Cass “It’s a massive kick in the guts”
The mum-of-three mum of three flees with her kids as her Today host ex flaunts his love with his rumoured new bride-to-be
Easter is usually a time for celebration, but for Cass Thorburn, it was anything but. She spent the holidays in a world of pain after being confronted with photos of her ex-husband, Today host Karl Stefanovic, cavorting with his young lover Jasmine Yarbrough in LA and Mexico, all while his friends insisted he was on leave to “spend time with his family”. To add insult to injury, stories accompanying the snaps speculated Karl has already popped the question to 33-year-old Jasmine. The photos emerged after Karl holidayed with his new girlfriend’s family, while his own were given the emotional task of clearing out the home they’d shared together in Sydney for more than a decade. Karl, 42, left Cass alone to pack up the family’s belongings and relocate their three children Jackson, 17, Ava, 11, and River, 10, to a nearby rental property – a massive job that consumed the entire first week of the school holiday break.
“Cass felt like she’d been kicked in the guts when she saw Karl and Jasmine cavorting like teenagers,” a source close to the 46-year-old tells Woman’s Day exclusively. “Cass is a very strong woman and she wants to move on, but it’s incredibly difficult when she has his new relationship flung in her face so publicly. I’m appalled at how Karl’s behaved since the split.”
At her wits’ end, Cass decided a beach getaway was in order and whisked the brood away for some much-needed R&R.
“They really deserve a holiday after spending the start of their break packing up their home,” the concerned friend says ys of the
family. “They’ve taken a break with one of Cass’s girlfriends and her kids. They want to make the best of what’s been an emotional time.”
The events of recent months have also taken a physical toll on the former TV producer. “Cass has lost a significant amount of weight,” our worried source spills. “She’s struggling to eat, the weight keeps coming off, even as she’s trying to keep it on.”
Not helping matters is the fact that the famously close Stefanovic family are said to have frozen Cass out, apart from a text from brother Peter Stefanovic in the wake of the split. Since news of their separation in October last year was made public, friends claim none of Karl’s family have reached out to offer support.
“Not a card, not a phone call, nothing,” adds the worried friend. “She’s completely on her own.”
In addition, CassC and Karl’s kids were notably ab absent from Peter’s wedding to Sylvia Jeffreys last month, despite their cousins being in attendance.e.
“I’m going through one of the hardest times of mine and my children’s lives,” Cass confessed ed last October, also admitting ting she felt so much anxiety xiety she often hated leavingving thee house: “I don’t want t to be scared to go out, butt there are days when I dread ad going to the supermarket.”market.”
But despite the blows,lows, Cass is determinedmined d to come back stronger. er. .
“She is lookingkin ng forward to a bri brightight future,” says he herer frie friend. nd. “She wants too putp put th thehe last nine monthsnth hs behind her and ndd start a new life.”fe.” .”
‘Cass is a very strong woman and she wants to move on’