Nick McKenzies Secret Love Life Exposed!

Welcome to The Group Chat with Lucy Manly, where Australia's most trusted society insider before it makes the news. 

A source of gossip

Backslaps all round for Nine's golden boy Nick McKenzie, whose years-long investigation into alleged by Ben Roberts-Smith culminated this week in charges being laid against Australia's most‑decorated soldier.

Roberts‑Smith has always maintained his innocence.

As regular readers of this column will know, the investigative reporter is famously guarded about his private life - and with good reason.

Despite his image as a serious, thinking man's journalist, it's not exactly a secret that McKenzie likes to let his hair down once a front-page splash is safely put to bed.

Whenever tabloid types gather over drinks to chew the fat on the day's stories, Nicky's reputation as a charmer is almost always part of the conversation.

Indeed, I couldn't help but notice that one of my old stories about McKenzie's 'secret girlfriend' had a spike in readership after BRS was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday - so what better time than now to revisit the ladies in his life?

Let's start with the fact the 20-time Walkley Award winner used to be a married man.

He was previously wed to Kylie Trounson, a Melbourne playwright, actor and lawyer with whom he shares two children.

That union sadly ended in recent years, after which, I am told, Nick had a fleeting relationship with a publicist that sparked some chatter in media circles.

Not that it takes much to do that these days.

And as I revealed last September, the 46-year-old has been quietly dating retired AFLW player Elise O'Dea, 34, for about a year - quietly being the operative word.

Sources close to the couple said McKenzie was going to considerable lengths to keep the relationship 'discreet' - meaning no red carpets or pap-friendly public outings.

Perth socialite Clara Hurst (centre) dressed up as Baby Spice at a recent Perth party