Welcome to The Group Chat with Lucy Manly, where Australia’s most trusted society insider shares the hottest gossip before it makes the news.
Honeymoon with mum
Aren’t honeymoons supposed to be about coming together? Somebody may want to give Francesca Packer-Barham and her new husband the memo.
The billionaire heiress tied the knot with controversial businessman Robert Bates, 46, earlier this month at an ultra-exclusive ceremony at Ellerston, the Packer family’s 30,000-hectare estate in the Hunter Valley.
But the pair don’t appear to be rushing to catch the wave of post-wedding bliss.
Within days of the intimate ceremony, a well-placed spy at the pointy end of the plane spotted the new bride, 31, reclining in first-class on a flight to London.
Francesca Packer-Barham looked downcast during her honeymoon with mother Gretel. The heiress tied the knot with controversial businessman Robert Bates, 46, earlier this month
Packer-Barham was seen on a Melbourne-to-Sydney flight with Robert Bates in early 2024. A source saw Packer-Barham flying to London after her recent wedding – without her husband
Her new husband was nowhere in sight.
Packer-Barham later reappeared aboard a luxury superyacht cruising around the Mediterranean – accompanied by her mother, Gretel Packer.
How romantic!
When the socialite was pictured stepping off a yacht in Palma de Mallorca, after arriving on the Spanish island the previous day, father-of-one Bates was still absent.
The Group Chat makes no suggestion of trouble in paradise, and merely notes that Packer-Barham’s post-wedding travel without Bates is a little unorthodox.
It is entirely possible that the newlyweds may be delaying their official honeymoon.
The Hunter Valley wedding was never meant to be the main event. The heiress had reportedly originally planned an extravagant Spanish ceremony timed to coincide with the full moon, complete with crystal-energy vibes, lunar manifestations and several days of festivities in Mallorca – inspired by her reported passion for spirituality.
That celebration is still set to go ahead next month.
Packer-Barham later reappeared aboard a superyacht cruising around the Mediterranean – accompanied by her mother, Gretel Packer
The Australian wedding was kept under wraps with just 18 guests making the cut.
Among them were Gretel, of course; Packer-Barham’s philanthropist grandmother Roslyn Packer, widow of the late media mogul Kerry Packer; her father, Monaco-based English financier Nick Barham; and dad’s glamorous second wife, former Miss World contestant Karen Carwin.
Packer-Barham reportedly opted for a non-denominational civil ceremony, with her mum walking her down the aisle.
Sephora scolding
The influencer freebie gravy train is hitting the brakes.
Luxury brands are quietly cracking down after discovering gifted products – meant for review – turning up for sale on re-sale sites and Facebook Marketplace.
A leaked email from Sephora’s PR team has sent Sydney’s creator crowd into panic mode.
‘Please note all gifted items are intended for personal use only,’ the disclaimer warns.
A leaked email from Sephora PR warns against reselling ‘gifted products’
‘Any reselling of gifted products may result in exclusion from future gifting opportunities and partnerships with Sephora.’
Translation? Flog your free foundation online, and you can kiss those PR packages goodbye.
Ain’t no party like a Tzaneros party
Sydney eastern suburbs set assembled last week for the 50th birthday knees-up of social fixture Maude Tzaneros, wife of freight magnate Arthur Tzaneros.
Among those spotted at the soirée were ‘It’ designer Rebecca Vallance-Gasan, former NRL WAG Terry Biviano, perennial socialite Angelique Andrews, femme fatale Emma Steele and hotelier-philanthropist Harriet Waugh, whose family empire includes Bistro Moncur and The Woollahra Hotel.
But it was the eyebrow-raising reunion of old frenemies Laura Cathery and Yuliya Sharipova that really had guests clutching their pearls.
Maude Tzaneros (second from left) alongside her sisters-in-law at her 50th birthday knees-up
Yulia Sharipova (left), Maude Tzaneros and eastern suburbs femme fatale Emma Steele (right)
Angelique Andrews (left), Laura Cathery and Barbara Coombes (right) are seen at the soirée
According to eastern suburbs legend, the pair previously crossed paths at a well-known venue late last year and, let’s just say, words were exchanged.
The absence of several husbands and boyfriends at the bash was also notable. Naturally, the missing men became the night’s hottest topic, with various colourful theories offered for why they hadn’t graced the occasion with their presence.
As for the birthday girl, she floated through the room in burgundy couture, utterly unfazed by all the usual tattle.
By all accounts, it was a late night for the society wives, many of whom surely raided the cupboard for a Hydralyte come morning.
Prestige realtors sweat over ‘burn book’
Anyone who’s stepped into an open home will tell you it’s nigh on impossible to get a real estate agent off the phone.
I had the opposite problem this week while investigating an anonymous Instagram account exposing the industry’s biggest players and their alleged secret sins.
This social media ‘burn book’ has become the talk of the prestige property set – surreptitiously followed by major figures who are no doubt sweating over the prospect of being named.
While I am reliably told of the havoc it’s causing among Sydney’s top sellers, a code of silence surrounds it, as speculation swirls over the identity of its faceless admin.
The account includes eyebrow-raising posts about some of Australia’s best-known real estate identities. What is being said? Much of it cannot be published for legal reasons, though some posts drag up long-forgotten court matters that have slipped down the Google rankings, clearly with the aim of putting them back in the spotlight.
The bio declares the content is ‘for entertainment purposes’ – a disclaimer that would likely wither and die before the steely gaze of a defamation lawyer. (But nice try!)
Still, there are a few highlights from the gallery of smears that I can legally mention.
Ray White Double Bay Principal Warren Ginsberg’s courtroom history is highlighted in a vicious Instagram account targeting the prestige real estate industry’s biggest players
Top realtor Maclay Longhurst (pictured with wife Jessie) is mentioned in the online ‘burn book’. No prizes for guessing why: he was famously pictured among Cronulla rioters at age 19
First up is pint-sized Sydney realtor Gavin Rubinstein, who was carved up after his, er, motivational texts to an industry peer were leaked on the r/AusProperty subreddit.
Another post takes aim at Ray White Double Bay Principal Warren Ginsberg’s well-publicised legal troubles following his 2021 guilty plea to drug possession in Waverley Local Court, where he was convicted and fined $500.
The account is also particularly fascinated with easy-on-the-eye Shire realtor Maclay Longhurst, the Porsche-driving Director of Sotheby’s Woollahra, reviving an ancient controversy surrounding a photo of him as a teenager during the 2005 Cronulla riots.
The image, which resurfaced years later, showed a then 19-year-old Longhurst among crowds during the unrest as violence erupted between rioters and police.
But as I previously made clear, there was never any suggestion that Maclay was part of the racially motivated contingent.
Given his age and otherwise good character, he was most likely just following the crowd, which is foolish but forgivable.
But back to the Instagram account: the clearest sign of how seriously it’s being taken is that no one in the industry seems willing to address it publicly. Even the most reliable of gossips in the trade were giving me the ‘don’t argue’ this week.
Still, at least one property insider told me off the record that the page has become compulsive viewing among agents, assistants and even rival agency heads, with posts circulating through private WhatsApp groups within minutes of going live.
The burning question now is… who’s behind it? My bet’s on a disgruntled eastern suburbs renter. It’s tough out there.
Love and Justice
Congratulations are in order for former Chief Justice of the Federal Court James Allsop, who quietly tied the knot earlier this month with Sandy Slessor.
I couldn’t find many details about Slessor, though someone with that name was the investor relations director for early-2000s telecom catastrophe One.Tel.
The pair reportedly wed at St Mark’s in Darling Point – a church known to be famously traditional and notoriously selective when it comes to second marriages. Both Allsop and Slessor are divorced.
Those who know Allsop describe the respected jurist as deeply academic and ‘certainly no pants man’ (thanks!), making the tangled relationship web surrounding the nuptials all the more intriguing.
Pictured from left: James Allsop, Sandy Slessor, James’ brother Richard Allsop and Judy Swan
Before Slessor, Allsop dated high-profile lawyer Judy Swan, who is best known for representing Anthony Koletti, the widower of vanished fraudster Melissa Caddick.
In a classic Sydney society twist, Judy was previously married to businessman Bob Swan. Their daughter, Sarah Swan, is now the Mayor of Woollahra.
But wait, there’s more.
After Judy and James split, Judy went on to marry James’ brother, Richard Allsop – a longtime family friend – while Bob Swan later dated none other than Sandy Slessor herself.
Confused? Don’t worry. Presumably, the seating chart at family gatherings now requires a full-blown mind map and a wall covered in red string.
P.S. Since you can never be too careful when writing about lawyers, for the avoidance of doubt, none of the relationships mentioned above overlapped.
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