Have you heard the pervasive rumours that Aussie celebrities pull strings behind the scenes to orchestrate paparazzi pics? Well, some paparazzi claim they’re straight-up true. And there are some juicy receipts to prove it.
This chit-chat kicked off earlier this week when Australia’s darling Abbie Chatfield revealed on her podcast, It’s A Lot, that she once took paps up on an offer to stage sneaky pics of her and her then-boyfriend, former Bachelorette contestant Todd King, in exchange for a nifty $1000.
Honestly, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t accept $1000 for paparazzi pics. I’ve done a lot worse for a lot less. Anyway, Abbie certainly isn’t the only celeb who is guilty of setting up staged pics, and her admission prompted some photographers to leak some DMs they claim they’ve had with celebs wanting to secure some more publicity.
In a cheeky report by Daily Mail Australia, P.E. Nation founder Pip Edwards allegedly arranged a sneaky shoot with a photographer through Instagram DMs back in 2022.
According to the DMs (which you can see HERE), Edwards allegedly facilitated a paparazzi to come snap pics of her outside her offices in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. The best bit? When she saw the pics and didn’t like them, it’s claimed she asked them to come back. She is so real for that.
“Come back to my office and get a better pic. No, seriously, come on. I want to give you a better one,” she reportedly wrote in one exchange in July 2022.
“If you want me to, I’ll come back. You’re the boss,” the paparazzi replied.
“It’s a two-way street! It’s gotta work out for me too,” she said. Another message exchange saw Edwards appear to request that the photographer change the angle because the pics made her look “short and stumpy”.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Edwards for comment.
In another exchange from 2021, Edwards allegedly asked the photographer to do her a favour and take some happy snaps of her friend Darren McMullen, who was appearing on The Celebrity Apprentice at the time.
“Hey!!! Now I wanna ask a favour for my mates Milly and Darren lol,” the DMs read.
“Darren is doing a Celeb Apprentice stunt outside Bondi public bar at 3.30 dressed as a carrot. Can you cover it for me lol? Darren needs some press. Dressed as a carrot lol.”
The Daily Mail Australia ended up covering that story with the headline: “EXCLUSIVE: Pip Edwards supports Darren McMullen and his Celebrity Apprentice co-stars as they cause havoc in Bondi”. You can find it HERE.
The next celeb whose DMs were supposedly leaked was former Married At First Sight season four contestant Cheryl Maitland. Back in 2017, Maitland found herself in the middle of a scandal after photographer Jayden Seyfarth posted their message exchange on his Instagram Story.
“Hey I’ll be in Melbourne this weekend,” she allegedly wrote.
“Yo! Why Melb come to Sydney ahah! I can organise someone down there if you like,” he replied.
“Would it be good for airport shorts of me arriving as my partner will be there? Or dinner?” she said.
He savagely captioned the exchange with “when they need to stay relevant”.
At the time, Cheryl said that she received messages from Seyfarth frequently.
“He messages me all the time to see where I am,” she told news.com.au.
“I’m frankly getting annoyed with paparazzi taking photos of me when I don’t know, and it makes me on edge every day.”
That’s a pretty fair point, if you ask me.
Former Big Brother star and I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here winner Skye Wheatley is the next celeb revealed to call in the paps. Again, it was seemingly messy photographer Seyfarth who shared the DMs on his socials.
“Hey Skye saw your snap, are you in Sydney? Would love to get a few shots for dailymail if you’re interested,” he wrote to her on Instagram DMs.
“Yeah sounds good. But I want a cut of the photos,” she replied.
Seyfarth agreed, saying they would split the profits. However, he shared the exchange on his Instagram Stories with the caption: “Don’t fuck me over lol”.
Perhaps I’m missing part of the conversation, but I don’t think it’s too wild for a woman to ask for financial compensation for the use of her own image, which she has limited control over.
“I don’t understand why he would post that. Like, who am I, Kim Kardashian?” Skye told Daily Mail Australia in a statement at the time.
“I told him I’d be in Sydney if he wanted to take some photos, and he said yes. That was so long ago. I don’t understand why he is posting that conversation.”
She also claimed that Seyfarth delayed paying her the share they agreed on.
The next Aussie reality star who has been outed allegedly trying to orchestrate pap pics is former Bachelorette star Michael Turnbull. But instead of a paparazzi, it was Bachelor star Alex Nation who dished the goss to Daily Mail Australia.
The exchange reportedly went down in 2018 and kicked off when Turnbull slid into Nation’s DMs.
“Did you want to do some pics? Just a coffee or something? That could be good?” he reportedly wrote.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll decline this one. Enjoy Melbourne, and maybe I’ll see you around at some events and we can have a drink or something then.”
Nation reportedly shared the exchange with Woman’s Day.
Then, Michael clapped back with a statement to Daily Mail Australia.
“It’s disgusting Alex would send someone’s private messages to the media and make false claims to the media just to make a few dollars. At no stage did I mention staged pap photos,” Michael said.
“I asked her for a photo shoot as it was for a photo shoot I needed for some branding, not for media. I think it’s very ironic that she is the one who sent my screenshots to the media. That’s embarrassing for her.”
Ouchie mama!!!
Honestly, I am all for celebrities who are orchestrating their own pap photos. It’s a win-win scenario for the celebrity after more publicity and a photographer doing their job. Is it a bit cringe? Yes. But you know what they say — the most successful people aren’t afraid to be cringe.
And I think that’s beautiful.
