Sad news for cricket glamour girl Grace Hayden and cotton heir boyfriend. Plus, splitsville for Perth society couple – and sacked Vogue editor makes a comeback: THE GROUP CHAT

Welcome to The Group Chat with Lucy Manly, where Australia’s most trusted society insider shares the hottest gossip BEFORE it makes the news.

Grace in the spotlight

As the daughter of Australian cricket icon Matthew Hayden – and a globe-trotting sports presenter – Grace Hayden has encountered her fair share of star-struck fans.

But the bubbly 23-year-old wasn’t prepared for a deeply unsettling encounter with an overzealous admirer during a recent work assignment in India.

‘I actually had a stalker – it was really scary,’ Grace told me. ‘He was convinced that we were married and wanted to take me home with him.’

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Grace Hayden had a deeply unsettling encounter with an overzealous admirer during a recent work assignment in India. ‘I actually had a stalker – it was really scary,’ Grace told me

‘It has woken me up to the fact that people have access to your entire life. Whatever you put online, everyone is watching,’ Grace admitted

Luckily, staff at the swanky hotel where she was staying weren’t having it. They noticed the stalker straight away and dealt with him before anything escalated.

Thanks to the support of her colleagues, she ‘never felt unsafe’. She added: ‘We’re all a big family but everyone looks out for each other.’

Still, the ordeal has left its mark.

‘It has woken me up to the fact that people have access to your entire life. Whatever you put online, everyone is watching,’ Grace admitted.

‘And people don’t always have the best intentions – so it’s made me more cautious and been a real learning curve for me in India.’

And while Grace is dodging stalkers overseas, back home she faces the difficulty of a long-distance relationship.

After relocating to Sydney to be closer to her boyfriend Wilson Statham – son of Queensland cotton tycoons Danielle and David Statham – the couple now face being 600 kilometres apart as Wilson prepares to move to Moree, NSW, to work at his family’s sprawling Sundown Pastoral Company.

The glamorous duo debuted their romance at Randwick last April and were spotted a month later holding hands at a Sydney pub.

As Grace dodges stalkers overseas, back home she faces the difficulty of a long-distance relationship. Her cotton heir boyfriend Wilson Statham (right) is preparing to move to Moree

The glamorous duo debuted their romance at Randwick last April. They are seen here at the beach in Noosa in July

But with her packed sportscasting schedule and Wilson knee-deep in the cotton business, the couple may soon learn that the only thing worse than stalkers is the tyranny of distance.

Fashion mag icon back on the scene

Another one bites the dust at Harper’s BAZAAR Australia.

Long-time fashion and news director Patty Huntington quietly parted ways with the magazine after holding court at the glossy since its much-hyped 2021 ‘rebrand’.

Her departure wasn’t announced in a press release – that would be far too considerate.

Rather, it was quietly made official in an Instagram post for New Zealand Fashion Week, where Huntington was billed as the ‘outgoing Features and Fashion News Director of Harper’s BAZAAR Australia.’

As a former mag hag myself, I’ve seen plenty of redundancies in the industry.

But nothing compares to the dizzying revolving door since Switzer Media – helmed by power couple Maureen Jordan and Peter Switzer, with son Alex Switzer pulling the publishing strings – took over the local licence for Harper’s.

Patty Huntington’s departure from Harper’s BAZAAR Australia wasn’t announced in a press release – that would be far too considerate. Instead, we learned it from this Instagram post

Meanwhile, tongues are wagging that none other than Kirstie Clements – Vogue Australia’s long-serving former editor-in-chief – is circling the BAZAAR block

Multiple editors and most of the original staff have disappeared since the 2021 relaunch of Harper’s Bazaar Australia. The sole survivor? Publisher Maureen Jordan (pictured)

Now, tongues are wagging that none other than Kirstie Clements, Vogue Australia’s long-serving former editor-in-chief, is circling the BAZAAR block – allegedly in a ‘writing capacity’, according to my well-placed source.

Clements, of course, is no stranger to headlines.

She was unceremoniously fired from Vogue after more than a decade at the helm when Rupert Murdoch‘s News Limited took over the magazine in 2012 – only to be replaced by her rival Edwina McCann, who had just come from Harper’s BAZAAR.

If she does end up securing a more senior role at Harper’s, only time will tell how long the seasoned editor will last under the Switzers’ regime.

But as the saying goes, trends come and go but some things never go out of style.