JACKSON STEFANOVIC ‘MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE’
Writing his album pulled him through some dark times
Jackson Stefanovic wakes up every day grateful for many things, but when his dad, Today host Karl, gifted his eldest son with his first guitar, the talented teen knew he was destined for a life of music.
“Dad got me a couple of guitars when I was younger, but it was the miniature acoustic when I turned 17 that changed my life,” shares Jackson, who recently celebrated his 23rd birthday. “I’ve written all my songs on it – knowing it’s from him makes this whole wonderful journey I’ve embarked on that much more special.”
Growing up, Jackson says he knew he had a talent for music. “I started piano lessons at six, and by Grade 3, I was in the school band playing the alto saxophone,” he explains.
DOING IT FOR DAD
“Dad and I went for our first guitar lesson together when I went into high school. He encouraged me to continue, and from the moment I started to play it made me feel really good about myself.”
Writing and recording music is more than a fleeting pastime for the first-born son of one of Australian TV’S most recognised personalities.
After a couple of failed attempts at various university courses, Jackson says he is proud to share that he is about to graduate from Sydney’s JMC Academy with a Diploma in Music (Songwriting).
“Suddenly, the world really is my oyster,” he says with a smile.
“I’m getting ready to release my second album, Monk Eyes
– a collection of eight original songs I wrote and put together this past year. I still pinch myself how far I’ve come,” he says beaming with pride.
Inspired by the likes of the late Roger “Syd” Barrett of Pink Floyd fame, who was renowned for his genius lyrics, Jackson agrees his style is similarly “deep and metaphorical”.
“I’ve had amazing mentors over the years, and I’m especially grateful to my former music teacher Mr Castelli from Redlands, here in Sydney, who never gave up on me,” he remembers fondly.
“I’ve battled my whole life with ADHD, and various other mental health issues, and at times I really struggled to find my place in the real world – I
‘I’ve battled with ADHD and mental health issues’
became this stone dead person,” he pauses, before adding, “But my passion for music and song, and for writing, has helped me wade through some pretty tough stuff.”
Like many families who’ve experienced a divorce in the family, the fallout for Jackson after the heartbreaking events of 2016 when dad Karl decided to leave his mum Cassandra Thorburn after 21 years was devastating for him and his close-knit siblings, Willow (who previously went by her first name Ava), 17, and younger brother River, 15.
“I’ve realised how much the gift of time is a wonderful thing, and thankfully everyone has come out the other side,” he says with a warm smile.
“My parents remain my biggest fans. Mum’s our rock – she’s very happy, and is currently working as a dental nurse and receptionist at a local practice, and she continues to inspire me every day.
TIGHT BOND
“I live at home with mum and my brother and sister – they can’t get rid of me! We have a lot of love for each other, and share a special bond
– we’re a funny bunch!” he says cheekily.
“Jackson is the most beautiful young man – and a very loving and protective big brother,” mum Cass chimes in. “He’s incredibly emotional, and very in touch with others and their feelings, so music is a great avenue for him to explore.”
His little sister Willow is currently finishing her HSC and hopes to study fashion journalism, while River is in Year 10.
“I make it a priority to catch up with our dad regularly – we’ve never been closer. We play tennis once a week, and we’re both pretty good players, but he loves to win!” he laughs.
“I’m really happy for Dad and Jasmine and their new life with beautiful little Harper. She’s taken to asking, ‘Where’s Jacko?!’... we’ve all learned to appreciate the now.”
With plans afoot for Karl to take the entire Stefanovic clan for an end-of-year ski holiday to Aspen, for Jackson, he can’t wait to spend precious time together, just like they did when he was a little boy.
“Family is everything – thanks to their unconditional love, and music and song, my journey through life suddenly got a whole lot brighter,” he muses.
Looking to the future, Jackson says he can’t wait to one day be a dad himself. “I’ll tell my children how I battled through plenty of challenges and emerged stronger and more resilient than ever,” he says, adding, “I want my kids, like I am with my mum and dad, to be proud of what I’ve achieved.
“I can’t wait for the next chapter, and the one after that.”
Abeaming Tori Spelling and her mum Candy enjoyed quality family time on the beach last week, showing they’ve put aside years of tension and estrangement and are finally back in each other’s lives.
Photographed in public together for the first time since 2017, the pair spent their time on the sand in Malibu chatting and laughing, with Tori, 49, sweetly positioning herself close to her mum.
Tori’s husband Dean Mcdermott, 55, and their youngest son, Beau, five, were joined by Million Dollar Listing’s Josh Flagg and his boyfriend Andrew Beyer. The happy beachgoers even took a stroll in the sand hand in hand like one big happy family.
IT’S COMPLICATED
It’s a big turnaround for mother and daughter, whose relationship was once described by Tori as “complicated”, even when she was a child.
Things became so tense between them that Tori once claimed she didn’t speak to Candy, 76, the day her father, legendary TV executive Aaron Spelling, passed away in 2006. Instead Tori said she learned about her father’s passing via a friend on email. “We don’t have an easy relationship. I don’t
think we ever will,” Tori wrote about Candy in her 2008 memoir stori Telling.
While publicising her own book, which came out the following year, Candy was quick to hit back, shockingly claiming in a US radio interview that Tori’s decision to distance herself from her family had led to Aaron’s death.
“That’s what killed my husband, actually. He just didn’t want to live after that,” she told Massachusetts’ 94.7 WMAS-FM.
“She wanted no part of him once he couldn’t do anything for her.”
Despite Aaron being worth $877 million at the time of his death, Tori inherited less than $1.17 million, with Candy suggesting her husband made the surprising decision because of her daughter’s lavish spending.
“She would close a store and drop [US] $50,000 to $60,000,” Candy told The New York Times in 2014. “I never did anything like that. She just went crazy.”
Despite this, both sides downplayed reports of a major feud, with Tori saying she loved Candy and had “no doubt she loves me”, adding, “We simply never meshed.”
Candy agreed in 2014 during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that it was all
‘She wanted no part of him once he couldn’t do anything for her’
“blown out of proportion”. And by 2019, Tori confirmed they had finally mended their relationship, saying, “It’s good, really good right now,” during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
HAPPY & TOGETHER
With the mother-daughter bond on the mend, it appears that other relationships in Tori’s life are going from strength to strength, too.
After whispers that her marriage to Dean has been on the rocks, they were spotted together for the first time in nearly a year, having a pizza lunch in Calabasas. Looking happy and relaxed, onlookers noted that both were also wearing their wedding rings. A few days later, Tori talked about how grateful she was for her husband of 16 years and his parenting style with their five children, Liam, 15, Stella, 14, Finn and Hattie, both 10, and Beau. “Co-parenting, Dean and I definitely have different parenting strategies. I’m kind of the feelings mum and he’s more procedural,” she told People magazine. “You really do need that to be a complete human. You need both worlds.”
Celebrity Squares 1967, 1975 – 1976
How we loved this fun fast-paced game show with its groovy upright noughts and crosses set. This Australian version, based on Hollywood Squares, originally aired in 1967 with John Bailey hosting on Ten.
Nine revived the concept eight years later with Jimmy Hannan hosting and Max Rowley announcing. The revival – broadcast nationally five nights a week – became the top rating show in the 6pm timeslot within just four weeks.
Based on noughts and crosses, contestants were asked to choose a celebrity who, in turn, was asked a question by compere Jimmy. A nought or cross was then awarded, depending on the answer, and completion of a row either up, down, across or diagonally won the game.
Regular panellists included Chelsea Brown, Ugly Dave Gray, Barbie Rogers, Bert Newton, Patti Newton, Malcolm
T Elliott and Beryl Cheers.
Blankety Blanks 1977 – 1978
It was the game show that kept Australia laughing uproariously five nights a week. And it was also the show that returned Graham Kennedy to his rightful place as the king of Australian TV.
The show was tailormade for Graham’s trademark quick wit, naughty humour and love of a double entendre.
It was essentially a comedy program with a game format built around it. There were two contestants – one carryover champion and one challenger. Graham would
read out a hilarious fill-inthe-blank statement and hilarity ensued.
Along with Graham came a regular panel of Australian stars who were hand-picked by the host. It was up to the celebrities to fill in the blank with outrageously funny suggestions. The show finished on a high in 1978 – Graham was awarded the TV WEEK Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality.
Sale Of The Century 1980 – 2007
In this reincarnation of Great Temptation, Tony Barber was back, this time with the madcap Victoria Nicolls as his sidekick.
“Ah, the heady days of Sale Of The Century,” says Victoria. “The drive to the airport once a week with heart pumping, as the Sydney traffic often behaved badly. The nervous energy building as I thought of the day ahead, five shows to tape in Melbourne’s iconic GTV Studios.
“I remember my grand entrance the time the gift shop twirled to reveal the week’s prize goodies and it stopped with a jolt causing me to lose my balance.
I had to jump off to stop myself from falling over and tottered towards Tony amid much laughter.
“I miss the playful, ad lib banter with Tony. I loved meeting the wonderful people who would say how much they loved the show and that it was one of their favourite family moments.”
Of what made them unique, Tony says, “We were the first show to give away Mercs and Beamers to our clever contestants.”
In 1982, Delvene Delaney took over from Victoria, followed by Alyce Platt in 1986. Sale returned as Temptation from 2005 to 2007, then sadly ended.
Name That Tune 1956 – 1957
The first game show to appear on Australian television was TCN9’S Name That Tune, hosted by Bruce Gyngell and sponsored by The Australian Women’s Weekly. It featured contestants who had to guess song titles from the brief excerpts being played live in the studio by the Gus Merzi Quintette.
TV WEEK Gold Logie winner Jimmy Hannan, who would go on to host many shows, was one of the first contestants.
Great Temptation 1970 – 1974
Also known as The $25,000 Great Temptation, this hugely popular game show saw an energetic Tony Barber teamed with the glamorous Barbie Rogers.
“After Pick-a-box, we were the new breed,” Barbie tells Woman’s Day.
The show would see Tony bounding on with so much energy, while Barbie was brilliant at tempting contestants with fabulous prizes that were very cool, iconic and classically ’70s – Jason recliners, fantasia lamps and beach buggies.
Family Feud
A quiz show fave, the iconic Family Feud enjoyed several charismatic hosts – Tony Barber, Daryl Somers, Rob Brough, Bert Newton and Grant Denyer – spanning over four decades. There were risque remarks and often bizarre answers, all
1977 – 2018
causing fits of laughter. Tony was responsible for one of the show’s classic awkward moments when he asked a man if he “had a boyfriend”, correcting himself to say “girlfriend” before being informed by the contestant that he was gay.
Pick-a-box
Who could forget the catchphrase, “The Money or the box?” This longrunning family favourite saw contestants having to choose between opening a box with a mystery prize within, or building up a bank of cash.
Pick-a-box was hosted by American Bob Dyer and his wife Dolly. The show made them instant icons. Dolly had been a teenage showgirl in Sydney during WWII when she fell in love with visiting US comedian Bob.
They married, and in 1948 produced Pick-a-box on radio and then made a
1957 – 1971
successful move to TV. During the ’50s and ’60s, Bob and Dolly Dyer’s BP Pick-a-box was one of the biggest rating television programs in Australia.
The show’s most famous contestant was former politician Barry Jones AC, who went undefeated from 1960 to 1967.
Wheel Of Fortune 1981 – 2008
One of the longest-serving Aussie game show hosts was the Wheel Of Fortune’s “Baby” John Burgess, from 1984 to 1996. He then took his talents to another hit game show, Catch Phrase.
Burgo says he has always known why Wheel was such a phenomenal success.
“People love to see other people winning,” he says. “Also we didn’t offend anybody – it was good fun.
“It never patronised anybody, everybody was treated the same. We gave away millions of dollars worth of prizes.”
John’s offsider Adriana Xenides turned heads as she turned letters, her poise and charm winning her hordes of devoted fans. She even held a Guinness World Record as the world’s longest-serving hostess of a television game show – 19 years. Her record held until 2001, when she was surpassed by her US counterpart Vanna White. Sadly in 2010 Adriana passed away after a long illness.
In 1999, Sophie Falkiner took over the reins from Adriana, working with Rob Elliott and Steve Oemcke.
Other hosts of the iconic show included Ernie Sigley (1981 to 1984), Tony Barber and Larry Emdur.
In 2001, at the age of 26 and cutting her teeth as the new doctor on the ward in a hospital in Geelong, Emma West knew she’d found her calling.. “I’m the first doctor in my family,” the 47-year-old tells Woman’s Day. “My father became blind at the age of five and it inspired me to learn more about medicine.”
Little did she know then in finding her professional calling she’d also find her husband, Daniel, a respiratory specialist, who worked at the same hospital. After 17 weeks of doing nightshifts together, the pair caught the love bug!
The medicos have gone on to have four children and both still work together. Emma has been the senior emergency physician in the emergency department of The Royal Melbourne Hospital for 14 years. She also saves lives on TV on Nine’s Emergency.
“I see myself as a diagnostic detective racing against the clock to get to the bottom of health and medical issues to resolve, cure, heal and save people on what is the worst day of their lives,” says Emma.
She’s treated thousands of critically ill patients yet manages to switch off at the end of each shift – thanks to her family. “As soon as I walk in the front door I put my mum hat on because home life is hectic,” she says. “Daniel and I laugh that we live in a state of perpetual chaos, but it makes it a beautiful balance.”
Working as an emergency nurse in The Royal Melbourne Hospital for the past five years, Chelsea Jones is used to living life in the fast lane.
“No one day, hour or minute is the same,” the 26-year-old explains. “We’re constantly checking equipment and making sure we are fully stocked with all medications, and then tending to patients suffering from anything and everything from stab wounds, burns, breaks, car crashes, cancer and dare I say the word… COVID!”
But Chelsea had a good insight what she was letting herself in for coming from a long line of nurses in the family.
“Nursing’s in my blood,” she tells Woman’s Day. “My grandma was a nurse, my mum and aunty, and I remember the stories they’d tell and be amazed by what they did – I always knew nursing was part of my plan.”
But Chelsea admits nothing could’ve prepared her for her first trauma incident.
“An elderly man who didn’t speak English had been involved in a hit-andrun,” she tells. “He’d broken his pelvis and started to crash. He reached out and grabbed my hand, and I’ll never forget the fear in his eyes.
It was so overwhelming. Thankfully, he survived.”
Chelsea says coping through intense situations like that all boils down to the camaraderie and support received from colleagues.
“We are like a family,” she says. “I met one of my best friends in ED. Having someone to confide in and who understands the confronting scenes and situations you’ve faced is much needed. We nurses are tough but we’re only human after all.”
‘NURSING’S IN MY BLOOD’
It’s the tale of a daring outback heist full of colourful characters, dirty deals and millions of dollars of diamonds. But far from being like a Mission: Impossible-style raid, the story of the Argyle mine theft was a four-year long con that started when affable security officer Barry Crimmins stumbled across an opportunity too great to ignore.
During his shifts at the Argyle diamond mine in WA’S remote Kimberley region, Crimmins realised he could pick up uncut diamonds from the cutting room floor and pocket them.
“He would come out swinging his bags straight out of security and no one would dream of stopping Barry,” Argyle investigator Richard Corfield tells new ABC podcast Expanse: Pink Diamond Heist, in which the story is fully exposed for the first time.
With startling simplicity Crimmins then hid the diamonds in shampoo bottles or toothpaste tubes and flew to Perth with the loot.
A SIMPLE THEFT
Over the years his haul of stolen gems included some incredibly rare and valuable pink diamonds, which are only found at the Argyle diamond mine.
“Estimates put the theft at around $50 million but the story was much bigger than I anticipated,” Sinead Mangan, the podcast’s host and researcher, tells Woman’s Day. “The end result was possibly the biggest jewellery heist in the world and sources gave me figures of up to $200 million.”
Of course Crimmins wasn’t operating alone. He needed someone inside the diamond trade to help him clean and cut the precious gems and Lindsay Roddan, a former horse trainer, was just that man.
Again, the process was simple. Once Crimmins
handed Roddan the diamonds, he used a team of airline employees, who concealed them in tubs of face cream to smuggle out of the country to big overseas diamond players.
Incredibly the thefts, which began in 1988, could have potentially been stopped much earlier. Police received tips about unpolished pink diamonds surfacing in Antwerp, which shouldn’t have been possible as Argyle polished all its diamonds in Australia.
But due to alleged police corruption this was never fully investigated and it was only when Crimmins’ ex-wife Lynette went to the police in 1993 that the whole incredible story was blown wide open.
Lynette had got wind of the scheme early on when she found her husband washing diamonds in their bathroom sink. Wooed by the idea of riches beyond her wildest dreams, she became heavily involved in the scheme and eventually left Cummins for Roddan. However, after an argument, Lynette went to the police and told them everything.
“Lynette is an extraordinary woman but the diamond heist impacted her life to this day,” says Sinead. “What happened is still unresolved for her.’
The Crimminses pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal Argyle diamonds. Lynette escaped jail while Roddan, who maintained he was innocent, was sentenced to six years behind bars in 1996. It was reduced to three years for time already spent in custody. He died in 2007.
SMALL FORTUNE
After the court case, the story of one of the biggest diamond heists in history was pretty much forgotten until Sinead first heard about it 20 years ago as a journalism cadet.
Then, last year, a Perth jeweller friend, Rohan Milne, told Sinead how some of the stolen gems, recovered by the Argyle mine, had gone up for auction and he’d bought them.
“I love a good story so
I was interested,” Rohan tells Woman’s Day. “The diamonds
have their own uniqueness but it’s the who and why behind them that makes them.” There were no pinks in the bundle of 20 diamonds that Rohan bought but it led Sinead to begin investigating and perhaps discover where those precious pink diamonds turned up.
However, it appears the mystery of all those missing pinks may stay forever hidden.
“They were sent straight to Europe because they were so valuable and they’re still out there somewhere,” says Sinead.
Wherever they are, they’re worth a small fortune.
“One pink stone stolen was estimated to be $3.8 million and in today’s money that would be three or four times that amount,” says Rohan.
For him though, the true value is all in the telling of a ripper West Australian story.
“We’ve had multiple offers for single stones from the collection but we’re keeping them on display in our new studio and I have no other plans for them right now,” he says.
‘One pink stone stolen was worth $3.8 million’