Welcome to The Group Chat with Lucy Manly, where Australia’s most trusted society insider shares the hottest gossip BEFORE it makes the news.
Mr Polo bites back
Polo may be the sport of kings – but try telling that to the residents of Vaucluse, who’ve made it very clear they don’t want hooves or high heels trampling their beloved Christison Park.
Nearly 500 ticket-holders – some who forked out up to $662 to attend Sydney’s latest ‘It’ summer spectacle – have been left holding the Hermès bag after the much-hyped Urban Polo event was abruptly axed.
The brains behind the ill-fated plan is lawyer-turned-polo mogul Janek Gazecki – a man as famous for his love of fast horses as he is for ruffling council feathers.
Gazecki had applied to turn the cliffside park into a high-society spectacle complete with corporate marquees, VIP lounges, and no doubt a sea of linen suits and floppy hats.
Janek Gazecki is pictured with his model wife, Natalie De Corte
Past Polo in the City guests include Kate Waterhouse, Luke Ricketson and Nadia Fairfax
Polo in the City has a strong focus on hospitality and corporate entertainment
But the spoilsports at Woollahra Council weren’t having it – citing fears the galloping steeds might tear up the turf, disrupt local sports teams and, heaven forbid, upset the neighbours.
The council knocked back his application within a week, branding the proposal ‘unsuitable’.
Naturally, Janek didn’t take it lying down. He fired off a flurry of Instagram videos, slamming the decision as ‘unreasonable’.
He runs Urban Polo with his smoking-hot wife, Natalie De Corte, a former Royal Ballet dancer and model.
The pair, now parents of four and living on the Mid North Coast, actually met at the inaugural Polo in the City back in 2005.
But this isn’t Janek’s first brush with controversy.
Earlier this year, he lost the reins of the long-running Centennial Park Polo event when New Zealand’s F3 Polo galloped in and clinched a five-year deal.
To twist the knife, F3’s version is officially backed by both the Australian and NSW Polo Associations – while Janek’s Urban Polo is endorsed by, well, the Urban Polo Association (a group he just so happens to have founded).
Vaucluse locals made it abundantly clear they don’t want hooves or high heels trampling their beloved Christison Park
With Sydney’s newest ‘It’ summer event cancelled, where will the glamorous polo set go now?
And if this all sounds familiar – yes, this is the same Janek who made headlines for his ill-fated ‘Amalfi Beach Club’ pop-up at Bondi a few summers ago.
Locals lost their minds over the idea of private cabanas on public sand, and the council said arrivederci to that one too.
Ice thaws for society exes
It’s always nice to see former spouses getting along for the kids.
This week, I noticed eastern suburbs man-about-town Deniz Bekir had posted a photo with his teenage daughter ahead of her school formal.
Something about the picture rang a bell – namely the spiral staircase, which I recognised from his ex-wife Pembe‘s new Bellevue Hill penthouse, which she snapped up earlier this year for a tidy $2.9million.
School formals are milestone moments – and it’s lovely to see the Bekirs setting aside their differences for the special occasion.
Since their split sent shockwaves through the eastern suburbs months ago, both Deniz and Pembe have moved on with new partners.
This week, I noticed eastern suburbs man-about-town Deniz Bekir had posted a photo with his teenage daughter ahead of her school formal
Something about the picture rang a bell – namely the spiral staircase, which I recognised from his ex-wife Pembe’s Bellevue Hill penthouse, which she bought earlier this year for $2.9million
The Bekirs are pictured before their headline-making split earlier this year
Pembe (right, with ex Deniz) found comfort post-split in the arms of Nicholas Stavropoulos, the ex-husband of her best friend Litsa Stavropoulos (together left). To add another layer of chaos, Nicholas had apparently been mates with Deniz for decades
Deniz is dating local bombshell and Easts rugby club regular Linda Rogan.
Yes, that Linda Rogan – the laser clinics queen whose fling with philandering tech billionaire Richard White led to a cringeworthy Federal Court showdown.
Meanwhile, Pembe found comfort after her split in the arms of former travel mogul Nicholas ‘Nic’ Stavropoulos, the ex-husband of her best friend Litsa.
To add another layer of chaos, Nic had apparently been mates with Deniz for decades. ‘Messy’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Of course, 50-year-old Nic has far graver concerns than eastern suburbs entanglements. In May, a court in Naxos, Greece, found him guilty of rape, stemming from an incident during a 2016 trip to Mykonos with fellow Kambala school parents.
He has appealed – which, under Greek law, means a full retrial. In the meantime, he remains a free man in Point Piper, Australia’s most expensive suburb.
Clara looking over her shoulder
It’s been nearly a year since Perth’s most elusive – and undeniably glamorous – widow Clara Hurst first came onto my radar.
For the uninitiated: Clara’s husband and the father of her two children, British-born dentist Dr David Hurst, died suddenly last December at Crown Perth casino while Clara and the kids were holidaying in Bali.
A tragedy – and not just for the Hurst family.
After his death, it emerged David had siphoned $7.1million from his Perth dental clinic, rendering it insolvent. He’d also swindled about 130 patients by accepting $2.3million in prepayments – in some cases, asking them to withdraw funds from their super – only for treatments to be botched or incomplete.
Perth’s most elusive widow Clara Hurst (above, with late husband Dr David Hurst) recently escaped to the five-star Qualia resort on the Great Barrier Reef for a girls’ getaway
Word is Clara is anxious about photos of her ‘living the high life’ being leaked to the press – like this Ibiza nightclub snap, in which she is partly visible on the far right of the frame
Still deep in grief, Clara was left to clean up the mess as executor of her late husband’s estate. But several patients say they’re growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress and updates.
Now, Clara is doing her best to bring some calm to the chaos – recently jetting off on a girls’ trip to the five-star Qualia resort on the Great Barrier Reef.
She was joined by fellow school mums from Scotch College – Perth’s top private school – including Kate Robinson, Jade Rubino and Kristina Young.
But beneath the Whitsundays sunshine, not all was serene.
Sources say Clara’s paranoia has hit new heights. She is said to be especially wary of photos showing her ‘living the high life’ being leaked to this column while her late husband’s former patients scramble to claw back their cash.
After all, it happened once before during her holiday to Ibiza. If I spend any more time inside Clara’s pretty head, I might have to start charging rent!
‘Clara is acutely aware there are people leaking photos and intel to the press,’ one of my WA spies told me this week.
Apparently, the so-called ‘Perth Barbies’ think of themselves as big deals in the tiny fishbowl of the western suburbs, so they can be quite sensitive to media coverage.
Meanwhile, Clara – who hails from either Ibiza or Tenerife, depending on who you ask – is bunkering down after her sunny Queensland escape.
In a telling sign of her anxious state, Clara has apparently put up a sign outside her Spanish-style Claremont mansion, reminding would-be trespassers that the property is under surveillance.
Age-gap romance fizzles
Oh, how I hate to see a May-December romance crash and burn.
And so it’s with a heavy heart I report that Melbourne model Emma Jane Stevens recently parted ways with her elusive, much older gentleman companion.
Like so many relationships between hot influencers and their older squeezes, this man – said to be in his 60s – never made it onto her highly curated Instagram grid.
I’ve been sworn to secrecy on the man’s identity – but let’s just say he’s the kind of bloke the papers call ‘colourful’… meaning rich, outspoken and very well-connected.
Before the split, Emma, in her 30s, had been living her best bikini life in Bali – Aperols at sunset, seemingly limitless spending and inspiring daily affirmations.
Post-breakup, the self-proclaimed ‘spicy Pisces’ – whatever that means – is back to manifesting ‘abundance’ the hard way.
In an amusing postscript, I hear that Emma is apparently worried about candid snaps from their brief relationship being made public – not because they are intimate or scandalous, but because she doesn’t look as polished as she does on Instagram.
Bless.
Melbourne model-turned-influencer Emma Jane Stevens (pictured) is back to manifesting ‘abundance’ the hard way after splitting from her ‘colourful’ – and much older – boyfriend
Before the split, Emma had been living her best bikini life in Bali
Bondi false alarm a timely reminder
A case of mistaken identity at North Bondi has left beachgoers shaken – and serves as a grim reminder that ‘creeper season’ is officially in full swing.
I was on assignment with a photographer this week when chaos erupted: a man was accused by female beachgoers of secretly snapping photos of women sunbaking.
Uniformed and plainclothes officers surrounded the man – while I skulked in the background, pretending to take a call while eavesdropping on the grilling.
As a small crowd formed, officers began scrolling through the man’s phone.
Police, joined by one of the alleged complainants, were later spotted rifling through bins in the women’s public bathroom, reportedly hunting for a ‘red-cased burner phone’ the man was said to have used.
While on assignment in Bondi Beach this week, I eavesdropped on uniformed and plainclothes cops investigating claims a man was secretly snapping photos of women sunbaking
Turns out he didn’t do it – just a case of wrong place, wrong time.
NSW Police confirmed in a statement to the Group Chat: ‘About 11am… officers from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command were told a man was seen to be taking photos of female beachgoers at North Bondi.
‘Police later spoke with a man who police believed was the same man. A search of his phone showed nothing adverse.’
He was released, with police finding no evidence of wrongdoing – but this kind of beachside drama is sadly nothing new.
It’s becoming all too common to see men confronted by Bondi cops over accusations of taking ‘creepshots’ of women in swimwear. Some, like the bloke I witnessed, are wrongly accused; others aren’t so innocent.
Stay sharp out there, ladies.
Fashion Critical’s ACA-style bounce
It was, without question, one of the strangest soirées I’ve had the dubious honour of attending: the book launch for Fashion Critical.
Picture it: a stripper in high-vis gear mock-sweeping the floor while mingling with guests in black tie; a woman parading around with her bare arse on display; and canapés comprising none other than Shapes biscuits – all on a Monday night.
For the uninitiated, Fashion Critical is the anonymous social media satirist known for her razor-sharp red carpet commentary, skewering everything from the Logies to the Met Gala.
Last month, the Daily Mail unmasked PR queen Dani Lombard as the woman behind the account – and when I asked her about it at the party, she reacted like a dodgy tradie cornered by A Current Affair.
‘This is fake news!’ she snapped, before summoning security.
(Yes, yes, it was all a joke.)
Her book, Fashion Critical: Red Carpet Lewks and LOLs from an Undercover Fashion Critic, launched Monday night in one of the swanky MCA rooms with sweeping views of Sydney Harbour.
Aside from being accosted by the host, one of the night’s standout moments came courtesy of a spicy crowd assessment from one of Sydney’s most recognisable fashion writers:
‘Are we back in 1999? Richard Reid is here!’
And with that, it was time to call it a night.
