Another day, another headline, another Karl controversy is the talk of town.
Karl Stefanovic, as by now I’m sure you’re aware, has a new girlfriend. Her name is Jasmine Yarbrough, she’s a model and fashion designer and she does, yes, happen to be 10 years his junior.
In the relative lifetime that was his marriage to Cassandra Thorburn – the couple were married for 21 years and share three children together – it’s not unfair to say his new relationship came quickly, because it did. News broke of the relationship in February, four or five months after Stefanovic’s split from Thorburn came to light.
Does it matter? Well, not to us. Do we care? Unfortunately, we do. We care because we always have. We live in a celebrity-obsessed and saturated culture, and as much as we lament the media’s focus on celebrities, we’re still the ones clicking on them.
And so, naturally, everyone has weighed in.
On Friday, radio host Meshel Laurie expressed her concern for the way the relationship is playing out publicly on her breakfast show. She had no qualms calling out Stefanovic’s behaviour as brazenly “insensitive”.
“All you ever see are photos of the ex [Thorburn] cleaning out the house. She’s got the kids, she’s doing the life and Karl is at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, or he’s flying off overseas for holidays. I think this is a bit rude.
“Is he doing anything wrong? Well, it depends. Is it criminal? No. Is it illegal? No, is it a bit bloody shameless and rotten? Maybe.”
When probed by co-host Matt Tilley as to whether it was possible to hide his new love forever, Laurie went on to say there are consequences Yarbrough can “cop”.
“Do you know what? She can just cop it mate, because he’s got kids and an ex-wife who’s stood by him for 100 years and they have a life together that still needs to be protected.”
Laurie wasn’t the first. Jackie O came weeks before her.
“They see a mother, she stood by him for all those years… this is a lovely lady who’s stood by him for years, they have a family and they see him leave her.
“And this is what they think,” she said. “He’s just left her for some young 20-year-old and he’s cavorting around, kissing her, cuddling her, for everyone to see.
“They also believe that could happen to me.”
It's not a coincidence that both of these comments were made by women. The curious case of Karl's crush has been unique in its ability to strike fear, passion and total contempt in the most ambivalent of minds. From afar, without the benefit of context and nuance, Karl's story looks like the ultimate stereotype. It looks like the plot of a crappy sitcom, where a man leaves his family for a younger model.
It looks like that. It's probably far from that.
But because we don't have the gift of context or nuance or details, we take the stereotype at face value and run. Jackie O and Meshel Laurie aren't an anomaly when it comes to thinking - and feeling - this way. One look at social media comments will show you the crowd is pretty evenly split. Australians inherently value "the good bloke"; the loyal one, the down to earth one. Somehow our most prized larrikin wasn't so "good" anymore.
It's not uncommon - and perhaps a little innate - for us to project our own fears and insecurities onto someone else. Particularly if that someone is in the public eye.
The problem comes when we consistently do it publicly; because despite purporting to do the opposite, our criticisms of Karl do nothing to help Thorburn or the couple's kids. It simply casts Karl as the shallow devil a little longer, undermining the good he does, the person he probably is.
So does that mean the media will stop reporting on them? Don't hold your breath. The media, us, you, will always be a little interested in the life and times of those on our small screen. Consider the coverage of Pete Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys' wedding, or how the internet just about fell over itself when Peter Fitzsimons gave unique insight into his marriage with Lisa Wilkinson.
A piqued interest into Stefanovic's love life is normal. Our obsession with his character, decisions and values not so.
Life, as we know, isn't so black and white. Relationships aren't so black and white. And although so many of us are desperate to avoid finding ourselves the centre of our own Thorburn/Stefanovic saga, there's no place for projecting our insecurities on him.
It's become unhelpful, and perhaps a little unkind.
The truth is, Karl Stefanovic is a single man. And like it or not, he doesn't owe us anything.
Your fears aren't his responsibility.
The Mamamia OutLoud team discuss Australia's obsession with Karl's new relationship.
Top Comments
Sorry but really Zara he does owe us something. Let me explain. His whole career was built around being a really good bloke and family man. Remember the woman's weekly photos of him and
the happy family? I sure do! I remember when his kids Ava and River were being born Karl was broadcasting from the hospital. My own children were born about the same time. Viewers sent in gifts, little old ladies probably knitted bunny rugs and toys. He invited us in to his life for better or worse and he built
his career on our favor and support.
Over the years stories about his wife and kids have been peppered throughout his shows. Mums like me could
relate with him, his young family and his wife who was often the butt of his jokes. One that was particularly cringe worthy and sticks in my memory was about how unattractive the size of her undies were while she was pregnant! But hey it was all in good humor right?
Then he leaves her and the kids after 21 years. Ok, this happens, people change and lives move on. But it seems he left her without warning, while she was out of the house on a shopping
trip no less. Ok so maybe he doesn't have a lot of guts and couldn’t face her. Well he is funny and kind of cute, if not very smart and I could probably almost forgive him that...almost.
But then he turns up with a new woman and a model turned celeb shoe designer no less. She is of course, young, blonde with a perky young body. Yep those hips have never given birth, no stretch marks on that belly or any sign of breast feeding sag. Then we are told that it was all "love at first sight" and that he only met her last December and we should all be happy that he has found love again! Please pull the other one PR managers it has bells on! This relationship is the main game now, we should all wait with baited breath for the announcment of the pending engament, Karl’s silly antics at the buck night, the wedding which will make millions and of course the birth of the first child. After all Cass and the kids are history right? The PR machine tells us that the divorce is final over (even though legally it can't even be applied for until 12 months separation is up) and Cass and the kids made a killing on the settlement. Yeah sorry but you can’t have a settlement until you have a divorce!!!. It seems
fake news really is alive and well! But media outlets just keep
reporting this crap as fact because they want us to move on and embrace the new love story. Yep out with the old in with the new. And what a love it is! So obviously deep and meaningful. The "loved up pair" can't get enough of the cameras and public displays of affection. Must be nice for his teenage
son and school age kids to have their father's hand up some girls backside all over the papers. I don't even want to speculate on how Cass must be feeling. Nice one Karl!
Yep they are making a motser out of this "love" and talk about the
perks. Lavish restaurants day and night, front row seats at fashion week with mothers in tow to show they really are a legit pair, and painfully detailed descriptions of everything they wear including the $900 grungy looking sweater and those black leather pants that she seems to live in. We were even treated to seeing them together at her hairdressers sipping wine and grinning like
Cheshire cats. What was it that Karl sang at his brother's wedding? that's right "‘We got beautiful heads/we don’t pay for sh*t agents deliver it/and they know why,’. Yep thanks we get it!
So “why does he owe the public more?” and “why can't we just forgive and forget?” Because we aren’t fools. I don't like the new Karl, I don’t like the way he has treated his family, I don't like his model, I don’t like that he is trying to shove her down our throats and I don't like that the two of them, the media and his PR machine are trying to take us all for a ride!
His wife left him, not the other way around so why shouldn't he move on? Why should he hide, when hasn't done anything wrong. One thing I like about Karl is he has always been intensely private. He has never shown even so much as photos of his kids, and despite being broken hearted that he was left he kept up that privacy and sensitivity. Perhaps if his ex didn't do an interview to a tabloid trying to claim credit for Karl's hard work and success maybe I would like her but I don't like how she has treated him, Karl deserves better and good on him for moving on after being hurt.
Damn right Karl owes me. He took my hair!