop. Whereas Willis, who is 30, got seven embryos on the first go.
IVF “is not cheap,” both said in unison.
“We know we’re lucky,” Willis said. “The journey that it took to get here is a rollercoaster for everybody, whether you go through IVF or not.”
Their kids call Falkiner ‘mummy’ and Willis ‘mumma’.
AFL
AFL star Tom Hawkins and his wife Emma announced the arrival of little Henry Fredrick Hawkins in July. Henry is their third child, and was welcomed by big sisters Arabella and Primrose.
Patrick and Mardi Dangerfield also had their third child, Winnifred Elizabeth Dangerfield, in October.
“Flic meeting the new edition (sic) to the @catswomens engine room for the first time. Winnifred Elizabeth Dangerfield. Go get em’ Winni,” the proud dad shared to Instagram.
Meanwhile, Western Bulldogs footballer Jason Johannisen welcomed his second child with model partner Logan Shine in October. Their son’s name is Ziggy Noa.
NRL star Mitchell Moses
Parramatta Eels star Mitchell Moses made the ultimate sacrifice for his team, by missing out on the birth of his first child to play his preliminary NRL final.
The 28-year-old’s partner Bri Gardoni began contractions shortly after his plane to Townsville took off.
Speaking to the media after the game, Moses revealed he met his daughter on FaceTime.
“The whole week has been a rollercoaster. I lost my grandmother last week and we laid her to rest on Monday,” he said.
“I’m welcoming my first child over FaceTime for the first time, deadset four hours ago, and now I’m playing in a Grand Final next week.
“I’ll be getting the boys on the plane as quick as possible so I can go meet my little one.
The happy couple named their daughter Aspyn Elle.
Singer Dami Im
Singing sensation Dami Im says it’s very difficult to make her infant son laugh, but when she does she feels like she will “explode” with joy.
The 33-year-old singer and husband Noah Kim officially welcomed their first child in May.
Taking to Instagram, Im wrote: “My burrito, welcome to this world 120522 Harrison Noah Kim.”
Im announced her pregnancy last December, sharing a snap of an ultrasound scan with her fanbase: “I got a gig booked in Brisbane for May 2022 at the maternity ward,” she wrote in the Instagram caption.
Kim re-posted his wife’s exciting announcement, adding: “Life is full of surprises.”
The couple have been married since 2012, a year before she found fame on The X Factor Australia – and it was Kim, who is now a social worker, who convinced his wife to audition for the show.
WEDDINGS
The Bachelor power couple Matty J and Laura Byrne
One of The Bachelor’s most successful couples – Matthew ‘Matty J’ David Johnson and Laura Byrne – exchanged vows at the Cupitt’s Estate near Mollymook on the New South Wales south coast.
Byrne wore a KYHA Studios gown, while Johnson wore M.J. Bale, and both of their wedding bands were custom-made by Byrne’s jewellery company Toni May.
She changed into a white corset top and gold sequin pants for the reception, where family and friends, including Bryne’s Life Uncut co-host Brittany Hockley, partied into the night.
The Bachie couple, who fell in love on Australia’s TV screens five years ago, enlisted their daughters Marlie-Mae, 3, and Lola, 1, as flower girls.
Johnson sealed the deal with cheeky wedding vows. He spoke about how he wanted an ambitious woman with a wicked sense of humour and a “great rack”.
“When I first saw you I thought, “Holy s**t, there she is”,” he said.
“I was determined to get you pregnant as soon as possible and, as luck would have it, you felt the same way. The only issue was there was a reality TV show in the way, and 24 women I had to work my way through at the same time.”
In an Instagram update on Saturday Byrne said: “We may not look how we did yesterday, but we bloody did it! And I sound like a 40-year-old man because I lost my voice screaming song lyrics all night.”
Rugby league stars Tiana Penitani and Aaron Gray
NRLW star Tiana Penitani and former Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Rabbitohs player Aaron Gray tied the knot with an intimate outdoor ceremony at The Orchard Estate in Byron Bay.
The sporting couple first met when they did nippers together at a local surf lifesaving club as teens, and reconnected later in life.
They had 73 guests, but not a lot of NRL mates, who were playing in the Rugby League World Cup in November.
“The day was surreal, even more beautiful than I had envisioned,” she said.
Media personality Sophie Monk and Joshua Gross
Aussie icon Sophie Monk’s wedding to Joshua Gross was a super-intimate affair, with Monk telling fans the pair “eloped-ish at home” for a low-key, guest-free ceremony.
On a Monday afternoon in March at their home on the Central Coast of NSW, the pair – who met on a long-haul flight from San Francisco to Sydney in 2018 – said “I do” during a private elopement.
“We always thought we’d elope, to be honest. So many people said to me, ‘I didn’t even see my husband on the night; if I had my wedding over, we’d just elope.’ Each to their own, but this is more our style,” Monk told Stellar.
“We’re quite private anyway. We had a massive engagement party last year and it was so nice. So we thought, well, why don’t we just get married at home?”
Monk’s family, whom she reportedly has a painful rift with, including her mother Sandi, father Andrew and sister Lucy, were noticeably absent from the engagement party, and the ceremony.
“I’m 42, so I feel like they’re like, OK, do it your way,” Monk said.
“We figured, if you don’t invite one person, then no one could get upset.”
Model Olivia Molly Rogers and Justin McKeone
Former Miss Universe Australia Olivia Molly Rogers was married, and then divorced, within seven months.
The Melbourne-based influencer was forced to share a statement about the status of her relationship with Justin McKeone, when internet sleuths pointed out that she had changed her social media handles back to her maiden name.
The couple married in a lavish ceremony at Terindah Estate on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula in February.
“After 4.5 years together, Justin and I have come to the difficult decision to separate as a couple,” Rogers wrote in a subsequent statement.
Emma Watkins tied the knot with long-term love Oliver Brian in an intimate country wedding ceremony on the first weekend of May.
Children’s entertainer Emma Watkins and Oliver Brian
Emma Watkins tied the knot with long-term love Oliver Brian in an intimate country wedding ceremony on the first weekend of May.
The former Wiggles member and ‘Emma Memma’ children’s entertainer dressed in a blush, ballet-inspired wedding gown by Paolo Sebastian, and wore a flower crown that she made herself.
“I was feeling very emotional – I held Olly’s hands, and I was kind of dancing, swaying a bit – that’s probably very me … Olly was just so struck, it felt very significant,” she told Vogue.
The pair met while working alongside each other on The Wiggles set, and were friends for four years before they started dating in 2018.
They married near Brian’s hometown of Warrnambool in Victoria.
Tennis star Ashleigh Barty and Garry Kissick
Former world No. 1 tennis star Ashleigh Barty posted a single photo from her private wedding ceremony, which was a who’s who of the nation’s tennis greats, including Pat Rafter, Casey Dellacqua, Alicia Molik and coach Jim Joyce.
Barty announced she and longtime partner Garry Kissick were now “husband & wife,” on Instagram in June.
The 26-year-old wore a wedding dress by Australian bridal couture designer Suzanne Harward for the occasion.
The famously private couple reportedly had their wedding at a secret venue in Queensland.
Barty and Kissick have been together since 2016, when the pair played a round of golf together at the Brooklands Golf Club in Queensland.
There was a string of AFL weddings in 2022:
North Melbourne star Luke McDonald tied the knot with his longtime partner Brooklyn Pensini in a stunning ceremony on the 19th of November. .
The 27-year-old exchanged vows surrounded by family and friends at Braeside at Gin House Creek Estate.
His teammates Cam Zurhaar and Nick Larkey, were among the groomsmen, as were St Kilda’s Jack Billings and former Roo Taylor Garner.
Collingwood star Steele Sidebottom tied the knot with his longtime partner Alisha Edwards in a stunning Daylesford ceremony in October.
Photos shared to social media show the couple filling up a champagne tower before guests, including former teammates Ben Crocker and Levi Greenwood and former coach Nathan Buckley, toasted to the newlyweds.
Sidebottom, who is due to notch his 300th game milestone next month, announced he was getting married by saying: ‘Sorry ladies, I’m off the market’.
Giants co-captain Stephen Coniglio married his partner Rebecca Demlakian in a lavish wedding featuring acrobats, a champagne tower and smoke machine on October 9.
The couple tied the knot at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney with a reception at Town Hall.
In attendance were many of Coniglio’s past and present teammates, and other footy stars, including groomsman Jaeger O’Meara, former forward Jonathon Patton and defender Phil Davis, plus Giants no. 1 ticketholder and former Sunrise host Melissa Doyle.
Demlakian looked radiant in a white beaded gown at the extravagant celebration.
Coniglio’s talented songstress sister Lauren also performed, and he said he couldn’t wait “for the rest of our lives together”.
Geelong star Zach Tuohy has married his love Rebecca Price for the second time in a traditional wedding in his homeland, Ireland.
The couple exchanged vows before family and friends at Ballybeg House in County Wicklow, Ballinglen on November 18.
Their two children, Rafferty and Flynn, were by their side in pictures showing the stunning scenery.
They first exchanged vows in August at the marriage registry office at the Old Treasury Building in Spring Street with Tuohy’s parents Noel and Marie in attendance, along with Price’s parents, Rob and Deb, and her grandmother, Mary.
Singer Jessica Mauboy and Themeli Magripilis
Jessica Mauboy finally tied the knot with her long-time partner Themeli Magripilis in July.
The couple said “I do” in a small church ceremony in Darwin on Saturday, and celebrated with 300 guests at the Mindil Beach Casino afterwards, in a reception that was reportedly full of happy tears and singing.
Mauboy has previously said she’d always dreamt of a beach Darwin wedding, where her extended family remains.
Neighbours’ Melissa Bell and Grant Thompson
Neighbours star Melissa Bell wore a piece of Australian TV history at her oceanside nuptials to her third husband Grant Thompson, 60, shortly before her 50th birthday.
Bell’s November wedding took place in the Rotary Broadwater Chapel by The Sea on the Gold Coast, six years after her husband Gary Dickinson sadly passed away following a heart attack.’
For the ceremony, the TV star revealed she wore the “over-the-top” dress that her character Lucy rocked for her on-screen nuptials with Mark Gottlieb back in 2020.
It features long sheer sleeves with floral applique and a tulle skirt, and she teamed it with a long veil and a curled updo on the show. Speaking of her white gown, which was gifted to her by the Neighbours team, she told New Idea: “At the end of filming they gave it to me, and I was like, ‘Wow a part of Australian TV history!’”
She added: “It’s very over-the-top, but I think that’s me.”
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