Latest news with #SoniaMcMahon
The Age
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
The real housewives of Australia: How ‘Red' Bond led the way
On July 2, the news rippled eastwards across the Nullarbor. An extraordinary chapter in social history had ended. Eileen 'Red' Bond, the first wife of Alan Bond, had died in Perth from a stroke at the age of 87. Long before today's mawkish Real Housewives shows, Australia claimed a unique species of social fauna: the Socialitis Animalis Australis, a generation of larger-than-life, socially connected, cashed-up and indomitable women. Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop, Lady Mary Fairfax, Pixie Skase, Lillian Frank, Diana 'Bubbles' Fisher, Rose Hancock, Lady Sonia McMahon and Susan Renouf became celebrities as they epitomised an era of unmatched excess. Some of them married wealth and power; others worked, accruing their own. They were the apex predators of the society pages at a time when Australia produced audacious billionaires, such as Alan Bond. He and Eileen built their own university, hotels and even launched a fleet of airships. Despite a deluge of noise complaints, 'Red' was all smiles in 1987 as she launched her blimps over Sydney; powered by two roaring Porsche engines, they were bedecked in advertising for her Swan Premium beer and ciggies. Privately, she endured the loss of her daughter, Susanne, of coeliac disease in 2000, but carried on despite the ignominy of her husband's billion-dollar bankruptcy, fraud conviction, infidelity (she famously cut up his expensive suits in revenge) and their ultimate divorce. A devout Catholic and devoted matriarch and philanthropist, she hosted lavish dinner parties as enthusiastically as she once did her infamous sausage sizzles right up to her death. '[These women] handled things with grace,' says Ann Peacock, daughter of the late Andrew Peacock and his first wife, socialite Susan; a political power couple, the Peacocks were once known as Australia's Kennedys. 'Some scandals were ridiculously overblown … In 1970, Dad offered his resignation [as army minister] after Mum's Sheridan sheets ad furore!' (She had appeared in print ads for the brand.) A photo of Flemington's 'Holy Trinity', taken at the Melbourne Cup in 2003, perhaps sums them up best. Red looks like a dazzling toadstool in an enormous hat and sunglasses. At left is Lady Sonia McMahon, who died in 2010. In 1971, she caused a sensation at the White House, which she was visiting with her husband, the then-PM, Billy McMahon, by wearing a cream dress by Victoria Cascajo slit to her thighs. Peacock's mother, Susan Renouf, is on the right. She died in 2016 after living a life of headlines, including the tumultuous end, in 1988, of her marriage to billionaire Sir Frank Renouf. She refused – in front of a salivating media pack – to leave their ironically named Point Piper mansion, Paradis Sur Mer.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The real housewives of Australia: How ‘Red' Bond led the way
On July 2, the news rippled eastwards across the Nullarbor. An extraordinary chapter in social history had ended. Eileen 'Red' Bond, the first wife of Alan Bond, had died in Perth from a stroke at the age of 87. Long before today's mawkish Real Housewives shows, Australia claimed a unique species of social fauna: the Socialitis Animalis Australis, a generation of larger-than-life, socially connected, cashed-up and indomitable women. Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop, Lady Mary Fairfax, Pixie Skase, Lillian Frank, Diana 'Bubbles' Fisher, Rose Hancock, Lady Sonia McMahon and Susan Renouf became celebrities as they epitomised an era of unmatched excess. Some of them married wealth and power; others worked, accruing their own. They were the apex predators of the society pages at a time when Australia produced audacious billionaires, such as Alan Bond. He and Eileen built their own university, hotels and even launched a fleet of airships. Despite a deluge of noise complaints, 'Red' was all smiles in 1987 as she launched her blimps over Sydney; powered by two roaring Porsche engines, they were bedecked in advertising for her Swan Premium beer and ciggies. Privately, she endured the loss of her daughter, Susanne, of coeliac disease in 2000, but carried on despite the ignominy of her husband's billion-dollar bankruptcy, fraud conviction, infidelity (she famously cut up his expensive suits in revenge) and their ultimate divorce. A devout Catholic and devoted matriarch and philanthropist, she hosted lavish dinner parties as enthusiastically as she once did her infamous sausage sizzles right up to her death. '[These women] handled things with grace,' says Ann Peacock, daughter of the late Andrew Peacock and his first wife, socialite Susan; a political power couple, the Peacocks were once known as Australia's Kennedys. 'Some scandals were ridiculously overblown … In 1970, Dad offered his resignation [as army minister] after Mum's Sheridan sheets ad furore!' (She had appeared in print ads for the brand.) A photo of Flemington's 'Holy Trinity', taken at the Melbourne Cup in 2003, perhaps sums them up best. Red looks like a dazzling toadstool in an enormous hat and sunglasses. At left is Lady Sonia McMahon, who died in 2010. In 1971, she caused a sensation at the White House, which she was visiting with her husband, the then-PM, Billy McMahon, by wearing a cream dress by Victoria Cascajo slit to her thighs. Peacock's mother, Susan Renouf, is on the right. She died in 2016 after living a life of headlines, including the tumultuous end, in 1988, of her marriage to billionaire Sir Frank Renouf. She refused – in front of a salivating media pack – to leave their ironically named Point Piper mansion, Paradis Sur Mer.
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Inside the mysterious pauper's funeral for the son of a prime minister - as bizarre new details emerge about Julian McMahon's tragic death
Julian McMahon grew up privileged in one of Australia's most exclusive suburbs, befitting the high society family he was born into - making his pauper-like funeral all the more shocking. Daily Mail Australia can reveal new details that indicate the respected actor appears to have had a lonely send-off at a nondescript crematorium on an industrial estate on the US East Coast. The actor, who died of cancer aged 56 in Florida, on July 2, was the son of Prime Minister Sir William McMahon and Sydney society matriarch Lady Sonia McMahon. Julian was raised in a palatial Bellevue Hill mansion, and even when he decamped to the United States to chase his acting dream, he never wanted for money, living in several multi-million-dollar homes in California to rival the grandeur of his upbringing. However, his death certificate painted a terribly sad picture for a man who was a Sydney Grammar boy and one of Australia's finest acting exports. Julian, who starred on Nip/Tuck and Charmed, died at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, a Floridian city overrun with Scientologists. Julian's body was handled by Eternal Cremations - a nondescript, family-run funeral home in the nearby town of Dunedin. The small crematorium sits on a busy main road, sandwiched between a strip mall and a petrol station. After starring in Home and Away, he became one of Australia's acting exports to the US The actor's death certificate, obtained by sheds more light on the mystery A spokesperson for Eternal Cremations said it did not handle funeral arrangements for Julian, and even claimed there was no funeral at all. Instead, Julian's remains were subsequently passed to Palm State Crematory in Clearwater - a business which does not appear to have a website - set in an industrial park on the outskirts of town. Phone calls to the crematorium went unanswered, and it is not known if Julian's third wife Kelly, an American former model, was in attendance, nor where his ashes are. It is not known if Julian's 25-year-old daughter Madison - whom he shares with Baywatch actress Brooke Burns - attended his cremation. Julian's successful 36-year career in his native country and in the United States from the early 1990s makes the lack of entertainment industry peers paying their respects even more puzzling. While his father Sir William and mother Sonia have long passed away, his sisters Melinda, 58, and Debbie, 52, were reported to be devastated by his death. The latest revelations have done little to quell speculation about why he was in Clearwater, including online rumours he may have been a Scientologist. A search of US public records indicated he and Kelly sold an idyllic avocado farm in Ventura, California, in 2023. The death certificate listed a business building in Los Angeles' Encino neighbourhood as both Julian and Kelly's address. His lonely death at a nondescript Clearwater hospital, followed by a cremation at a rundown industrial estate, could not stand in starker contrast to his early life in Sydney. Julian, Melinda and Debbie were raised in a stunning mansion on Drumalbyn Road, Bellevue Hill, with views across Sydney Harbour. Lady McMahon bought it for $123,000 in 1968 - the year Julian, her eldest, was born. After her 2010 death, her estate sold the property in 2011 for $9 million. Before her death, Lady McMahon lived at a similarly stylish home on Victoria Road. She was left a widow in 1988, when her husband, whom she married in 1965 (when she was 33 and he was 57), died in his sleep at 80. According to public documents, the McMahon family still makes a significant mark on Bellevue Hill. Their parents' home was ideal for entertaining, and featured harbour views Melinda and Debbie reside there, and live extremely quiet lives. Insiders say Melinda has not been present at her stunning townhome for several weeks, with one insider speculating she may have travelled to Florida to be by her brother's side in his final days. Debbie, who lives in an apartment building nearby, did not answer the door when a reporter visited on Thursday. It is understood that despite their late parents' colourful social lives, the sisters 'keep their circle extremely tight'. A cache of public documents about Julian's life in the United States since the 1990s, reviewed by Daily Mail Australia, provides little insight into why he ultimately ended up in Clearwater. Records showed he gained his social security identification in New York, but by 1997 he began living in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. His home, directly beneath the Hollywood Sign, was sold in 2015 for $3.3 million. He also owned a home in Malibu, which he shared with Kelly, and sold in 2017 for $5.41 million. It appeared the couple then moved to their ranch in the farming community of Somis, Ventura County. The hacienda-style home featured 1.8 hectares of Hass avocado trees and 4.4 acres of lemons. The 2,700-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom residence was listed for sale by the couple in 2016 before being removed from the market in 2017. It was relisted on July 19, 2023 - curiously, the advertisement suggested it could be purchased fully furnished - and sold on October 5, 2023. Since 2023, the McMahons had no further listed residences, save for the business address linked to an accountant specialising in celebrity finances that appeared on his death certificate. However, the couple then seemingly headed to Florida. Julian's daughter Madison - from his previous marriage to American actress Brooke Burns - is listed at an address in Charleston, South Carolina, where it is thought she attended university. However, Madison teaches yoga classes in Miami. Offering a further clue, of the 20 accounts Julian followed on Instagram, one was Mari's Kitchen Italian Market - a restaurant in Hollywood, Florida, just north of Miami. A spokesperson for the restaurant revealed: 'Yes, he is very missed here. One of our good friends'. They would not confirm if Julian had lived in the area. When Kelly, 47, revealed her husband had died in Clearwater after 'a valiant effort to overcome cancer', it immediately prompted speculation online as to whether he was a Scientologist. 'I live in Clearwater... close to a house [Scientologist] John Travolta owns, because we're about a mile from the Scientology centre in downtown Clearwater,' one local wrote on Instagram. 'I was wondering if Julian McMahon was a Scientologist since [Kelly's statement] said he died in Clearwater, because why else would he live the last few months of his life there? The only celebrities that do are usually Scientologists. Surprised, that's for certain!' Another person posted on X: 'Why was Julian McMahon in Clearwater when he died? Like, that's Scientology city.' Clearwater, which has a population of 116,000, is notorious for being overrun by the Church of Scientology.
