For Celebrity Apprentice Australia 2022’s Jodi Gordon, life really does imitate art.
After shooting to fame on Home and Away and Neighbours, the starlet began making headlines for all the wrong reasons due to off-screen dramas, short-lived romances and a series of tragic life events.
Jodi Gordon Lost Her “Beloved Soulmate” When She Was 21
In 2002, the Celebrity Apprentice star briefly dated Christopher Burkhardt, before breaking things off in order to pursue a modelling career in Milan.
The pair reunited for a short time in 2005 when friends brought them back together on Valentine’s Day.
However, in a devastating turn of events, Christopher was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia in 2016.
With Jodi by his side, he tragically passed away in March 2007, just one week after slipping into a coma.
The tragedy was said to have left Jodi, then 21, “shattered”.
Shortly after Christopher’s death, she found love with Channel 7 heir Ryan Stokes, the son of billionaire businessman Kerry Stokes.
However, the romance was short-lived and in 2009, the pair went through a painful public split after one particularly bizarre scandal.
Jodi Gordon Was Found Cowering In a Bikie’s Bedroom After an Alleged Cocaine Binge
In what was the most cooked event of 2009, Jodi was embroiled in a bizarre drug scandal.
After false reports were made that suggested gunmen were trying to break in, Jodi was found hiding in the bedroom of suspected Rebels bikie Mark Judge’s home.
The pair were discovered by police after a paranoid Jodi imagined armed intruders were threatening her life.
Police reviewed CCTV footage and found no sign of any intruders before Jodi admitted she was under the influence of cocaine at the time. However, no charges were laid.
The bizarre incident spelled the end of her two-year relationship with her media mogul boyfriend, Ryan, who dumped her after the mind-boggling events.
Jodi Gordon’s Was Married to Rugby League Great Braith Anasta
The reality TV contestant later wed Australian former professional rugby league footballer, Braith Anasta, in Bali in 2012.
Just 10 months after they tied the knot, the pair announced they were expecting their first child. The following year, their daughter, Aleeia, was born.
But, “different priorities” got in the way of the famed couple, eventually leading them to split in 2015.
Since their marriage breakdown, Jodi has had a string of short-lived relationships.
In 2016, she briefly dated real estate agent Warren Ginsberg before differing schedules saw them part ways. Then, in November 2020, Jodi revealed via Instagram that she had found love once again with British banker Sebastian Blackler.
However, just a week after Jodi went public with the relationship, their romance spectacularly fell apart when it was revealed that Sebastian was to face court over an Apprehended Violence Order, which was taken out by police.
The couple was also alleged to have been involved in an ‘altercation’ on November 27, 2020. At the time, NSW Police were called to a bed and breakfast and arrested Sebastian over the events, but later released him without charge.
Court documents reportedly claim that the then 31-year-old said his girlfriend “hit him with a wine bottle”. Sebastian declined to make a formal statement, and also faced his own accusations of alleged violence.
Jodi Gordon Nominated for TWO TV Week Logie Awards
Despite her career being masked by various scandals, Jodi has still faced some extraordinary feats in her time.
In 2006, the soap star won the TV WEEK Logie Award for Most Popular New Female Talent. The win followed her debut as Martha MacKenzie on Home and Away.
Three years later, she was also nominated for the Most Popular Actress gong in 2009.
The following year, Jodi won her first film role in The Cup, which was based on horse Media Puzzle‘s win in the 2002 Melbourne Cup.
She has since gone on to appear in Any Questions for Ben?, Underbelly and Underbelly: Badness.
No stranger to reality TV, either, the mum of one competed in the eighth season of Dancing With the Stars. However, she and her partner, Stefano Oliveri, were eliminated in the fifth week.
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