Abbie Chatfield has admitted she defamed her onetime ‘best male friend’ after accusing him of supporting genocide and the slaughter of children.
The social media influencer will be forced to pay law student and former Virgin Australia guest services officer Heath Kelley $79,000 after she consented to a Federal Court judgment against her.
The court has also ordered Chatfield pay Mr Kelley’s legal costs, which amount to an estimated $30,000, leaving her facing a total bill of more than $100,000.
Mr Kelley sued Chatfield for defamation after his lawyers sent her a concerns notice stating her online comments about him were indefensible and false.
Chatfield did not attempt to fight the claim and on Thursday afternoon Justice Wendy Abraham made orders against her by consent.
The 30-year-old, who has about 550,000 followers on Instagram, published the defamatory remarks about Mr Kelley on her Stories about 5.30pm on May 7.
That day, Chatfield had posted in support of Greens leader Adam Bandt who lost his seat of Melbourne to Labor’s Sarah Witty at the 2025 federal election.
Mr Kelley, who had known Chatfield since their school days from about 2011, responded by sending her a private message containing a video and comment about Mr Bandt.
Abbie Chatfield has admitted she defamed her onetime ‘best male friend’ after accusing him of supporting genocide and the slaughter of children
Heath Kelley sued Chatfield after she accused him of supporting genocide and the slaughter of children. The former friends are pictured dancing in 2019
Further private messages were then exchanged between Chatfield and Mr Kelley which Chatfield later published to her followers.
Chatfield: ‘Why are you sending me this.. ? Are you pro Israel? Gross.’
Mr Kelley: ‘Sending you this because its incredible news that he lost his seat. And I’m going to sleep better at night knowing the Jewish population of Melbourne will feel safer with him gone.’
He continued: ‘And yes as a supporter of gay and women’s rights I am pro Israel having been to the region twice.’
Chatfield: ‘Okay so you’ve lost the plot. By (sic) dude lmao.’
The former star of Network Ten’s The Bachelor then took to her Instagram Stories, reproducing some of her exchange with Mr Kelley, naming him and tagging his account.
‘Not my high school ex friend (EX FRIEND for a reason) sending me this???’ she posted. ‘We haven’t spoken in 3 years, and before that maybe 6 or 7 years???
‘Delusional g*cide supporter now weirdly trolling me about a PROGRESSIVE AND KIND politician narrowly losing his seat.
Chatfield, who has about 550,000 followers on Instagram, published defamatory remarks about Mr Kelley on her Stories about 5.30pm on May 7 this year (above)
‘Really revolting stuff and shows his level of intelligence and empathy. To say that ADAM BANDT is a threat to anyone is insane.
‘Anyway if anyone works with him or knows him personally know that he supports the slaughtering of children so much so that he wants to tell someone he doesn’t know anymore? Weird behaviour!!!!’
Chatfield and Mr Kelley were once so close that their relationship sparked romance rumours.
The pair made tabloid headlines in 2019 when they danced together in a raunchy online video. Chatfield grinded up against Mr Kelley and said, ‘I love this song and I love this man.’
Chatfield, who had recently appeared on The Bachelor, was quick to publicly deny they were an item, describing Mr Kelley as ‘my best friend of ten years’.
Mr Kelley’s statement of claim described Chatfield as ‘a nationally well-known social media influencer, reality television personality and radio presenter’.
The statement claimed Chatfield had accused Mr Kelley of supporting the killing of women and gay men in Palestine, as well as the slaughter of children and genocide.
In a video posted to her Stories on the same day as the other defamatory posts, Chatfield continued her attack on Mr Kelley.
The former star of Network Ten’s The Bachelor took to her Instagram Stories, reproducing some of her exchange with Mr Kelley, naming him and tagging his account (above)
‘And, yeah, so Heath Kelley,’ she said. ‘I mean I’m actually not shocked that you became a right wing troll, because like, that’s all you were ever going to amount to…
‘And obviously you’re much worse than I thought you were when I distanced myself my friendship with you, ahm, these people are f***ing deranged…
‘… Anyway, Heath Kelley, Heath Kelley, Heath Kelley. Any of my friends from high school watching this, just so Heath Kelley supports genocide if you want to reconsider your friendships.’
Chatfield’s Story remained visible on her Instagram account until at least 1.15pm on May 8.
Mr Kelley’s statement of claim described Chatfield’s comments as ‘likely to cause serious harm to Mr Kelley’s reputation’ due to her large Instagram following.
The former friends shared 130-150 mutual Instagram contacts, ‘meaning that it is likely that the Story was viewed by a significant part of Mr Kelley’s social media network’.
Mr Kelley’s claim also stated Chatfield breached his confidence by publishing private exchanges between the pair.
‘By reason of the publication of the Story, Mr Kelley has been brought into hatred, ridicule and contempt and has been gravely injured in his character and reputation and has suffered hurt and embarrassment and will continue to suffer loss and damage,’ his claim said.
Mr Kelley’s claim stated the damage was aggravated by Chatfield publishing private messages, by naming him, and by tagging his personal Instagram account.
He stated Chatfield further aggravated the damage through a letter she instructed a solicitor to send to Mr Kelley’s lawyers on May 30 in response to a concerns notice.
Abbie Chatfield’s social media posts that led to her being sued for defamation by her onetime ‘male best friend’ can be revealed for the first time. (Chatfield is pictured last September)
That letter ‘characterised Mr Kelley’s concerns notice as an attempt at “extortion” and asserted that Mr Kelley was attempting to benefit financially from his “prior acquaintance” with Ms Chatfield’.
Mr Kelley’s concerns notice stated he and Chatfield had remained close until 2021, ‘during which time you were in our client’s friendship circle, and often socialised regularly both in group and one-on-one settings’.
‘The friendship included our client on one occasion accompanying you to hospital in Brisbane, attending your birthday party in 2020, sharing an Airbnb in 2020, as well as having discussions concerning your financial position,’ it said.
‘You both resided in Sydney for a time, during which time the friendship eventually tapered off with amicable but intermittent Instagram messages being exchanged until 2022.
‘Although you were generally correct in the Posts to state that you and our client “haven’t spoken in 3 years”, it was however entirely false for you to state that prior to then that you had not spoken for “maybe 6 or 7 years”.’
The letter stated Mr Kelley had never posted public comments on social media about the Middle East conflict but had told Chatfield he was ‘pro-Israel’ because he supported gay and women’s rights.
The letter also stated Chatfield had been ‘hypocritical’ by branding Mr Kelley a troll then engaging in ‘a public and unilateral attack on our client to your hundreds of thousands of followers’.
Since her time on The Bachelor, Chatfield has gone on to appear in spin-off series Bachelor in Paradise, plus I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! She also hosted Love Island Afterparty for Nine and has been a panellist on The Masked Singer.
