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The 'Truth' Behind Szep’s Shutdown · Outspoken the Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
0:06
Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Amy Torber and coming up on today's show, the real
0:13
Speaker 1: reason behind the closure of Chloe Zep's activewear brand, Tammy
0:17
Speaker 1: Hembrough spotted at the airport with her ex, and Veruca.
0:20
Speaker 2: Salt's shock pregnancy.
0:22
Speaker 3: But first, Saffron Barker has confirmed her rugby player ex
0:26
Speaker 3: did in fact cheat on her almost two years on
0:29
Speaker 3: from their public split the popular UK influencer dished the
0:32
Speaker 3: dirt on her ex, Louis Rhys Zamet.
0:35
Speaker 1: I was absolutely living for this vlog because I've been
0:38
Speaker 1: really enjoying seeing Saffron in Australia. And she was with
0:41
Speaker 1: her friends at a restaurant on the Gold Coast when
0:44
Speaker 1: she dropped this juicy detail.
0:46
Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.
0:47
Speaker 4: I don't think it's the answer. I actually don't think
0:49
Speaker 4: I have to keep this in. If I do, this
0:52
Speaker 4: is going on TikTok. I don't think I can keep
0:54
Speaker 4: this in, but I might actually see it on me.
0:57
Speaker 1: Oh, God.
0:58
Speaker 4: This gave a really.
1:15
Speaker 5: Interesting insight into the breakup because it's quite clear that
1:18
Speaker 5: Lewis was begging Saffron to take him back. It's also
1:22
Speaker 5: clear from this comment that he thinks he's a pretty
1:24
Speaker 5: big deal, referring to himself sort of in the terms
1:27
Speaker 5: of Jay-Z and Beyonce, like, come on.
1:29
Speaker 2: We're so famous. It's okay. She took him back. You
1:32
Speaker 2: can take me back. We're just this big it couple
1:35
Speaker 2: in the UK.
1:35
Speaker 6: I wonder how the girl that he hooked up with
1:37
Speaker 6: after Saffron feels about it, because there were rumors that
1:40
Speaker 6: the girl he ended up putting all over his Instagram
1:42
Speaker 6: was the one he cheated on her with.
1:44
Speaker 5: Oh, she was a big DJ in America. She was stunning.
1:47
Speaker 5: She looked very similar to Saffron.
1:49
Speaker 3: Well, at the time, Lewis had just been signed by
1:52
Speaker 3: the Chiefs.
1:52
Speaker 1: And I wonder if he just thought, well, I can
1:55
Speaker 1: do whatever I want. I'm a footballer now in the US.
1:57
Speaker 1: Like this is obviously what goes on behind the scenes.
2:00
Speaker 5: He would have had women just throwing themselves at him.
2:02
Speaker 5: Not that that's an excuse. He didn't last very long
2:05
Speaker 5: at the Chiefs because they released him in 2024 and
2:07
Speaker 5: he's actually back in the UK playing rugby again.
2:11
Speaker 2: Which is probably a bit of a blow to his ego.
2:13
Speaker 1: Well, he's got a new influencer girlfriend called Drew Knotts,
2:16
Speaker 1: so she isn't as big as Saffron on social media.
2:19
Speaker 1: She's got around 30,000 followers. Well, Saffron and him met
2:23
Speaker 1: on Raya, so that's clearly where he's meeting his new girls.
2:27
Speaker 3: We are restocking our two bestsellers this week, so I'm
2:30
Speaker 3: going to.
2:31
Speaker 2: Go through a few of our key features.
2:33
Speaker 1: A liquidator has revealed the real reason behind the closure
2:36
Speaker 1: of influencer Chloe Zepp's activewear brand Zepp. While the controversial
2:41
Speaker 1: influencer initially claimed she was guided by God to shut
2:44
Speaker 1: down the label, a new report confirms the company was
2:47
Speaker 1: actually placed into liquidation. Now, Soph, this report comes almost
2:51
Speaker 1: a year after Chloe shut up shop.
2:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
2:54
Speaker 5: It was actually in April last year, if you'll believe it,
2:57
Speaker 5: that Chloe broke the news that she was closing down Zep.
3:00
Speaker 2: She wrote, big announcement.
3:01
Speaker 5: Hello, it's been a while since I've shared on here,
3:04
Speaker 5: but there's some big changes happening in my life. I
3:07
Speaker 5: have been contemplating in prayer and Now, this post was
3:09
Speaker 5: met with a mixed reception. Initially, there was a lot
3:12
Speaker 5: of confusion because at first glance, many followers thought that
3:15
Speaker 5: this was some sort of pregnancy announcement because in the
3:17
Speaker 5: main photo, she was pregnant and in ZEP active wear
3:19
Speaker 5: and It was this very lengthy post. It wasn't until
3:36
Speaker 5: the eighth line of the caption that she mentioned the
3:38
Speaker 5: closure of her brand. And she just continually referenced motherhood
3:42
Speaker 5: throughout this very long announcement. She said she no longer
3:46
Speaker 5: had enough time to pursue Zep. And while she didn't
3:49
Speaker 5: know what was next, she had peace knowing that motherhood
3:52
Speaker 5: is in her heart and that she was raising her boys.
3:55
Speaker 1: Now, amongst the confusion, there appeared to be a lot
3:58
Speaker 1: of genuine Zep customers disappointed by the announcement, so many
4:01
Speaker 1: were raving about the quality of the activewear. But it
4:05
Speaker 1: was actually a comment by Chloe's mum that fuelled speculation
4:08
Speaker 1: that perhaps the family was undergoing financial hardship.
4:11
Speaker 2: So she wrote, Oh, Chloe, with a crying.
4:13
Speaker 1: Face emoji, so proud of you, my baby girl. You
4:16
Speaker 1: are a wonderful mother and it's commendable that you are
4:19
Speaker 1: choosing to spend this precious time with your beautiful boys. Unfortunately,
4:23
Speaker 1: over the years, several people have taken advantage of your
4:26
Speaker 1: kindness and generosity, but I'm excited for your bright future
4:29
Speaker 1: with your fiance and children.
4:31
Speaker 2: Love you so, so, so much.
4:33
Speaker 1: Now at the time, many people questioned why Chloe didn't
4:36
Speaker 1: sell the brand to an investor if there was still
4:38
Speaker 1: demand from customers. It turns out, though, that the demand
4:42
Speaker 1: for the once popular activewear had dramatically dropped off with
4:45
Speaker 1: the brand forced into liquidation. So last week, the Gold
4:49
Speaker 1: Coast Bulletin picked up on a report filed by a
4:51
Speaker 1: local liquidator who combed through Chloe Zep's finances.
4:55
Speaker 5: Now, the liquidator in question was Adam Ward from Worrell's Liquidator,
4:59
Speaker 5: and he looked at Chloe Zep PTY LTD, which the
5:03
Speaker 5: Zep activewear label trades under. and found at the end
5:06
Speaker 5: of the 2025 financial year, Zepp had a working capital
5:10
Speaker 5: deficiency of $ 104, 139 and would have likely suffered cash flow
5:16
Speaker 5: shortages during the financial year. The report also showed that
5:20
Speaker 5: Chloe's company was unable to pay its outstanding tax debt
5:23
Speaker 5: in full. and currently owes $ 113, 351 to the ATO. Now,
5:30
Speaker 5: the company also owned a 2022 Mercedes-Benz, which presumably was
5:35
Speaker 5: a business car that Chloe got around in. And the
5:37
Speaker 5: report showed that the company currently owes $ 87, 205 on finances
5:43
Speaker 5: for that car. So it doesn't paint a pretty picture
5:45
Speaker 5: of what was going on behind the scenes. So essentially
5:49
Speaker 5: the company was short on cash and there wasn't a
5:51
Speaker 5: lot of cash flow going on.
5:52
Speaker 2: So they couldn't actually cover their bills.
5:54
Speaker 1: The report also showed that Chloe Zepp took out a
5:57
Speaker 1: number of loans from her company, which isn't uncommon, but
6:01
Speaker 1: what is interesting is how big these loans were. So
6:04
Speaker 1: she took out hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of
6:07
Speaker 1: loans and which also helped to fund her fitness app WellWeb,
6:11
Speaker 1: which is a bit of a blast from the past.
6:13
Speaker 5: This could be why we are seeing Chloe try and
6:15
Speaker 5: make a return to social media through Substack. It seems
6:18
Speaker 5: like she needs money to pay off these debts.
6:20
Speaker 1: Now, I've always been intrigued to know what an influencer
6:22
Speaker 1: like Chloe Zepp actually earns in a year because she,
6:24
Speaker 1: of course, had a business as well as a successful
6:27
Speaker 1: online career.
6:29
Speaker 2: So the report gave a bit of an insight.
6:30
Speaker 1: In 2022, Her business, which includes Zep, as well as
6:35
Speaker 1: her social media content, made a net profit of over
6:38
Speaker 1: a million dollars. Now, the company itself made an annual
6:41
Speaker 1: income of over $ 4 million. Of course, once all of
6:44
Speaker 1: the business overheads were taken out, that was whittled down
6:47
Speaker 1: to a million dollars.
6:49
Speaker 2: But still, a lot of money on her plate.
6:51
Speaker 1: Now, just a few years later, that annual income dropped dramatically.
6:56
Speaker 1: So it went down from $ 4 million to to $ 955, 145.
7:00
Speaker 1: That not only is a massive revenue drop, but when
7:04
Speaker 1: you consider three years earlier, it costs $ 3 million to
7:08
Speaker 1: actually just cover the costs of Chloe's at PTYLTD. It's
7:11
Speaker 1: scary to think how much money this business was actually hemorrhaging.
7:14
Speaker 5: Well, when you consider the fact that by 2019, the
7:17
Speaker 5: brand was big enough to have six staff working on
7:19
Speaker 5: the Gold Coast in a very flash office, you can
7:22
Speaker 5: see that they had quite a number of overheads that
7:24
Speaker 5: they weren't able to meet come 2025.
7:27
Speaker 1: I mean, it isn't entirely surprising considering at the end
7:30
Speaker 1: of 2021, Chloe was cancelled for sharing anti-vax views across
7:34
Speaker 1: her social media platforms. I mean, at the time, people
7:37
Speaker 1: were burning their Chloe Zep activewear online. It was embarrassing
7:41
Speaker 1: to be seen out in it. Well, as well as
7:43
Speaker 1: the fact that Zep became very on the nose to wear,
7:46
Speaker 1: It also came at a time when Chloe Zepp stopped
7:48
Speaker 1: posting on social media altogether and she told the liquidator
7:52
Speaker 1: that the company was placed into liquidation after reduced posting
7:56
Speaker 1: on social media platforms led to a decline in social
7:59
Speaker 1: media following over time and in turn a material reduction
8:03
Speaker 1: in revenue and profitability.
8:05
Speaker 5: I mean, it's not surprising that your brand's not going
8:08
Speaker 5: to be profitable. when one, you aren't engaging with your audience.
8:12
Speaker 5: I mean, you can't just disappear online and think that
8:14
Speaker 5: sales are going to continue going through. I mean, we
8:16
Speaker 5: discussed that in length at the time. We said, how
8:20
Speaker 5: can you have a profitable business if you're not putting
8:22
Speaker 5: out social media content? I mean, the Zep brand heavily
8:25
Speaker 5: relies on Chloe Zep. I mean, it's named after her.
8:29
Speaker 5: I mean, there are a number of influences. I mean,
8:32
Speaker 5: Sammy Robinson springs to mind. who have been able to
8:35
Speaker 5: build their brand to be so successful that it is
8:38
Speaker 5: a standalone brand from them that they could continue to
8:41
Speaker 5: be profitable if they do disappear from social media. I mean,
8:44
Speaker 5: Sammy Robinson really carved a name for herself by putting
8:47
Speaker 5: out YouTubes. She barely puts any of those out because
8:50
Speaker 5: she actually runs her business day to day now. I mean,
8:53
Speaker 5: there's a difference between making a strategic decision to stop
8:56
Speaker 5: posting as opposed to what happened with Chloe Zett was
8:58
Speaker 5: that she kind of had to stop posting.
9:00
Speaker 2: She was copying a lot of negative commentary.
9:03
Speaker 1: It's quite clear that brands didn't want to work with
9:06
Speaker 1: her as well, because the report outlined that the primary
9:09
Speaker 1: source of her company's income was from Zep Activewear. So
9:13
Speaker 1: there was a real pushback from any brands to want
9:16
Speaker 1: to associate with her due to her anti-vax views.
9:18
Speaker 6: Now, the liquidator Adam Ward also revealed his primary investigations
9:22
Speaker 6: had identified potential illegal behavior by the company's directors or managers,
9:28
Speaker 6: In particular, he identified potential offences of insolvent trading, contravention
9:33
Speaker 6: of care and diligence, and contravention.
9:36
Speaker 2: Of use of position.
9:37
Speaker 1: Now, he is set to lodge a report with ASIC shortly,
9:41
Speaker 1: but no findings have yet been made by ASIC and
9:44
Speaker 1: no criminal charges have been laid. The Golko's son attempted
9:47
Speaker 1: to contact Chloe for comment, but she did not get
9:50
Speaker 1: back to them.
9:52
Speaker 2: I'm sitting in front of the TV. What's on the screen?
9:57
Speaker 1: Desperate housewives for Beverly Hills.
9:59
Speaker 5: Another week and another pap shot of Tammy Hembrough at
10:02
Speaker 5: the airport is making headlines. This time around, it wasn't
10:05
Speaker 5: because of her hair extensions. It was who she was with.
10:08
Speaker 2: Now, I want to call you, Kate, the.
10:10
Speaker 5: Official Tammy Hembrough correspondent because every week you push for
10:14
Speaker 5: her to.
10:15
Speaker 2: Be in a segment.
10:16
Speaker 5: Now, we have had some listeners saying that they're sick
10:17
Speaker 5: of hearing about her, but you are You really want
10:20
Speaker 5: to cover this one.
10:20
Speaker 4: Why?
10:21
Speaker 6: What had arguments about not including it? But anyway.
10:24
Speaker 1: Well, firstly, when you break down the fourth wall and
10:26
Speaker 1: have a look at the analytics, that is not what
10:28
Speaker 1: it is telling us because we get a lot more
10:29
Speaker 1: downloads on the episode where Tammy Hembrough is mentioned in
10:33
Speaker 1: the title. I personally am very interested in her, particularly
10:37
Speaker 1: the era she is in at the moment because it
10:40
Speaker 1: is chaotic. Now, she was papped at Sydney Airport with
10:43
Speaker 1: none other than her ex, Matt Paul. Now, they were
10:47
Speaker 1: joined by their daughter, Posey, and Matt's fiancee, Annalise Oatway,
10:50
Speaker 1: and their baby son, Parker. Interestingly, it appears that they
10:53
Speaker 1: traveled all together from the Gold Coast to Sydney because
10:56
Speaker 1: they all had luggage with them.
10:58
Speaker 5: I wonder if they teed that up and planned to
11:00
Speaker 5: travel together or if it just was a coincidence.
11:02
Speaker 2: Well, they looked really buddy-buddy.
11:04
Speaker 1: They were all laughing and smiling. It was clear they
11:06
Speaker 1: knew cameras were on them and they had to perform.
11:08
Speaker 1: Matt's dad even met him in the terminal and hugged
11:11
Speaker 1: Tammy because for some background, Matt is originally from Sydney.
11:15
Speaker 1: So all looked very civil between the pair. The paps
11:18
Speaker 1: even filmed Tammy and Annalise talking.
11:20
Speaker 2: Do we reckon that someone called the paps?
11:22
Speaker 1: Because this is a great PR opportunity to show that
11:24
Speaker 1: their co-parenting relationship is back on track. There's been a
11:28
Speaker 1: lot of reports that things behind the scenes haven't been
11:30
Speaker 1: going well. Look, I think in this instance, the paparazzi
11:33
Speaker 1: genuinely were just there because they are known to hang
11:36
Speaker 1: around at the airport. That being said, there are new
11:39
Speaker 1: pap shots of Tammy and her boyfriend at the beach
11:42
Speaker 1: in Sydney that have just come up on the Daily Mail.
11:44
Speaker 1: And I think Tammy 100% called the paps down.
11:47
Speaker 2: No, she didn't.
11:48
Speaker 1: Grayson would have called them either or. He is desperate
11:50
Speaker 1: for attention. I mean, I have to disagree with you, Amy.
11:53
Speaker 1: I think Tammy definitely called the paps at the airport
11:55
Speaker 1: because she wanted to redeem herself after those terrible pap
11:58
Speaker 1: shops of her arriving home from Adelaide with her hair
12:01
Speaker 1: extensions all visible. I mean, her hair and makeup looked
12:04
Speaker 1: really good. She was smiling. It was clear she was
12:07
Speaker 1: turning it on for the camera. So I do think
12:10
Speaker 1: that this was a bit of a strategic decision.
12:12
Speaker 5: I reckon she was looking extra good because she was
12:14
Speaker 5: excited that her boyfriend was picking her up because he
12:16
Speaker 5: is based in Sydney.
12:17
Speaker 2: That's why she was jetting in.
12:18
Speaker 7: Yeah.
12:19
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting that these pap photos of them at
12:21
Speaker 1: the beach have emerged because Tammy seemed shy to share
12:25
Speaker 1: him on her socials, despite publicly appearing at the Wuthering
12:28
Speaker 1: Heights premiere together a couple of weeks ago. She somewhat
12:32
Speaker 1: semi-soft launched him in this smoothie taste test she did
12:36
Speaker 1: on TikTok. So she was trying out these Air One
12:38
Speaker 1: dupe smoothies in his car and she had the camera
12:42
Speaker 1: firmly positioned just on her, but she was so giggly
12:45
Speaker 1: and distracted by his presence. At one point you could
12:48
Speaker 1: actually hear him talking. And of course he had to
12:51
Speaker 1: comment on the video. He wrote, what's so funny? To
12:54
Speaker 1: which Tammy replied, Had someone distracting me? I mean, it's
12:57
Speaker 1: so clear he's trying to gain followers.
12:59
Speaker 5: Grayson has been popping up on my TikTok all the time.
13:02
Speaker 5: I get that the algorithm knows I'm interested in Tammy Hembrough,
13:05
Speaker 5: but I don't actually want to see him. But I
13:07
Speaker 5: did notice that he did a taste test of his own. However,
13:10
Speaker 5: in his video, he was by himself and he was
13:12
Speaker 5: trying out the Oakberry smoothies that Tammy and her sister's
13:15
Speaker 5: brand Selfish Supps have collaborated with. I mean, clearly he's
13:20
Speaker 5: looking for clout. He said, this food review, I have
13:22
Speaker 5: no correlation to any of these drinks. I just wanted
13:25
Speaker 5: to do a review. He then zoomed in on the
13:28
Speaker 5: Selfish Supps logo. I mean, he is just asking for
13:31
Speaker 5: attention over Tammy Hembrough. I mean, is this not the
13:34
Speaker 5: biggest red flag you've ever seen? Oh, it's just mind boggling.
13:37
Speaker 5: Like I actually can't believe it.
13:39
Speaker 1: I mean, if I didn't already have the ick, this
13:42
Speaker 1: video gave me even a bigger ick. I mean, in
13:44
Speaker 1: this taste test, he said that the smoothie tasted like breakfast.
13:47
Speaker 1: I mean, Why do we need that on the internet?
13:49
Speaker 5: Insightful stuff. I mean, his top quality content didn't stop there.
13:53
Speaker 5: Earlier in the week, he filmed a video of himself
13:55
Speaker 5: training in the gym with the caption, I woke up,
13:58
Speaker 5: I trained, I'm six foot four.
14:00
Speaker 2: No one's pregnant. I had my coffee. I'm six foot four.
14:03
Speaker 2: Life is good. I mean, this comment again is incredibly
14:06
Speaker 2: attention seeking.
14:07
Speaker 1: He is dating a woman with three kids and a
14:10
Speaker 1: woman who constantly gets trolled about rushing into engagements and
14:13
Speaker 1: pregnancies with new boyfriends. So the fact that he has
14:16
Speaker 1: to point out oh, I haven't got her pregnant yet.
14:19
Speaker 1: It's just mind boggling that she is not picking up
14:22
Speaker 1: on this. I mean, I think it's his way of
14:24
Speaker 1: responding to the speculation that was out there initially when
14:27
Speaker 1: they hard launched their relationship on the red carpet. He's
14:31
Speaker 1: also been getting a lot of comments on his social
14:33
Speaker 1: media saying, oh, you're going to impregnate her, your baby
14:35
Speaker 1: daddy number three. But if you actually care about your relationship,
14:39
Speaker 1: like why would you buy into that? I mean, it's
14:41
Speaker 1: clear he's just using Tammy for followers at this stage
14:43
Speaker 1: and doing so very brazenly. I mean, the fact that
14:46
Speaker 1: he also had to mention that he's 6'4 twice, I mean,
14:49
Speaker 1: just gives me an indication of the sort of ego
14:52
Speaker 1: that this guy has. Similar to Tammy, Grayson also seems
14:55
Speaker 1: to love to mime to a song lyric or two
14:58
Speaker 1: on TikTok. And he attracted over 54,000 views when he
15:02
Speaker 1: shared the caption, but she's older than you.
15:04
Speaker 2: Alongside the lyric, that's the way I like it.
15:07
Speaker 1: Now, 54,000 views, I have to point out, is quite
15:10
Speaker 1: a feat for him because he only has one and
15:12
Speaker 1: a half thousand followers on TikTok. So his little games
15:15
Speaker 1: don't seem to be working at the moment. I just
15:17
Speaker 1: don't get how Tammy watches this content and goes, oh yeah, cool.
15:20
Speaker 2: Like for me, this would be a massive red flag.
15:23
Speaker 2: I would love to know what her sisters think about it.
15:26
Speaker 5: I mean, unless this is just some sort of big
15:28
Speaker 5: PR relationship and Tammy is working very cleverly behind the
15:32
Speaker 5: scenes to detract from something else going on that she
15:34
Speaker 5: doesn't want us to know about.
15:35
Speaker 1: I mean, God, it would have to be something massive
15:37
Speaker 1: behind the scenes if you're willing to put this out.
15:40
Speaker 2: There to the public. I mean, it is a big
15:42
Speaker 2: tactic of hers.
15:43
Speaker 5: Matt Zukoski was recently on I'm a Celeb, Get Me
15:46
Speaker 5: Out of Here and getting some very good.
15:47
Speaker 2: PR around it. She's sort of stolen a lot of
15:50
Speaker 2: that attention back from him. Yeah, but she's not getting
15:53
Speaker 2: good PR. Everyone's just saying, wow, this is.
15:55
Speaker 1: Actually quite difficult to watch because, again, you seem to
15:59
Speaker 1: be making the same mistakes that you have recently.
16:03
Speaker 7: I want to know more about your pregnancy.
16:06
Speaker 1: Same.
16:07
Speaker 7: Unfortunately, pregnancy is long and boring. It's long and fucking boring.
16:12
Speaker 5: Veruca Salt has shocked her followers by announcing she's pregnant.
16:16
Speaker 5: The news comes just months after the Australian TikToker ended
16:20
Speaker 5: her short-lived marriage.
16:22
Speaker 2: Kate, a lot of people were surprised by this news. Well,
16:25
Speaker 2: she definitely loves keeping her audience on their toes.
16:27
Speaker 1: Late last year, she gained mass engagement on her TikTok
16:31
Speaker 1: when she revealed she'd married a man she'd only met
16:33
Speaker 1: two weeks prior.
16:35
Speaker 2: Shock horror, that didn't work out.
16:37
Speaker 1: Ten weeks after their Shotgun Vegas wedding, she announced the
16:40
Speaker 1: marriage was over and Now, not much was known about
16:43
Speaker 1: Veruca's estranged husband. For a long time, he was only
16:47
Speaker 1: known by his social media handle, Digi Premium. Following the breakup, though,
16:51
Speaker 1: Veruca dropped his name is Donovan, which really upset you, Sophie.
16:54
Speaker 1: I just can't refer to him as anything other than
16:56
Speaker 1: Digi now.
16:57
Speaker 2: That's just what he's going to forever be known to
16:59
Speaker 2: me as.
17:00
Speaker 5: Now, despite saying in her initial breakup statement that she
17:03
Speaker 5: would be keeping the matter private, it didn't take long
17:06
Speaker 5: for Veruca to paint a very disturbing image of the marriage. Now,
17:10
Speaker 5: she alleged that her husband sexually assaulted her, was violent
17:14
Speaker 5: and cheated on her. It's important to state that those
17:17
Speaker 5: are unfounded allegations at this point.
17:19
Speaker 2: Now, in a.
17:20
Speaker 1: Strange move, Veruca broke the news of her pregnancy in
17:24
Speaker 1: a video where she was speaking about her estranged husband's
17:27
Speaker 1: new relationship with one of her former friends. So in
17:31
Speaker 1: the video, she said that she felt sorry for the
17:33
Speaker 1: woman and as she believes Donovan's plan is to baby
17:36
Speaker 1: trap her.
17:37
Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.
17:39
Speaker 7: But I know that sick motherfucker has a third more
17:41
Speaker 7: sinister plan.
17:44
Speaker 2: He's going to baby mama you.
17:46
Speaker 4: Oh my God, he's going to baby mama you. Marriage
17:48
Speaker 4: is come and go.
17:49
Speaker 2: Baby, you're stuck for life.
17:51
Speaker 7: At least he didn't baby mama me.
17:53
Speaker 4: Somebody else did.
17:54
Speaker 7: There's a baby in there.
17:55
Speaker 4: Surprise.
17:57
Speaker 2: Wow, what a way to break the news.
17:59
Speaker 1: I mean, I know that the old beach pregnancy photos
18:01
Speaker 1: are a little cringe these days and very millennial, but
18:04
Speaker 1: this is really a new way. Talk about your ex
18:08
Speaker 1: and how he may be impregnating your friend and then
18:11
Speaker 1: drop that you're pregnant. I mean, this video attracted over
18:14
Speaker 1: a million views. However, the way TikTok works, people's attention
18:18
Speaker 1: spans are pretty short. And because she announced this bombshell
18:21
Speaker 1: news at the end of the video, not everyone stuck
18:24
Speaker 1: around for it. So she had to upload a follow-up video.
18:27
Speaker 1: of her taking a pregnancy test. So she showed the
18:31
Speaker 1: camera the positive test and had a shocked expression on
18:34
Speaker 1: her face.
18:34
Speaker 2: She then said this. I'm faking it for the video.
18:37
Speaker 2: I've never ages.
18:39
Speaker 1: Now that video has gone absolutely viral. It's clocked up
18:42
Speaker 1: over 4 million views. Most of the commenters wanted to
18:45
Speaker 1: know who the father was. Interestingly, Kat Clark, who is
18:50
Speaker 1: another popular Australian TikToker who has moved to the US, wrote,
18:53
Speaker 1: can't wait for baby cuddles.
18:55
Speaker 5: I didn't realize that Veruca was still in the US.
18:58
Speaker 5: I thought that she came back to Australia following this
19:01
Speaker 5: marriage breakdown.
19:02
Speaker 1: No, so she is still there dealing with all of
19:04
Speaker 1: the fallout from it. Now, in terms of the comments
19:07
Speaker 1: on Veruca's post, one of them really hit me hard.
19:10
Speaker 2: Someone wrote, Cash is a big brother.
19:12
Speaker 1: Now that comment got over 51 and a half thousand likes.
19:16
Speaker 1: Now for those unaware, Veruca tragically lost her six week
19:19
Speaker 1: old son Cash to SIDS in 2024. Since the tragedy,
19:23
Speaker 1: Veruca has shared her grief with her audience and in
19:27
Speaker 1: 2025 was very vocal about the fact that she wanted
19:29
Speaker 1: to have another baby. So much so that she actually
19:32
Speaker 1: started a GoFundMe page at the start of 2025 asking
19:37
Speaker 1: her followers for donations to make that possible. Now she
19:40
Speaker 1: ended up flying to the US in May, 2025 to
19:43
Speaker 1: undergo fertility treatment. And at the time she was actually
19:46
Speaker 1: accused of using the donated money to fund the holiday.
19:49
Speaker 1: Now that treatment was unsuccessful and in August she revealed
19:53
Speaker 1: she'd come to the realization that she isn't in the
19:55
Speaker 1: right headspace to have another baby at the moment. Yeah
19:59
Speaker 1: so there was a lot of confusion about how this
20:01
Speaker 1: baby came about. So she revealed that the pregnancy came
20:05
Speaker 1: as a surprise to her because She's actually.
20:07
Speaker 2: Been on birth control. Here's more of what she said.
20:10
Speaker 7: It is very confusing because pretty much last year I
20:13
Speaker 7: was trying to get pregnant like on purpose. And then
20:16
Speaker 7: this year I was like, you know what? I've made
20:17
Speaker 7: peace with it. I'll tell the universe I don't want
20:19
Speaker 7: a baby and I'll do my own thing and I'll
20:21
Speaker 7: work on myself. So I got drunk for two months straight,
20:24
Speaker 7: got on birth control, boom, baby. Should we sue them?
20:29
Speaker 2: The birth control people, we should sue them.
20:31
Speaker 5: Now, when asked by a follower to divulge more details
20:34
Speaker 5: about her pregnancy, Veruca responded saying, It was long and
20:38
Speaker 5: fucking boring. She also admitted that it was difficult to
20:41
Speaker 5: navigate the American healthcare system compared to Australia's.
20:44
Speaker 1: Now, in terms of the big question, who is the father?
20:47
Speaker 1: His identity is yet to be revealed. Veruca was very
20:50
Speaker 1: quick to shut down rumours, though, that her estranged husband
20:53
Speaker 1: was the father.
20:54
Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.
20:56
Speaker 7: My ex-husband is not the father. Just want to make
20:58
Speaker 7: that really fucking clear. If he was, I'd be in
21:00
Speaker 7: the clinic.
21:02
Speaker 2: I'd be in the clinic, okay?
21:03
Speaker 7: I'm like six weeks pregnant and... I haven't been with
21:07
Speaker 7: him since December 3rd or 4th. I can't remember.
21:11
Speaker 5: I'm glad for everyone's sake that Digi Premium is not
21:15
Speaker 5: the father because it sounds like it was obviously a
21:19
Speaker 5: very unhealthy relationship and I don't think that these two
21:22
Speaker 5: people should be tied together. I don't think that would
21:24
Speaker 5: be beneficial for the child at all.
21:26
Speaker 1: Well, it appears Veruca won't be moving back home to
21:29
Speaker 1: Australia anytime soon. I mean, firstly, you'd presume that the
21:31
Speaker 1: father of her baby is American and secondly... She said
21:35
Speaker 1: that she is set to be granted a humanitarian green
21:38
Speaker 1: card in three years' time because of the abuse she
21:41
Speaker 1: allegedly received from her estranged husband.
21:44
Speaker 5: I initially wondered whether it was a bit of an
21:46
Speaker 5: incentive for her to have a child with an American
21:49
Speaker 5: father because maybe it meant that it sped up the
21:51
Speaker 5: process of her getting a green card.
21:53
Speaker 2: But from looking into it, it actually doesn't make that
21:57
Speaker 2: process any easier at all.
21:58
Speaker 5: I think the child has to be 21 before they
22:00
Speaker 5: can help sponsor you to get a green card.
22:03
Speaker 2: So I mean, she'd be playing a very long game
22:05
Speaker 2: in that instance.
22:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's probably easier to wait the three years for
22:08
Speaker 1: that humanitarian green card. I mean, it seems like from
22:12
Speaker 1: a financial perspective, the move to the US has been
22:15
Speaker 1: good for her because she's revealed that she just bought
22:18
Speaker 1: a Porsche. And in another video, she showed off wads
22:21
Speaker 1: of cash. So I'm guessing that because she's now based
22:24
Speaker 1: in the US, she's able to take advantage of the
22:27
Speaker 1: US TikTok creator fund. I mean, her videos constantly hit
22:30
Speaker 1: millions and millions of views.
22:32
Speaker 2: So she'd be making quite a bit of cash.
22:34
Speaker 5: And people will be very interested in her pregnancy content
22:37
Speaker 5: as well as her newborn content. All of that aside,
22:39
Speaker 5: I'm really happy for her because I think that this
22:42
Speaker 5: is something that she clearly really wanted.
22:44
Speaker 2: And I think that it will be very interesting to
22:47
Speaker 2: see her journey. Well, that is all we have time
22:49
Speaker 2: for today.
22:50
Speaker 1: If you enjoy the podcast and want to hear more,
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Speaker 2: think it's a great deal. Definitely. I'll be jumping on
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Speaker 2: it myself. Also, make sure you tune into our second podcast,
23:09
Speaker 2: which is The Mums Group. We have recently launched.
23:11
Speaker 1: There's about three episodes you can go back and find
23:14
Speaker 1: This week, we are going to be talking about kids'
23:16
Speaker 1: birthday parties and how to tackle them. This podcast was
23:19
Speaker 1: recorded on the traditional land of the Kaurna people of
23:21
Speaker 1: the Adelaide Plains.
23:22
Speaker 2: We pay respect to elders past and present.