Forget divorces, bankruptcies and custody battles.

What really gets the eastern suburbs gossips leaning in these days is a good, old-fashioned falling-out between two best friends.

And right now everyone is talking about Pip Edwards and her alleged rift with a fellow fitness identity who found herself caught in the activewear mogul’s tangled love life.

The whispers started over the weekend when Edwards threw a star-studded 45th birthday party at ritzy Italian restaurant 10 William St in Paddington.

Notable guests included Kirsten King, the founder of Pilates studio Fluidform; jewellery designer Brohn Smith; fashion designer Michael Lo Sordo; and Connie Mitchell, the lead vocalist for Sneaky Sound System.

Edwards’ close pal Jackie ‘O’ Henderson wasn’t in attendance because she was on holiday in Italy with her daughter Kitty, 14, and did not return until early Monday. But there was another absence that didn’t go unnoticed…

The apparent rift between activewear designer Pip Edwards (pictured with her son Justice) and former friend Leah Simmons was evident at her star-studded birthday party over the weekend

Edwards booked out the Italian restaurant 10 William St in Paddington for her 45th birthday

We hear Simmons (right, with Edwards in Sydney on February 7, 2021) was not invited to the party despite the pair once being thick as thieves 

The fashion designer’s former best friend Leah Simmons was nowhere to be seen at the party, according to our spies.

In fact, we hear Simmons was not even invited to the event – despite the pair once being thick as thieves and, to quote a source, ‘like sisters’.

Their years-long friendship apparently became strained after Edwards briefly dated Simmons’s ex-partner Joshua Clapp, with whom she shares a son, earlier in the year.

Simmons and Clapp have an amicable relationship, but insiders say things cooled off between her and Edwards as a result of the relationship, which lasted for about three months from December 2024 to March 2025.

In their first sighting as a couple in December 13, Edwards and Clapp, 53, looked particularly cosy during a romantic day at the beach.

Clapp and Simmons, who is the founder of workout website KΛΛIΛΛ, are co-parents to son Ryder, who is in his mid-teens. Simmons also has a younger daughter, Lucky, from a subsequent relationship.

In February 2021, Edwards was seen spending time with Simmons and Lucky just months before the trainer announced her split from then-husband Adrian Reed.

Despite their separation, Simmons and Clapp are, by all accounts, close. The two went to lunch with their son at Bondi Icebergs in May last year, and regularly post about one another on Instagram.

Their years-long friendship apparently became strained after Edwards (right) briefly dated Simmons’s ex-partner Joshua Clapp (left) earlier in the year 

Simmons (right, with a friend) is the founder of workout website KΛΛIΛΛ 

Clapp and Simmons are co-parents to son Ryder, who is in his mid-teens (all pictured last May)

Despite being more low-profile than Edwards’ usual type, Clapp hasn’t been totally free from controversy.

In 2023, he was slapped with an AVO to protect nightclub boss Julian Tobias after the two men had a scuffle on stage at gentleman’s club Harem. 

Clapp later pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to a 12-month community correction order.

Awkwardly, Edwards also looks to be friends with Tobias, who owns floating day club The Island and Sussudio in Potts Point. Not only does she follow him on Instagram, but the pair was seen partying together on New Year’s Day in Bondi in January 2023.

Before her brief romance with Clapp, Pip was linked to multimillionaire businessman Geoff Bainbridge, best known for being a founder of burger restaurant Grill’d.

Pip was also famously dated former Australian Test cricket captain Michael Clarke, but the couple went their separate ways in early 2021.