How to subtly make the tabloids look like fools, without saying a word.

A social media account can tell you everything and nothing about a person.

Nothing in so much as, well, here’s a photo of me with a giant bottle of Prosecco and scores of friends and a big smile, but you’d have to walk over my dead body before I showed you my oily hair, dry skin and droopy eyes on a flat day.

A highlight reel, if you will, that paints a picture of a life enveloped by all things nice, bright and pretty.

And then, sometimes, a social media account can tell us exactly what the character in question wants us to know. A channel through which they can send us their strongest and most important messages.

Take Bec Judd, for example. The mum-of-four shares a lot online without actually sharing much at all. We know what her family looks like, but not what they do when they sit around the dinner table. We often know what she thinks, but rarely do we know the inner-workings of her mind. We know the things she wants us to know. Nothing more, nothing less.

Listen: How does Bec Judd do it? Post continues…

And this week, if your eyes dart across her Instagram feed, a common thread appears. Because in the last week, Bec Judd – you could argue – subtly put the tabloids back in their box, without opening her mouth or saying a word.

A week ago, the tabloids ran a report without sources, without facts and without comment from the Judds themselves, merely throwing the seed of a gossip bomb deep into the internet, and letting rumour and innuendo do the rest.

Where are Rebecca and Chris Judd? said the headline, the inference doing the work.

“They’re one of Melbourne’s most recognisable couples and have been red carpet regulars for more than a decade. But 2017 stands out as a starkly different year for Rebecca and Chris Judd, the couple a surprise no-show at the Brownlows on Monday night,” the piece read.

“On Monday, the WAG posted videos to her Instagram of her playing with her children and working out at her Melbourne home.”

‘They don’t post photos together on Instagram!’ the articles practically screamed. ‘Why aren’t they at all the fancy red carpet events?’

As if that is a sign that something is amiss.

A post shared by Rebecca Judd (@becjudd) on Oct 5, 2017 at 7:24pm PDT

Because such is the hallmark of every split. Apparently.

Of course, these are questions the tabloids were asking a busy couple who have four very young kids and about 456 jobs between them. Compound this with the public image we’ve come to know: not one of remarkable PDA or self-obsessed couple selfies, but one instead of family, a love for their children and a distinct desire to put their head down and let their work do the talking.

And so, over the course of the last week, Instagram photos that pointedly show her husband – without caption nor blatant suggestion – came in thick and fast on Bec Judd’s Instagram, the message clear: We’re over here, thanks for asking.  

No, we’re not fighting. Yes, everything is just fine. We’re just two busy parents, going about our lives like any parents do, and ones who don’t appreciate the magnifying glass you seem to have placed on our marriage, with no rhyme nor reason. And a rather transparent motive, by the way.

‘So here, enjoy a few stupid photos,’ Bec Judd’s Instagram says. ‘Will that shut you up?’

Because there’s nothing like shutting down a tabloid story without reference and without words, in the ultimate show for class, power and a piercing f*ck you.