Mamamia podcaster and writer Jessie Stephens has responded to “patently untrue” reports regarding the salary of her husband and Mamamia’s Chief Operating Officer, Luca Lavigne.
ICYMI, Lavigne — who is also the son of Mamamia’s founder, Mia Freedman — was promoted to the COO role last year, after joining the media company back in 2016.
In the wake of his promotion, reports circulating as recently as this week claimed that Lavigne, who married Stephens in 2023, was on a “handsome salary” of $300,000.
The Daily Mail and Crikey were among the publications to report on the supposed salary, with the former outlet claiming in an article that news of Lavigne’s payday “sent shockwaves” through Mamamia’s staff.
Now, Stephens — who co-hosts Mamamia’s popular podcast Mamamia Out Loud with Freedman and Holly Wainwright — has come forward to deny the reports, describing them as a “false narrative” in posts shared to her Instagram Stories on Friday.
“If you’ve seen headlines that Luca’s salary is $300K a year, that is patently untrue,” Stephens wrote.
“That is simply just… not his salary.”
Stephens claimed she had “clarified multiple times to the publications” that the reports were “not true”, and said she felt compelled to address them to nip the “false narrative” in the bud.
“I can’t stand it when a false narrative keeps getting perpetuated,” Stephens wrote.
In a follow-up post, the podcaster took umbrage with how the reports referred to her, saying her job description isn’t just “the daughter-in-law” of Freedman and that, “after eleven years in media”, she isn’t an “editorial assistant”.
Alongside her hosting role, Stephens is named as an Executive Editor on Mamamia’s website.
It comes after Freedman announced on her podcast last week that she would be temporarily stepping back from Mamamia Out Loud to “go quiet and just work on some things of my own”.
Freedman launched Mamamia back in 2007. Her husband, Jason Lavigne, serves as the Chief Executive Officer.
Lead images: Instagram
