New Idea magazine is reporting that former iron man Grant Kenny is the father of radio host Fifi Box’s baby.
According to the Sunshine Coast Daily:
A WOMAN’S magazine has claimed Sunshine Coast ironman legend Grant Kenny is the father of radio identity Fifi Box’s unborn child.
New Idea claims it can exclusively reveal that the leading Coast businessman, aviator and lifesaving identity is the dad, citing ‘multiple sources’.
Fifi, 35, is co-host of the Fifi & Jules show across the Today Network.
Grant and (ex wife) Lisa (Curry) have three grown up children and recently told the Sunshine Coast Daily they remained good friends, despite their separation in May 2009.
Kenny was unavailable for comment today but in the past has made it clear he does not discuss his personal life.
Thirty-five-year-old Fifi announced that she was pregnant on her radio show last month, but didn’t disclose the details of who the baby’s father is. “For those who don’t know I began seeing someone at the end of last year who would like to remain out of the public eye which I will respect and endeavour to protect,” Fifi said at the time. Neither Fifi Box or Grant Kenny have commented on the rumours.
Comments
92 Comments so far
Congratulations Grant & Fifi!!!
What a lucky baby!!! with 3 other amazing siblings to guide and support along the way….
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Wasn’t it new idea who took a picture of Bec Hewitt and her brother and put a ” who is this man” tag before knowing it was her brother- implying she was cheating on her husband. So basically I don’t believe anything this magazine writes and have never bought it since!
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And even though New Idea is clearly identified in the main switcher on this site as the source of the Fifi Box scoop, you still clicked on the story so you could entertain yourself with their exclusive, and then laughably followed up your consumption of their content with a nice bit of moral posturing and condemnation.
If you don’t like New Idea then put your money where your mouth is – stop consuming their content by clicking on stories like this. And if you really want to get some credibility, stop being interested at all in gossip – because eating it up and then expressing objections afterwards really doesn’t cut it, and it certainly doesn’t give you a free pass.
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You really have chosen the right name for yourself haven’t you “Giardia”? You are all over this post like a little bug!
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Well hopefully I’ve made a few hypocrites rethink their judgmental outbursts.
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Grant Kenny is gorgeous and is a lovely man, Lucky Fifi and lucky baby on having two great parents!
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Did anyone else think this article was going to be about magazines ethics rather than something pointless and gossipy?
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Ok lets face it. We all want to know. We are curious!! Yes he doesn’t want to be named, yes she tried to keep it mum, but you know what? They are celebs and they use the public when it suits them. The public helped GC to become what he is today so being selective doesn’t really cut it. So thanks Mamamia, this is one satisfied reader!!!
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It’s bad enough that New Idea are speculating, I thought you guys would be more scrupulous than that. Seriously disappointed. When I opened the link to this article I was expecting to read about the lack of respect for privacy the media can have and how Mamamia would be rising above it.
Fail.
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this is disgusting, it’s none of our business
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So NI would have to be 100 per cent sure that they were right on this one. Their coverline could not be more definitive.Their sources are pretty clear. It’s not unknown for celebs who want to get stories out into the world to sell stories as a “source”. I am not saying this is what happened. But the mag wouldn’t get anything past its lawyers if they didn’t have proof they were absolutely correct. Makes you wonder who their source is…
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Grant has been very dignified and stayed under the radar when lisa was flaunting her toy boys. He is entitled to live his life and fifi has done a great job at respecting that he wants his privacy to remain.
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That baby is going to be one good looking kid!!
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I think it’s a damn shame we can’t just leave it at “someone who would like to remain out of the public eye.” I didn’t realise that she’d made a point of asking for his identity to remain private… now I feel kind of dirty.
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God I hate these magazines. More so I detest the fact they advertise themselves as ‘women’s magazines’ as if all women are interested in is salacious gossip and rumour mongering. What an insult to intelligent women everywhere.
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And yet you clicked on this story to find out the information you claim not to be interested in, and claim to be too intelligent to care about.
Despite proving your interest in this subject matter by generating clicks for the story, you then insult the magazine that produced the content you sought out and consumed.
Excuse me while I dismiss you and your posturing entirely.
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I think someone is entitled to click on the link of a story to make comment on that story – and not be interested in the actual content – how else would they be able to share their point of view on the matter? It wouldn’t make sense to make the comment on a different story would it?
And hey, why so aggressive?
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So you comment on things you aren’t interested in? I’m sorry but that’s utterly ridiculous.
I do realise that a great many people justify their habitual consumption of gossip by only acknowledging that consumption in terms of disapproval, disgust and outrage – and most of those people will never admit the reality of their hypocrisy and gossip consumption to either themselves or others – but this claim of disinterest is just silly.
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The headline is “Mag claims to know the father of FiFis baby”. Not ‘click here if you want to find out’.
I’ve already seen this news splashed around today in print and online. With photographs it’s not hard to put two and two together without having to read an article.
I clicked the link to make the same comment as Anon76, with far less eloquence mind you. Not to find out what I’ve been unable to avoid all day.
A little less aggression would be nice on here.
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So what if someone clicked on the link and still condemed the information they found out? Its a bit like saying why are you still here commenting negatively on every comment were someone suggestively argues that its an invasion of privacy,
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There’s no comparison whatsoever. I’m legitimately here because I embrace this gossip story, and in that capacity I’m entirely free to challenge hypocrites.
Just because some people like to justify their consumption of gossip magazine content by being outraged doesn’t mean they should be permitted to get away with it.
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Well, knock me down with a feather. Grant Kenny! I thought it was going to be some random radio producer or something. Lets face it, Fifi is in the public eye – there is going to be interest inher public life. She should have just told her listeners who the father was and got it over and done with.
Congratulations to them!
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Here, here, I agree with you. She is in the public eye. What is all the hush, hush about? She is a lovely popular girl, and all her fans are going to be interested. As you say Petal, just tell everyone and get it over with. Good luck to them both. What are they going to do when the baby is born, never be seen together? She will make a great mum. Congratulations Fifi!
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I just hope Lisa & Grant’s kids were aware of this before “No Idea” & Mamamia printed this “exclusive”.
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Just of matter of days ago, the western world got a really clear example of how unjust media attention, scrutiny and basically just not minding their own business most likely lead to a woman’s suicide.
The media talks about the negative impact of the media while doing a live cross from the house.
Mamamia, this article, is no different, Fifi hasn’t released the name of the father, why have you? It’s nobody’s business.
You have no idea why she has kept it private, and the flow on affect it could have to many lives, you just put it up to increase traffic to your site, there is no substance to this story, no reason why the public should know.
I wonder if my comment will be published, also wondering how Benjamin’s comments can possibly pass the dinner party test (in facebook comments)??
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You clicked on this story to get the name of the Dad. End of.
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There are lots of reasons why people click and read articles.
I thought it might be an article about why the mag shouldn’t have published the name, not reporting what that name was. That’s because I knew that Fifi wanted to keep it private and it seemed more in line with Mamamia’s approach to things.
Meanwhile, if you didn’t know she wanted to keep the name quiet, you could have clicked on the article to see who it was, but upon reading that she wanted her privacy on the subject could have been disappointed in Mamamia for going there.
I get very annoyed when I read online articles with comments full of “who cares? why is this news?”. However, this comment wasn’t about that. Don’t assume why people click on an article.
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Thank you Ez, you’re spot on
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Actually, I clicked the article in the hopes of it being read by Mamamia, believing that these might be read by the editors, the comments made on the facebook link by Benjamin are still there, I’m not sure why they’re exempt from the dinner party policy.
But nice attempt at being psychic and knowing why people you don’t know do things, better luck next time.
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Do you think if Fifi announced Grant as the father at the time she announced her pregnancy the story wouldn’t have received as much attention? I may be a little (ok a lot) cynical but did she really think she could have kept it a secret for ever. (Who does she think she is – Minnie Driver?) But by playing the “I’m not going to say who the father is” card, she in fact doubled the interest in her pregnancy…
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If this is the case – and despite it being told when Fifi requested the details of her baby’s father not be divulged – good on them still!
So I should be reticent to comment really… but… those two huge and healthy smiles will surely make a gorgeous, happy baby!!
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I don’t watch free to air tv or listen to commercial radio, so I have no idea who Fifi Box is! Should I care who her baby’s daddy is? And is Fifi Box her real name?
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Yes – her name is Fiona Box
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Doesn’t read as salacious to me. Reads as straight neutral facts really.
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If you actually read this story, it is a positive piece about someone who is overjoyed about finally becoming a mother and meeting a nice man to start a family with. There is nothing salacious or nasty about the New Idea story. They would not legally be able to print this of it wasn’t true. I’m sure the parties involved in this were aware of this story before it went to press. Stop giving women’s magazines such a hard time. This issue of New Idea contains many happy, positive articles. Congrats to Grant and Fifi!
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Why do you think the Sunshine Coast Daily needed to mention Fifi Box’s age and not Grant Kenny’s?
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What you have pointed out, is pretty typical of the reporting standard of the Sunshine Coast Daily.
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Because everyone on the Sunshine Coast knows Grant Kenny’s age – approximately – and by extension Lisa Curry Kenny’s. Read what you like into the sub-text that hints at.
And contrary to the report in the Sunshine Coast Daily, I believe Grant and Lisa are still legally married.
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He is actually not as old as I thought. I looked it up and found he is 49. I thought he might be edging 60.
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I’m a little annoyed that MM has published this article at all.
Fifi Box made it clear they were not revealing the father of her baby.
Is that really too much to ask?
A pregnant woman wanting the paternity of her unborn child protected?
Imagine the hounding once this baby arrives?
Eurgh.
It’s like one GIANT game of Chinese Whispers except a little bit more shit gets added to the story each time someone passes it on.
Sorry MM, but it’s stories like these that bug me and are complicating peoples lives.
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But I’m sorry, I just don’t think it’s realistic for Fifi to live her life so publicly and then expect everyone to just not be wondering who the dad is? Note I said realistic not fair.
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It really isn’t any of our business to know who the father is, if Fi doesn’t want people to know then we should mind our own business!
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Great gossip…but gee I hope Lisa maintains a nice silence on this and doesn’t do her usual whip out the swimming togs and call Woman’s Day for her exclusive reply.
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I don’t know why I was drawn into this article – must be some kind of tractor beam – because I have no interest in the identity of her father’s baby, and no interest in her, really. If it is Grant Kenny, maybe all that Nutrigrain helped? (It was Nutrigain he flogged for a while, wasn’t it?)
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Sorry but who is Lisa? I live in the UK and I clicked on this story from Mamamia’s Facebook page.
“Fifi, 35, is co-host of the Fifi & Jules show across the Today Network,” great this paragraph explains who Fifi is and what she does for people like me who don’t know.
“Grant and Lisa have three grown up children…” – who is Lisa? This sentence should have explained who Lisa is. Is Lisa also Fifi? Is she Fifi’s work colleague, sister, mother? Why is Lisa important to this story.
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Lisa Curry – she was a gold medallist at the Commonwealth games in the 80s, Grant Kenny and Lisa Curry getting married was like the holy grail of Aussie weddings back in the day.
That bit you’re commenting on is from the Sunshine Coast paper, which is where they live – they wouldn’t need to explain it for locals, or indeed most Aussies from about 35 up.
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I agree, most people in Australia would know exactly who Lisa and Grant Kenny are. She’s also pretty regularly in the gossip mags. I don’t know who most of the Brit ‘celebrities’ are.
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25 up & for those in the surf life saving biz Kris2040!
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Probably like the 80′s version of Bec and Lleyton.
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Lisa Curry – Kenny… an Australian swimmer.. commonweath medallist.. not sure if Olympic…
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Lisa is Grant’s ex-wife. She is an Australian icon – a former Olympic swimmer, author, clothing designer, motivational speaker. She was married to Grant for over 20 years. They were a huge celebrity couple in the 1980s – both of them being sporting legends – and were constantly in the gossip mags. Lisa is 50 and has a boyfriend in his late 20s (correct me if I’m wrong). Half her luck, I say!
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Lisa is his ex-wife.
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I am disapointed that MM has chosen tp publish this after Fifi clearly asked for privacy for her family. It is a shame.
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Usually I dismiss anything I see in gossip mags All that Angelina and Jennifer Anniston being pregnant every five minutes is crap.
But they work on the basis that it’s unlikely those celebrities would bother suing a little Aussie mag.
But I figure that if they’ve confirmed this with a couple of sources – they would have had to before publishing and risking defamation and getting it wrong with local personalities.
Neither of whom has denied it. So I’m calling truth on this one.
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I feel guilty admitting to how interested I am to read this. I came to mamamia to read an article about gun control which I loved but then I clicked on this too.
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Too funny. Fifi just looks like a slightly younger version of Lisa. Errr!
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Come on. it’s a great scoop by New Idea. Admit it.
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I work with a bunch of Gen Ys and when I clicked on this link I said “OH MY GOD, GRANT KENNY IS THE FATHER OF FIFI BOX’S BABY” and they all looked at me blankly.
They’d never heard of him. Didn’t help when I said “He used to be married to LIsa Curry!” More blank looks.
Anyone else feel old?
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Yep. Same at my work.
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If it makes you feel better, I’m a Gen Y and know exactly who Grant Kenny and Lisa Curry are. Helps that I used to love her brand of swimmers, Hot Curry!
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I love Fifi. Think she’s great. But is it realistic to announce your pregnancy on the radio, make a huge wonderful fuss about it (which I loved by the way, I feel really happy for her) and then expect nobody to be curious about the father? Is it the media’s job to protect celebrities?
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I agree. Her charm is her honesty about her love life and her ups and downs and people love her because of this. But part of the deal of being in the public eye and having a public profile, being on radio, tv and writing newspaper columns is that there is an interest in your private life. The more you try and lock it away, the more valuable those secrets become when someone discovers what they are.
Would have been far less sensational if it wasnt a secret in the first place.
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Now I understand why the father wanted to remain anonymous. That was never going to happen Grant! I wish the couple well. A new baby is a blessing, gossip be damned.
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The identity of the father of this baby is none of my business. New idea, why would you do this? Reinforces my decision, made last year, NEVER to buy magazines again. I could not bear knowingly contributing to the salaries of the people responsible for this intrusion of this woman’s privacy. Do people not learn from past events? Baffling and mystifying, especially in view of recent discussions over press intrusion on people’s private lives.
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You can’t have your cake and eat it too. The magazines don’t work for celebrities who want to ‘sell’ certain areas of their lives and not others.
This would seem to be a pretty big deal – the father of her child – and she and Grant must have known it would come out.
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Bit torn on the morality of this. Fifi Box is a public figure whose show is about her life really. I will admit to have been busting to know who the dad was but it never occurred to me that it might be another public figure. I was thinking of a shy young guy. Won’t buy the magazine though.
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You posture as morally superior by stating in your opening sentence that the father’s identity is none of your business. Yet you clicked on this clearly labelled story with the express intention of finding out.
Intrusion into her privacy? You ARE joking, aren’t you? Fifi has relentlessly used a stream of very personal details and experiences from her pregnancy as content on her show and connected media. And she always has done this with her private life. For you to ludicrously imply New Idea virtually smashed her door in and stole her DNA test is just ridiculous. You can’t whore out your private life and then switch off the machine you’ve made your fortune from whenever it suits. And I’m sure Fifi knows those. Until she actually complains – and I doubt she will – how about you stop being incensed on her behalf?
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Yeah. I’m not incensed about this particular story but what it says about privacy. I’ve never seen or heard anything about this Fifi Box person before, I do not live in the eastern states and I do not listen to commercial radio, I clicked on the article because I was interested in the comment by Dani which appeared in the feed to the right of the page and was, as I said, interested in the issue of privacy.
I do not consider my posture as morally superior, but I feel that if this woman wanted me to know all about her life she would tell us every detail. She is entitled, as are the rest of us, to keep some details of her life private.
Just because a public person tells us some detail of her life in the course of her work does not mean I am entitled to know all about her life. I have read Mamamia for a while, I know Mia is a mum but that does not entitle me to know what school her kids go to, what grades they got or who their father is, unless Mia chooses to write about that here.
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I think you have the media confused with Fifi Box’s publicist? It’s not the media’s job to protect celebrities, is it? Genuine question.
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https://www.facebook.com/lisacurryathlete/posts/553003768061100
Her cryptic tweet was nothing more than Twitter cutting off an advertising message short! Click the link on the tweet and it takes you to the above on her facebook page.
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Thanks for that update Yasin. I find it amusing that you are informing everyone of this. As in, you managed to find out the whole story, but whoever wrote this article didn’t.
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Wasn’t hard all you have to do is click on the link at the end of the tweet! I find it ridiculous that the journos didn’t do the same!
(typo on my name but same person as above)
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Tweet? What tweet?
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Jesus, is nothing sacred… This is abhorrent ‘journalism’ by New Idea. Stay the hell out of people’s lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Admit it though, weren’t you curious when she wouldn’t reveal the dad? When you’re as famous as Fifi there are certain things you just can’t keep private can you. I think it sounds like a beautiful love story.
Also, new idea isn’t journalism it’s a gossip magazine and never pretends to be trying to win Walkley awards. Take it for what it is.
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You clicked on this story knowing what it was, and your only intention could have been to find out the father. Hypocrite much? Enough of the false moral posturing.
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No, not a hypocrite. They didn’t buy the magazine.
You sound angry by the way.
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I think Anon Spunkrat might work for Woman’s Daze or No Idea – they seem very defensive!
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There is nothing ‘cryptic’ about Lisa’s facebook/tweet message, if you cared to report correctly you would have quoted her entire facebook/tweet status which is quite clearly about her diet/fitness program.
Lisa has moved on with another man and Grant has obviously moved on also so why the hoo-hah about dragging Lisa into it?
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Was it not just last week when the idea of privacy was raised (re the British nurse)??? If Fifi clearly wanted to maintain confidentiality of a man who is not a ‘personality’ in order to strengthen relationships/family and ensure the best interests of a child – why go around breaking that confidentiality???? This doesnt seem particularly fair….
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Hang on, are you seriously comparing Fifi Box – who is a celebrity who makes money from discussing her private life on TV, radio and in her newspaper column – with the nurse who answered the phone to the prank callers????
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Fifi is a radio personality and has discussed her life accordingly. Whoever she is having a baby with is not – and should be accorded privacy. I am not saying the ramifications of prank calls and suicide compare, but I’m saying that the media should respect privacy. Fifi boxes partner should not be a “story”
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Ha. I just knew someone would try to make this comparison. Nothing alike at all between an innocent woman who had two people and then the worlds media barge into her life and seemingly destroy it – and a celebrity who has made her fortune from selling every detail of her personal life.
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“For those who don’t know I began seeing someone at the end of last year who would like to remain out of the public eye which I will respect and endeavour to protect,” Fifi said at the time.”
So glad Mamamia was able to help her protect her privacy and wishes by spreading the identity and news. Well done.
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quoting New Idea…… oh dear.
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It’s easy to be snide, isn’t it? But time will tell if they are right or not. And for what it’s worth I suspect they are. For a start if they were off base don’t you think Grant Kenny would have denied it by 8am?
Will be interesting to see who is still laughing at this supposedly lowly magazine once their scoop is confirmed…
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Sally, I didn’t find Moi’s comment ‘snide’ at all. I don’t think she is referring to whether the actual news is true or not.
New Idea is well known for their so called “scoops”. According to them Jennifer Aniston has been pregnant every month for the last 4 years.
Whether it’s true or not is irrelevant, but announcing it to the nation without first hand comment from either parties is pretty ordinary to me.
Clearly no consideration was given to any of the parties or their families.
How unusual for New Idea. They have NO idea.
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The Australian gossip mag sector does produce a lot of legit scoops. But that doesn’t stop the likes of WD, NI, NW, Famous, Who etc from getting slagged endlessly by the competing media – including blogs like this – which also without fail mine all of the mags’ scoops, report on their reporting, add a snide tone and live off clicks based on other peoples’ work. You clicked on this story – which most people in the media now know or believe to be a true story – lapped up someone else’s exclusive for your entertainment and then finished it off with an insult for the people who scored the scoop. Hypocrisy and ingratitude with a big dollop of moral superiority in the bargain.
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Absolutely beautifully said.
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Good luck getting anyone in competing media to give any Australian goss mag credit for a major scoop – and WD and NI do consistently produce scoops.
So other media just “report on the reporting” and add a snide tone to effectively rip off other peoples’ work.
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Why would they do that??
Such an invasion of privacy ! If it is his baby maybe he hadn’t told Lisa yet, what an awful way to find out. Shame on No Idea !!
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From being a listener of her program, she has been mentioning being in Qld a bit lately
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