Welcome to The Group Chat with Lucy Manly, where Australia's most trusted society insider before it makes the news.
The party that never happened
It was supposed to be a night of celebration.
But now socialites are whispering about what really unfolded at the birthday party that wrapped up hours before high-flying media boss Antony Catalano allegedly subjected a woman to a brutal assault.
Catalano, the executive chairman of newspaper group ACM, which publishes the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald and Illawarra Mercury, had flown to Melbourne from last Thursday with wife Stefanie for the 40th birthday of their friend, socialite and longtime collaborator Daanen Nootenboom, who has worked on graphic redesign projects for the couple's luxury Byron Bay hotel, Raes on Wategos.
The dinner party, held at a Greek restaurant in Richmond, included a guest list of well-heeled friends, with attendees posting snaps to social media showing them clinking shot glasses personalised with Nike ticks as they partied late into the night.
Following the alleged assault at his St Kilda apartment, media boss Antony Catalano said he was 'deeply ashamed and humiliated', acknowledging the pain caused to 'the woman involved'
Catalano (left) and his wife Stefanie (right) were celebrating the 40th birthday of Daanen Nootenboom (centre) on the night Catalano was charged with assaulting a woman
But good luck trying to find the photos now. They were everywhere on the night, but have since mysteriously vanished.
Multiple guests are said to have wiped the images from Instagram. Others have allegedly been told to 'keep their mouths shut' about what might have unfolded during - and after - the party.
Because, as we all now know, just hours later the mood allegedly soured dramatically.
The 59-year-old businessman, known in media circles as The Cat, stands accused of a violent incident at his lavish St Moritz apartment in St Kilda.
Police allege he dragged a woman, who cannot be named, through the property so violently that he left her with a broken coccyx, then wielded a clothes iron, swinging it towards her head.
The next day, Catalano appeared at Melbourne Magistrates' Court via audio-visual link for a bail hearing. He sat with his head in his hands and did not enter a plea.
In a statement, he said he was 'deeply ashamed and humiliated', acknowledging the pain caused to 'the woman involved, my family [and] friends'.
The magistrate described the case against him as 'relatively strong' and noted he could be facing jail time if found guilty.
Inside Catalano's $30million St Kilda apartment where the alleged incident took place
According to a summary of allegations read in court, Catalano 'dragged the victim to the laundry area where he grabbed a clothes iron and held it towards the victim's head, causing the victim to grab onto the iron herself'.
Catalano now claims he has been battling 'significant mental health and substance abuse issues' for some time, admitting those close to him had urged him to seek help.
'I regret not heeding their advice,' he said in his statement.
Catalano has been charged with assault, false imprisonment and making threats to kill.
In the fallout, he announced he would take six months' leave and step down from his role at regional publisher ACM, which he co-owns with businessman Alex Waislitz.
As his next hearing looms, questions are swirling about what really happened at that birthday party - and, just as importantly, why has everyone who attended suddenly gone quiet?
Meanwhile, Catalano's wife Stefanie is said to be back in Byron Bay, having hired crisis communications manager Lahra Carey.
She is said to be leaning on the shoulder of her well-connected friends Steph Stean and Hemsworth matriarch Leonie, mother of Chris, Luke and Liam.
Stefanie (right) is said to be leaning on the shoulder of Leonie Hemsworth (left), mother of Hollywood actors Chris, Luke and Liam
Graphic designer Daanen Nootenboom, whose 40th birthday Catalano had attended before the alleged assault, dated socialite Bec Harding in 2016 when she was on a break with Andy Lee
Not the Daily Mail type
A simple enquiry to a celebrity facialist this week prompted the sort of blast that left me feeling like I'd waltzed into Area 51 and asked where they kept the aliens.
You probably know Ingrid Seaburn, the brilliant Bondi-based skin guru behind the flawless visages of Delta Goodrem, Mel C, Pip Edwards and more.
I'd received a tip that subscribers to her $350-a-month membership program - a package that promises everything from personalised treatments to exclusive events and concierge-style booking - were having trouble getting an appointment.
It wasn't exactly Watergate stuff, but I asked around nonetheless. And naturally, I also reached out to Seaburn to see if she wanted to comment on the chatter.
Her response, dear readers, blew my socks off.
Seaburn made it clear that every one of her members gets an appointment, and suggested that I had been 'scammed by a bogus campaign or bogus people'.
She said her seven-day-a-week Members Concierge, dedicated WhatsApp group, and system of follow-up enquiries should a member forget to book online mean that it is 'literally impossible' not to get through the door.
It was 'frightening', she thundered, to think someone might suggest otherwise.
Seaburn also noted that my query was particularly hard to believe because her clients 'are really not the type of women to contact the Daily Mail'.
Oh, you'd be surprised who gets in touch, Ingrid.
Bondi-based skin guru Ingrid Seaburn (right) has famous clients including Delta Goodrem, Mel C and Pip Edwards (left)
There was no answer at the clinic when I visited Ingrid on Wednesday. She got back to me on Thursday with a thunderous response that every one of her members gets an appointment
Seaburn used to operate out of Denham Street in Bondi, just a stone's throw from Totti's and The Royal - prime territory for Sydney's well-heeled set.
These days, she's working out of a smaller studio on Bondi Road, opposite Waverley Park.
For those paying $350 a month, expectations are understandably high, so I'm pleased to hear that her booking system is entirely beyond reproach.
I feel like I need a facial after that...
Mogul's boudoir moment
What's that saying - stay humble, don't forget where you came from?
Sydney entrepreneur Alexandra Jakob appears determined to do just that, sharing a deeply personal account of her childhood in a rather unexpected Instagram post.
Posing for a boudoir photo shoot with her fiancé Michael Burn, Jakob opened up about her past in the caption, writing: 'I slept on the street as a small child…
'Other nights I slept on a mattress pulled from a dumpster, no sheets, no blanket and just the cold. I survived on soup kitchens.
'Life tried to bruise me. It tried to dent me. But it never broke me.
'Because I already survived the things that were meant to destroy me. You can’t normalise what I went through and you will never break me.'
Powerful words from the self-made founder of Bondi Boost haircare - but it was the image paired with the caption that had me confused.
Draped across Burn's lap in a lace gown, Jakob posed among candelabras and a sea of red roses. It didn't scream rags-to-riches survival story.
And it turns out this wasn't a one-off.
I'm reliably informed these elaborate shoots are a regular affair for the engaged couple, with photographer Emily Abay behind the lens and stylist Charlotte Stokes curating the romantic scenes each month.
I caught the pair at Downing Centre Local Court last month as their long-running dispute with Burn's ex-boyfriend Geoffrey Williams rumbled on.
Draped across her fiancé Michael Burn's lap in a lace gown, Alexandra Jakob posed among candelabras and a sea of red roses. It didn't exactly scream rags-to-riches survival story
Former male escort Michael Burn and his multimillionaire fiancée Alexandra Jakob put on a united front while arriving at court last month
Geoffrey Williams (left) and Mr Burn (right) were more than business partners back in the day
It all kicked off in February last year when Burn, a former male escort, applied for a restraining order against Williams, citing what he described as 'harassing and stalking behaviour'.
The situation quickly escalated. Williams went on to file a police complaint, lodged just weeks before Burn and Jakob moved ahead with their private AVO application.
Fast-forward a year and after countless court appearances, the matter was finally slated to be heard last month, despite Burn's barrister AJ Karim making repeated attempts to broker a deal with Williams behind the scenes.
It was a nothing hearing. After waiting all day to secure a free courtroom and failing to reach a settlement, the matter ended quickly when a no‑nonsense magistrate refused to sit through the saga, knowing it could take up to four hours.
Here's hoping they can finally settle things when they return to court on April 7.
