Sam Kerr and Nikki Stanton top most intriguing couples list
Some celebrity twosomes make perfect sense. Others make no sense at all. Columnists Annette Sharp and Briana Domjen bring you the definitive list of Australia’s most fascinating couples. WATCH: ANNETTE AND BRIANA DISCUSS THE LIST
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- A list: Australia’s most bankable names
- B list: Busy and bold who dress the part
- C list: Celebrity big names now but not for long
- D list: Desperate stars who wish they were A listers
Public interest in celebrity relationships — in how the other half love or do business — has long been one of the great shared preoccupations of the chattering classes.
Some high profile couples intrigue us because, as a twosome, they make perfect sense — Beyonce and Jay Z, Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull, Barack and Michelle Obama, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman to name a few.
While others do because they seem to be a case of opposites attract — Prince Harry Windsor and Meghan Markle, Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Woody Allen and Soon Yi Previn.
Today we cast an eye over the pairs we currently consider to be the nation’s most intriguing — for the reasons mentioned above and for a host of others.
Can billionaire James Packer settle down and succeed at a third marriage, this time to a Canadian bikini model, Kylie Lim? It’s a question not even Packer knows the answer to.
And what of attractive young Olympic swimmers Kyle Chalmers and Madison Wilson? And Matildas’ soccer star Sam Kerr and American Nikki Stanton? Can the athletic pursuits that make them both look so compatible on paper lead to lasting love?
And what of the business alliance between new media proprietors Alex Waislitz and Antony “the Cat” Catalano? Can these two men who hail from vastly different backgrounds revive a troubled business and create a new media empire?
Fascinated, as you are, we can’t wait to find out.
1. Sam Kerr & Nikki Stanton
2. Christina Centenera & Joel Edgerton
Actor Joel Edgerton has become a firm fixture on the world’s fashion scene since hooking up with Vogue Australia ‘It’ girl stylist Christine Centenera. The alluring couple’s romance is relatively new, having only dated for just under a year, however by all accounts, they’re both in it for the long haul. Intensely private Centenera was dating Josh Goot for seven years, before their romance ended in 2017 and Edgerton swept her off her feet.
3. Kyle Chalmers & Madison Wilson
The Olympic swimming lovebirds are the darlings of the Australian swim squad and are committed to supporting each other’s dreams of qualifying for Tokyo in 2020. First, however, they will both compete in this month’s world swimming championships in South Korea. Country kids both — he’s from Port Lincoln, South Australia, she’s from Yeppoon, Queensland — the pair met through swimming and dated for two years before breaking up in 2017 and reconciling later. Chalmers, 21, is the reigning 100m freestyle champ and harbours ambitions of one day playing AFL like his dad, Port Adelaide and Adelaide player, Brett. Wilson, 25, is a backstroker who studied social work at university.
4. Erica Packer & Enrique Martinez Celaya
Her sudden engagement — at Christmas — to the Cuban born artist came as a shock to friends and family alike but six years after splitting from billionaire James Packer, mother-of-three Erica Packer has found love again with the LA-based artist Celaya, a sculptor, painter, printmaker and physicist. Celaya is a father of four who Packer reportedly met on the school run following her relocation to LA after the 2013 breakdown of her marriage. He was by her side during a trip home to Sydney in March this year during which Packer took the opportunity to introduce her new man to friends and family. A wedding date still looks a way off with Packer enjoying her freedom and the anonymity her US life permits but Packer’s recent wardrobe choices and decision to shun her former billionaire-wife signature glamour style in favour of an understated minimalist black and white wardrobe — indicates is giving herself over to Celaya’s sense of gravitas and love for contrast.
5. Jessica Gomes & Daniel Ricciardo
Are they or aren’t they? Gomes was overheard telling people she was dating F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo however he wasted no time shutting down the rumours, telling a newspaper: “At least it was a positive news story. Even though it was taken out of nothing …’’ The pair met when Gomes was working at the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival and Ricciardo competed in the Melbourne Grand Prix. While is may have just have been a fling, we’d have love to have seen it develop into something more.
6. Sophie Monk & Joshua Gross
They met on a plane to Los Angeles in August 2018 when a tipsy Monk leaned over from her business class seat and asked the good looking stranger next to her to kiss her. The marketing executive who works for medical device manufacturer Zimmer Biomet was happy to oblige and the pair began a long distance phone relationship that quickly evolved into romance. Eleven months on, the pair are still together — the longest relationship TV presenter Monk, 39, has had since splitting from French-born billionaire and Playboy brand rights holder Jimmy Esebag in 2011. They share a mutual love of the finer thing in life and travel — and former Bachelorette Monk has admitted she has even fantasised about baby with the olive-skinned Gross.
7. James Packer & Kylie Lim
There have been few shining moments in the life of billionaire James Packer in recent years but his introduction to Canadian model Kylie Lim almost two years ago was a bright spot in challenging times. The Canadian model met the 51-year-old retiring casino magnate in 2017 when Packer was at lowest point of his life following the collapse of his international casino empire dream, bust-up with singer Mariah Carey and health free fall. Having supported him through his mental health breakdown and been on hand, with his mother, during his rehabilitation at a Boston Hospital in 2018, Lim, who wound down her social media after being linked to Packer, may be the third bikini model to walk down the aisle with Packer. Packer last year said the couple were “taking things slowly” but her appearance at his side in Australia in February suggest the pair things may be picking up pace.
8. Liam Hemsworth & Miley Cyrus
It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Hollywood actors Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus. While they managed to find their way to the altar last year, getting there wasn’t straight forward. What would ultimately become a loving yet tumultuous relationship began in 2008 when the pair met on set of The Last Song, her first feature film, after her mother hand-picked Hemsworth for her daughter’s first on-screen kiss. Problems arose in 2013 when Cyrus off the rails. She dated some others — both men and women — before the pair ultimately got their happy ending with a low-key wedding in Nashville in 2018.
9. Sam and Phoebe Burgess
They survived a sexting scandal in September 2018 but within days of the birth of their second child in December South Sydney league star Sam Burgess confirmed his four-year marriage to freelance writer and influencer Phoebe was over. Then, as the 2019 league season began, Burgess quietly moved back into the couple’s four-bedroom Maroubra home. In April, Phoebe told Stellar magazine: “We are together, we are married” — steely words that reflect her determination to make the couple’s relationship work.
“We’ll bunker down and look after each other,” she said.
The Sunday Telegraph earlier reported tensions between the couple’s economically disparate tribes had contributed to the split.
10. Daniel Johns & Michelle Leslie
He’s the enigmatic muso who found fame at age 15 as the frontman of Silverchair and she’s the exotic model who was arrested on drug charges in Bali in 2005 after being caught with two ecstasy tablets in her handbag. Daniel Johns and Michelle Leslie having been knocking around together in recent years following his split from a series of model girlfriends including Louise Van der Vorst in 2012. While they are yet to comment on the relationship, sources say they are devoted to each other after rebounding from failed marriages — his from singer Natalie Imbruglia in 2008 and hers from event manager Adam Zammit, who introduced the pair.
11. Jodhi Meares & Michael Reid
The model-turned-fashion designer likes to keep the media guessing about her love life — one moment she’s with a rocker, the next she’s enjoying the hospitality of her ex-husband James Packer, then she’s embarking on a short marriage to a younger photographer — but in recent months Meares has set tongues wagging with divorced Sydney property developer and father to three sons, Michael Reid. Reid is a yachting enthusiast, keen adventurer and mountain climber who surprised many by posting a sly shot to Instagram of himself and the bikini-clad Upside designer, tucked up in his bed on his yacht, in April. Meares, 48, and Reid both crossed paths at Mosman High where they developed something of a mutual crush, claim sources — one they only recently have had the opportunity to explore.
12. Dylan Alcott & Chantelle Otten
Cheeky Australian wheelchair athlete Dylan Alcott met Otten, a married sexologist, when she attended a signing for his biography, Able, in Melbourne in March and approached Alcott for a photo of him with a disabled relative. (Sources have informed this newspaper that relative was her then husband’s father). With her marriage ending shortly after they met, a flurry of DMs lead to Alcott and the sexologist becoming the talk of conservative Melbourne. The Paralympian and the sexologist have since celebrated their romance on social media, with Alcott posting shots to Instagram in May of the couple enjoying a trip to Paris last month where Alcott won his eighth grand slam quad singles title at the French Open and tagged Otten the “LOML” — love of my life — in a post. Between sex advice posts on her Instagram page, she has described Alcott as her “hero”.
13. Delta Goodrem & Matthew Copley
Delta learnt the hard way not to flaunt her romances, so has kept her blossoming relationship with guitarist Matt Copley under wraps since they began dating in January 2018. It’s believed the low-key pair met while travelling during her Wings of The World Tour in October and November of 2017 and hit it off.
14. Francesca Cumani & Oli Bell
Racing lovers fell in love with the aristocratic Cumani after she was introduced to the nation as a commentator at horse racing events for Channel 7 in 2009. In the decade to follow, the glamorous beauty and daughter of Italian horse trainer Luca Cumani became the most poised sophisticate most Australian punters had ever seen trackside at Randwick. Before long Australian men were swooning over her expert commentary and were almost grateful to the dashing Australian polo player, Rob Archibald, she married in 2014 keeping her based locally. Two years later their baby son, Harry, was born. Then, in late 2018, it emerged the couple had separated. Cumani, 35, was soon linked to her younger ITV co-commentator Oli Bell, 31, who worked for Sky Racing Australia and is also a professional poker player. In January of this year, Ten swooped on the TV racing rights and Cumani reportedly became the highest paid woman on Australian television in a deal said to be worth $5 million over five years that will keep her coming back for years to come.
15. John Ibrahim & Sarah Budge
This is one relationship which, on paper, makes no sense. Sarah Budge, the model daughter of a successful Sydney businessman, began dating Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim in 2014 and by all accounts, it’s been one wild ride.
Their relationship — which is just as controversial as it is intriguing — most recently endured a hiccup when NSW Police raided bar owner Budge’s Double Bay apartment and allegedly found a loaded Glock handgun stored in a wooden box in her bedroom. Insiders say it’s put immense strain on their relationship.
16. Dylan Walker & Alexandra Ivkovic
Manly Sea Eagles’ star Dylan Walker was initially found guilty of pulling his partner — a former Miss Universe Australia contender — to the ground by her ponytail in December following a fight over a PlayStation after Ivkovic offered her fiance a utensil to eat his dinner. After being charged and suspended from playing league Walker was later found not guilty of assault after Ivkovic, 24, recanted her story, telling Dee Why Court in February she “misremembered” events: “When I fell, I thought at the time that he had grabbed my hair but then I realised that he didn’t”. The couple, who have a 12-month old son, are still together and are working on their relationship. In 2014, Ivkovic, who studied law/sociology at Macquarie University, made the news after criticising the Miss Universe Australia judging which saw Tegan Martin declared Miss Universe Australia over her.
17. Sanchia Brahimi & Paul Smith
She’s the socialite heiress daughter of media magnate Sir Charles Curran who married up-and-coming stellar chef, Guillaume Brahimi. During a 16-year marriage, the feted couple welcomed four children before their marriage unravelled in 2016, three years after he was forced to relinquish his prized tenancy in the Opera House. He’s the widower husband of Lindt siege cafe victim Katrina Dawson who died in tragic circumstance in Sydney’s Martin Place in 2014. The love affair between lawyer Paul Smith and Sanchia Brahimi seemed unlikely to last when it began in 2016 — the same year her marriage to Guillaume failed, but last it has after the couple reportedly met at school events. Their daughters attend the same eastern suburbs school.
18. Ada Nicodemou & Adam Rigby
2014 was filled with heartbreak and anguish for Home And Away actress Ada Nicodemou after she lost a much-wanted second child — a baby boy who was stillborn — and then, a year later, her husband, chef Chrys Xipolitas, who split from Nicodemou in 2015. In 2016 she met the man she calls her “hero, my rock and my love”, internet start-up entrepreneur Adam Rigby who co-founded group-buying website JumpOnIt, digital agency X/M Harrow and social media network Nabo, whose major shareholder, from 2015, was Nicodemou’s employer, the Seven Network, which sold the business last year to Nextdoor in mysterious circumstances requiring the site be closed in December and all content removed. He has now moved on to real estate start-up, Upside Realty.
19. Samantha Jade & Patrick Handlin
Their relationship was a well-kept industry secret — possibly because she was a Sony Music artist and he the A & R executive son of Sony Music’s Australian boss, Denis Handlin. But singer Samantha Jade and Pat Handlin finally announced their love affair in January with a post to Instagram confirming their engagement — the post coming years after rumours of their romance first set tongues flapping at an ARIAs awards night. In 2016 Handlin left Sony and moved to London to take up the role as A & R manager for Syco Music UK, a joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony, the music press and specifically industry site Music Business Worldwide lauding him as the A & R rep who discovered “Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy, Justice Crew, The Veronicas, Jai Waetford, Samantha Jade and Peking Duk … and introducing producer-writer duo DNA to Sony Music Australia”.
20. Kate Ritchie & Stuart Webb
The status of radio personality Kate Ritchie and former Sharks player Stuart Webb’s relationship has been in and out of the headlines for years with strong and persistent rumours their eight-year-long marriage is on the rocks. Fuelling those rumours, last year, was Ritchie who for reasons unknown chose not to wear her wedding ring for an extended period of time paparazzi shots showing the pair arguing.
21. Greg Inglis & Suzi Taylor
Taylor, a former Penthouse Pet who in the nineties was, she has claimed, Michael Hutchence’s “girl on the Gold Coast”, managed to be cast on Nine’s The Block in 2015, where she finished last with her then best friend Yvonne Cosier but managed to win the heart of the program’s producer, Tim Wise, and soon embarked on a relationship with him that ended in 2016. Reports soon surfaced that she also had a two-month fling with Nine’s resident rock reporter Richard Wilkins, the 47-year-old waiting for him to arrive home from work in a G-string. He denied the relationship sources claimed ended around the time she collapsed off camera on The Block and was admitted to a clinic for rehab. What sparked a three day bender with retired Souths league player Greg Inglis in June is unknown but she later confirmed that after disappearing in Brisbane during the NRL’s Magic Round he partied with her at a local mansion, Taylor adding he wanted “companionship”.
22. Sam Armytage & Paul O’Brien
In the 20 months since they met, they’ve been on, then off, then on, then off, and are now possibly on again — though guests at a Southern Highlands’ birthday party attended by the couple several weeks ago claimed he left early while she lingered — in tears — so it’s hard to know what the current relationship status is between Sunrise anchor Samantha Armytage and self-made Queensland aviation businessman Paul O’Brien. There also remains some confusion about when he left his Brisbane news anchor wife, Ten Eyewitness News presenter Georgina Lewis, to pursue Armytage, 42, — with Lewis has previously refusing out request to come to the phone to clarify when her marriage to O’Brien ended.
23. Tim Wilson and Ryan Bolger
When Federal Liberal MP and marriage equality advocate Tim Wilson proposed to Bolger, a primary school teacher, from the floor of the House of Representatives in December 2017 while giving a speech advocating for same-sex marriage, the nation held it’s breath. “There’s only one thing left to do: Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me?” Wilson asked, fighting back tears during what’s believed to have been the first proposal of its kind in the House. Bolger replied with a loud “yes” from the gallery prompting elated cheers.
24. Alex Waislitz & Antony “The Cat’ Catalano
The former brother-in-law of Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, Alex Waislitz has been tagged “Australia’s Warren Buffett” by an awe-struck financial press that documented the investments that helped Waislitz turn a $1 million Pratt family gift into a $1.39 billion fortune. Among investments was media company Fairfax Media, where fellow Melbournite Antony Catalano, until 2008, was marketing executive for The Age. After observing Catalano’s stunning success establishing property-focused Metro Media Publishing in 2010 and Fairfax’s courtship of Catalano to run its Domain, which Catalano floated — before resigning again in 2018, this time for inciting a boys’ club culture at Domain — Waislitz found something of a kindred spirit in the married entrepreneurial Catalano. A side investment in Melbourne cafe Brass would seal the relationship in 2017. By the time Catalano made his move to block Nine’s takeover of Fairfax a year later, Waislitz was already on the record expressing his admiration for Catalano. So it came as no surprise when Waislitz, who has been enjoying something of a social resurgence himself since his split from wife Heloise, agreed to bankroll Catalano’s buyout of Nine/Fairfax’s 160 regional newspapers for $115 million — a fraction of the $3 billion Fairfax paid for it in 2007. The new media partners now have their eye on a television partner for their media company and a long and profitable business bromance.
25. Jett Kenny & Lily Cornish
The romance between Lisa Curry Kenny’s handsome son and the daughter of Melbourne TV presenter Jo Palmer blossomed when they were paired as dance partners on Dancing with The Stars this year. After weeks of denying their romance, they finally confirmed their love for one another. One can’t help but spare a thought for Lily’s ex-boyfriend Jock White who is understood to have been blindsided by the scandalous hook-up.
26. Adam Zammit and Diana Glenn
Musical event entrepreneur Zammit initially met The Slap and Somersault actress Glenn in 1999 when Zammit was working on the Clockwork Orange musical he co-produced with Russell Crowe. The pair remained friends and rekindled their romance when both their respective marriages ended. Zammit was previously married to model Michelle Leslie, while Glenn was married to actor Vince Colosimo for eight years. That relationship floundered in 2014 soon after their son Massimo was born and prior to Colosimo’s arrest on drugs charges.
27. Matthew Mitcham & Luke Rutherford
The whirlwind romance between Matthew Mitcham and his new squeeze Luke Rutherford got more serious in June when Rutherford popped the question six months after first getting together. The engagement came as a surprise to many as the former Olympic diver had only recently split from his partner of 12 years, Lachlan Fletcher.
28. Camilla Franks & JP Jones
The relationship between fashion designer Camilla Franks and her fiance, Welsh artist and musician, JP Jones is romantically riveting. Having met in London more than 25 years ago when Franks was a teenager, it took 20 years and several relationships for romance to spark. The pair finally reunited and became engaged in 2016 but were thrown a curveball in 2019 when Franks was diagnosed with breast cancer — three months after the arrival of the couple’s firstborn daughter, Luna. It was Jones who shaved his wife-to-be’s head while she endured chemotherapy and the muso has remained by her side and has been her greatest supporter since. Their nuptials were meant to take place in November last year however the arrival of their baby and the cancer diagnosis put their plans on hold.
29. Celeste Barber & Api Robin.
Barber burst onto the scene via her Instagram photographs mimicking deadly serious celebrity fashion poses. Her #Celestechallengeaccepted posts have earned her 5.8 million followers and global recognition. Along for the ride has been her “hot husband” as she refers to him, Api Robin, who she dated for 10 years before marrying and welcoming two children. “He loves being a part of it — he’s a great little sidekick, that guy,” she has said.
30. Sheree Commerford & Sam Elsom
Known among Sydney’s social set as the cool blogger with the hot husband, Sheree Commerford and Sam Elsom lead a totally Instagram worthy and envious life with their two children, Sugar and Caption. Commerford, who founded blog Caption and the Gypsy Kid, has collaborated with brands including Chanel, DJs and Mercedes and worked in the fashion industry for more than 20 years. The genetically blessed foursome spend their days in their stylish Northern Beaches home or travelling the globe.
31. Dina Broadhurst & Max Shepherd
They’ve been dating for just one year and, according to their friends, it has been 12 months of wild and crazy love. After noticing artist Dina playing on the beach with her son, then later finding her on Instagram, property renovation company owner Max messaged Broadhurst to buy some of her work. They’ve been inseparable since. The biggest problem this couple seem to have is the fact Max — who is 182cm-plus — fails to fit in the bath. “They are both obsessed with baths. It’s their make or break when booking hotels,” confided a friend.
32. Nathalie Kelley & Jordan Burrows
If there’s a couple who epitomise the word intriguing it’s Australian actress Nathalia Kelley and her new husband, Jordy Burrows. Kelley was killing it in the US after landing a gig on hit show Dynasty, when she met the founder of Bondi’s The Bucket List at New Year 2017. After spending just 14 days together and “connecting on such an honest level”, Kelley proposed to her future husband during a trip to Atlanta in their hotel room. They tied the knot in Sydney in September.
Originally published as Sam Kerr and Nikki Stanton top most intriguing couples list
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