July 17, 2025 • 31 mins
In today’s fourth instalment of our Tammy Hembrow deep dive series, we’re taking you back to the start of Tammy’s brief but controversial love story with Matt Zukowski. After dating for three months, the couple got engaged in the Maldives, but it didn’t take long for a text cheating scandal to rock the relationship to its foundation.
Subscribe to Outspoken Plus
Outspoken Plus is our subscription offering that provides subscribers with exclusive access to BONUS weekly episodes. Every week, we’ll be dropping content so juicy, we’ve had to put it behind a paywall. A monthly Outspoken Plus subscription costs $5.99 a month, or save with our annual package, for just $49.99 a year*.
There are three ways you can become an Outspoken Plus subscriber. Apple users can subscribe via Apple Podcasts here: apple.co/outspoken, while Android users can subscribe via Spotify here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/outspoken-plus/subscribe or Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/outspoken_plus. * An annual subscription is only available on Apple Podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Tammy Hembro is Australia's most talked about influencer. At nineteen,
she made it big on social media when she shared
her fitness journey whilst pregnant. This is my first blog again,
so it might be a little bad.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I don't know if it's going to be boring or what,
but hope you guys enjoy it. Tammy's life is far
from boring. The fitness influencer and her family are Australia's
answer to the Kardashians. In fact, she's even been involved
in a few Kardashian scandals herself.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
A model explains why she had to leave Kylie Janno's
Los Angeles birthday party in a stretcher. By sharing her
life online, Tammy has attracted over twenty million followers and
built an empire worth fifty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What has really kept her followers glued are her romantic relationships.
Over the last ten years, the internet has borne witness
to three engagements, three children, one epic wedding and now
a divorce.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We are journalists Amy and Kate Torber, and in this
special Outspoken series, we explore the real story behind the
rise of Tammy Hembro.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Now, when we last left you, things were officially over
between Tammy Hembro and Matt Paul and the end of
the last episode, we promised to take you back to
the start of Tammy's brief but controversial love story with
Matt Szakowski. So that's where we're going to begin today.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I'm most excited for this part of the Tammy story.
Matt two point zero.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, when we originally started planning this series back in March,
I always thought it was going to be four parts,
but Matt Sakowski and Tammy Hembro, they just keep giving.
This is the fourth episode, but we will be having
an episode next week. Number five will be the final one.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, let's take things back to the start. So on
the third of September twenty twenty three, Tammy was photographed
outside a hotel with former Love Island contestant Matt Zakowski.
And this photograph it was taken by a fan and
it was actually sent into an influencer Watchdog account Influencer
Updates AU. I remember first seeing this photo and being like,
(01:58):
there is no way she's kissing Matt Zakowski, Like, surely
this is somebody else.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, because I've been a longtime listener of Matt's podcast
Where's Your Head At? And I've listened to a lot
of his stories about his past relationships. He'd only recently
broken up with his girlfriend Jen, and I was like, what, Like,
no way, this matchup does not make sense.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, it was this really weird crossover between reality TV
and the influencer world.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Now, shortly after, the pair was spotted again, this time
at Tammy's sister's skin clinic event. Now I want to
go into who Mattzakowski is. As mentioned, Matt rose to
fame in twenty nineteen after being runner up on the
second series of Love Island Australia. But before appearing on
reality TV, he actually worked as an international model in
(02:44):
London and Milan. He also was a professional wrestler, so
he performed under the stage name Charlie Matthews and according
to Matt, his character was known for winning the genetic Lottery.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It's interesting he was a wrestler before going on Love
Island because family men who appear on reality shows come
off it and then they start up these big celebrity
boxing matches against each other.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Do you know what'd be great if he did some
celebrity wrestle off between him, Reese Hawkins and Matt.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Pol That would go viral. It sounds very Jordan Simmy,
like maybe they could fight for the love of Tammy.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Oh God, that would absolutely go off on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
As for Matt's day job, he worked and still works
at his father's pool company as a project manager. However,
it was Matt's side hustle his podcast that led him
to meet Tammy. So Matt hosts a podcast called Where's
Your Head At with his former Love Island co star
an A macavoy, and in a bid to gain publicity
leading into the launch, Matt and Anna pretended that they
(03:43):
were dating, so they uploaded a video to TikTok where
they looked like they were about to kiss and wrote
something coming soon Now. Matt's ex girlfriend, former Bachelor contestant,
Kira Maguire, wasn't thrilled about this publicity stunt, so they'd
broken up just a few months early after dating for
over a year. In terms of their dating timeline, they
(04:04):
went official in July twenty twenty, shortly after Kira left
Bachelor in Paradise, but they'd been dating for a few
months prior and there was quite a large age gap
between them, so at the time Matt was twenty five
and Kira was thirty four.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
We spoke about bizarre crossovers with Tammy and Matt. I
think this was even weirder seeing Matt from Love Island
hook up with Kira from the Bachelot.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, which made people question whether it was a pr relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
This was peak COVID time, and I remember watching a
lot of their content together. They were isolating at home,
so maybe it was just one of those COVID relationships
where they thought, oh, well, I can't actually go out
and meet anyone. We're sort of in this together now now.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
In July twenty twenty one, off the back of Matt
and Anna's video, Kira told The Daily Mail they aren't dating.
They are pretending to be together as they want to
get exposure for some podcasts they are doing. I had
to block them both on socials as it was really
hurtful to watch. I expressed to both of them, especially Anna,
who were supposed to be my friend, this was hurtful,
but she told me I shouldn't care and continue to
(05:03):
do it. I guess people will do anything to get exposure,
even if it hurts the people they are supposed to
care about, it makes me really question both of their
intentions for being in my life in the first place.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Now, off the back of Kira's comments, Matt told The
Daily Mail, we don't want to put any labels on anything.
We're just seeing where's our head at. It just reminds
me of all those people that come off maths now
that are pretending that they're in relationships, and I can't
believe people are buying it. You're just like, they're clearly not.
They're trying to get They're trying to extend their fifteen
minutes of fame.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Well after launching the podcast, Matt backtrack, telling The Daily Mail, look,
we've just been hanging out a lot, and people write
their own narratives, so we just didn't comment. We didn't
lead anyone on. We literally hung out and put Instagram
stories up together and the public wrote their own narrative.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Now they weren't misleading anybody, but they were happy with
the publicity they were getting.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Well, Anna also gave an interview, so when asked about
the podcast, she said, when I was on Love Island,
I was like the go to advice girl. Matt gets
himself into bad situations and I try and give him
the best advice possible, So we thought it would be
a good dynamic. Now the strategy appeared to work because
by twenty twenty three, the podcast had hit one million
downloads and Matt and Anna did a live show tour
(06:15):
to celebrate the milestone. So, while planning for the live show,
Matt claims a pr manager for his podcast mentioned that
Tammy Hembrow was on the invite list, and according to Matt,
he didn't know who she was, so took it upon
himself to look her up, and he said his first
reaction upon seeing Tammy was fuck, she looks all right.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, there was actually journalist Meek and Bistetto who debunked
Matt's claims that he didn't know who Tammy Hembro was.
So in an episode of So Dramatic in October twenty
twenty four, Megan dug up an old podcast interview where
Matt and Anna had interviewed Chase Demore, and during the interview,
they discussed in length Chase's strategic attempt to date Tammy
by sliding into her DMS. Let's throw to some of
(06:57):
the clip.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
When I was trying to get I was trying to
holler at Tammy while I was over there because I
saw whatever guy that she used to be with making
out with another girl at the pavilion and so me,
I was just.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Trying to do do my honors due diligence. And I
was like, look, Cammy, like if he's cheating on you,
like you need your shoulder to cry on. I know
a really tall, good looking American boy that's here for
the holiday wow play with kids, like come on?
Speaker 6 (07:27):
So did she reply to the slide in?
Speaker 5 (07:30):
She just liked my message?
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Did she send her a voice note?
Speaker 7 (07:35):
Yes? I sent her a voice note.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
And she liked it. I mean, you gotta like it's
pretty good.
Speaker 8 (07:40):
She's one of our, like the most famous influencer we
have here. Did you tell her in the voice note
that you saw her ex or her boyfriend?
Speaker 6 (07:50):
I don't know if they're sill together.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
I could I could play the voice No, if you
guys want to hear it, play the.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Voice note sent to Tammy. Hembrow.
Speaker 7 (07:57):
That's a bold move.
Speaker 9 (07:58):
So normally someone who passes on the message gets shot,
like they always shoot the messager.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I'm assuming this is where Matt got the idea to
slide into Tammy's DMS and invite her to the live
show because it was literally six months later.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Wouldn't be say awkward because he's obviously pretended to Tammy like,
I have no idea who you were, Like, I just
you know, was inviting you to this event, and then
this clip comes out, you'd probably be like, oh, for
fuck's sake.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
No imagine trying to explain that now. Anyway, back to
the podcast live show planning meeting, Matt ended up dming
Tammy and he wrote to her, Hey, there'll be a
ticket on the door at the Brisbane show, and Tammy
just double tapped the message but didn't respond.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I remember hearing an interview with Tammy and she was
talking about the first message that Matt sent her and
she's like, I double tapped, but then I didn't hear
from him, and I felt it saying, but you can't
just double tap a message which has a question in it,
like what's he meant to If someone just double tapped
my message, I would take that as Oh, they're being polite,
they're not interested, they don't want to talk to me.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
To be fair, she's got three kids. That's probably her
way of responding to people. You've got to be quick
and efficient.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So is the love heart message the mom's equivalent of
the dad's thumbs up?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I mean, I think the love heart is still nicer
bumbs up. Anyway, Matt ended up double messaging Tammy and
she did finally reply, and Matt spoke to his podcast
about how he found it really hard to read Tammy's
tone over message, so he ended up calling her and
apparently they talked for hours and arranged a date.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
What do you think about that strategy of him just
giving Tammy a call that do you like it? Or
if you're in that situation, are you just thinking just
reply to my text mate, I don't actually want to
talk to you on the phone.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
In twenty twenty five, I don't think anyone wants to
talk on the phone. I couldn't think of anything worse
than some guy I've never met calling me in having to.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Talk for hours.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
But I suppose it's also a sign that someone really
likes you if they're willing to do that.
Speaker 8 (09:43):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Apparently Tammy thought that her meeting up with Matt was
fate because his videos had been popping up on her
TikTok for you page, and she thought he was really cute.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And as we spoke about last week, she possibly watched
him on Love Island Now with Tammy based on the
Gold Coast and Matt living in Melbourne. Matt flew to
Tammy for their first date, and I think this is
becoming more and more common thanks to dating apps like Raya.
A couple of our friends have somehow got on to Raya,
and they're not celebrities, and they've mentioned that they've been
offered to be flown out into state for dates before. Well,
(10:13):
if we thought the phone call sounded keen, I mean
flying over from Melbourne to Gold Coast, that's next level.
I want to know did Matt pay for his own
flights or to Tammy? Because Tammy, you know, she's worth
fifty million dollars, She's got a lot of coin. Matt
was working for his dad's pool company, not quite the
same and if.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
You listen to his podcast, it sounds like Matt isn't
the most generous person. It sounds like he's actually a
bit stingy on date. But I think in this case,
he would have paid for his own flights because he
wanted to impress Tammy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, I'm hoping he paid for his own flight.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Matt recounted the story on his podcast of their first date,
and he said that he had butterflies when he first
saw Tammy and also confirmed that they kissed on the
first date. He said that Tammy was staring at him
and he asked her what she was thinking, and she replied,
you tell me what I'm thinking, And he said, does
this mount taste as good as itself? And she ended
up laughing and they both went off separately to the
(11:05):
toilet and met back up in the hallway and kissed.
It's one of those stories where probably lovely for you
that was involved in it, not so lovely for people
listening like It just made me feel ooh yuck.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
It sounds like a real Love Island line as well,
like real cringe. Sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Now. Tammy and Matt were again spotted together hugging at
the Whar's Your Head at podcast live show in Sydney
on the twenty second of September, and they made things
Instagram official on the twenty seventh of September, appearing together
at a premiere of a Stan original series in Sydney.
So Matt shared a photo dump with videos of the
couple making out in front of the sunset at the beach,
(11:41):
kissing in front of Australian landmarks, and even a video
of Tammy getting a strike at bowling and Matt of course,
also opened up about the relationship on his podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yeah, and despite the couple looking very smitten, Tammy's followers
weren't convinced. So Tammy received a lot of naggi commentary
around the fact that she was moving on with a
new man so quickly after Matt poul. I think there
was a lot of judgment from the public because of
the fact that Tammy had a young daughter, but interestingly
that same judgment wasn't given to Matt Pool, who also
(12:14):
moved on quite quickly.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, there was a lot of mum shaming, dressed up
as folk concern, and also a lot of slut shaming
going on because a lot of the comments complained that
they couldn't keep up with all the men that Tammy
was dating. To put this into perspective, it was a
third man that she had publicly posted within ten years.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
It is really sexist. I mean again, if you look
at someone like Rhys Hawkins, he didn't cop the same
commentary when he also has children with two different women
and continues to date other people.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Hmmm, exactly now. Tammy hit back at the trolls, reiterating
that she had only been with three men and suggested
that people who were struggling to keep up with the
three of them needed help with their memory. She also
stated that people don't know why she ended her relationships,
and the wording was rather interesting as she essentially confirmed
that she was the one broke up with Matt Paul
and also Rhyse Hawkins.
Speaker 9 (13:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Tammy ended the video saying that she hadn't planned to
ever share her relationship online again, but she couldn't help
herself because she was so happy and wanted to shout
it from the rooftops. Now, it's interesting. She mentioned that
because the months leading into this relationship with Matt Sakowski,
she was very open about how difficult it was to
day as a single mom and that she didn't want
a relationship. And I think that is what led to
(13:24):
people being really confused and a little bit worried for
her that this relationship was moving so early, and just.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
A few weeks after making an Instagram official, Tammy dropped
a bomb at the White Fox boutique tenth birthday celebrations
in La So. The White Fox social media team were
playing a game of past the mic with the influencers
at the event, and M Davies stitched Tammy up, saying
this before passing the microphone to Tammy.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
And passing the mike to someone who got their boyfriend's
name tatooed on them after dating them for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It was a big night for Tammy, with her ex
Tiger also performing on stage at the event.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Tammy ended up debuting her Matt tattoo on the couple's
first romantic getaway to the Maldives in late November twenty
twenty three, and fans were quick to spot Matt's name
inked on Tammy's inner thigh with a little love heart
in a photo dump she posted off the trip. However,
there was another photo that generated even more attention. So
In one of the photos, Tammy was spotted sporting a
(14:27):
mystery ring on her wedding finger, which sent her followers
into a frenzy. Tammy's friend and fellow influencer M Davies,
who stitched her up at the White Fox Boutique event commented,
I can't even see these picks without screaming.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
She then further fueled engagement speculation by uploading and quickly
deleting a photo to her Instagram story wearing a massive
diamond ring. She also got a lot of people talking
after miming to this audio in a TikTok video.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
To everyone who watches My Life and gossips about it,
don't give up.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
Season two was about to come out.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
Of pay.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
To everyone now.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Because this is an audio platform, I do need to
mention that during the TikTok Matt joined Tammy at the
end of the video to indicate that needs part of
season two now. Pap shots of the couple on their
way home from the Maldives threw fans off the scent, though,
so someone snapped a sneaky photo of Tammy and Matt
ewing separately at the airport, and in the photo, Tammy
(15:28):
was standing ahead of Matt in the airport queue with
several people between them, So fans hypothesized that the couple
were fighting because they weren't standing together, and it turns
out the speculation could have possibly been true because Tammy
opened up about their nightmare trip home from the mal dives,
so to begin with, their flight was delayed, and once
they were in the air, their pilot made three attempts
(15:50):
to land the plane before diverting to another airport. They
then missed their connecting flights and sat around airports for
days waiting. Tammy even emitted on instead that she had
a quote mental breakdown at the airport because she missed
her kids so much, and she said that she had
major mum guilt for being away from them for even longer.
So knowing all of these details, I can see how
(16:12):
a disagreement could have potentially be broken one hundred percent. Well,
once the couple arrived home, it was clear just how
serious their relationship was because Tammy shared a photo of Matt,
her three kids, and her dad Mark, and an anonymous
source told Influencer Updates AU they are engaged. Just had
my nails done next to Tammy on the ghost Now
(16:32):
this tip off ended up being one hundred percent correct,
because on the tenth of December, just three months after
going public with their relationship, Tammy announced that she was
engaged to Matt Sakowski. So she shared a real of
the romantic moment to her seventeen million Instagram followers captioning
the post Never in my life have I felt so safe,
so loved, so understood, so cared for. What a plot
(16:55):
twist you were?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I love how as soon as that post went up,
everyone started comparing all of the engagement rings. Do you
have a favorite of Tammy's?
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Well?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I mentioned last week that my favorite has to be
the one Matt Paul gave her. It's an oval shaped
diamond with a lot of diamonds around it. I have
an oval shaped engagement ring, so I think that's why
it's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
What about you? I actually think my favorite one was
Matt Zukowski's. He did a really good job. When I
first saw the ring, though, I thought, has Matt got
it from some kind of sponsored deal? Because it would
be worth an absolute fortune and we know that Matt
isn't in the same financial bracket as Tammy.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Well, it seems like the engagement wasn't so spontaneous as
they made it out to be, because when he was
interviewed on the Inherited podcast in May, when asked if
he and Tammy had discussed marriage before he proposed three
months into their relationship, he said this.
Speaker 9 (17:43):
Yes, we spoke about marriage yes, we were planning on
eloping and I just thought to myself, it came back
to Melbourne to do something, and I spoke to Anna
and I told her. She was one of the people
I told we had a date booked in at the
courthouse and she said, well, you know you're going to
the mold Ives in like four days when you do
something there. So my idea was originally to get like
(18:05):
a promise ring and be like, look, I understand I'm
not doing it traditional. But then I saw a ring
there and it was it was gorgeous and I fell
in love with it and I was like, okay, So
I got an engagement ring for her, yeah, and then
did the proposal, organized it quickly with the people at
the Maldives. I said, look, I'm planning on proposing. Can
you organize like a thing for me in organize it?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Don't So it sounds like the original plan was to
actually elope to the Maldives and get legally married at
the registry office beforehand. And Matt said that, And Matt
said that Anna macavoy was the one that talked him
out of it, but I think it was Tammy's sisters
who did that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, because I recall in their interview that they did
with Matt on his podcast, they were saying to him
that they were horrified to hear that Matt and Tammy
were planning on a loping, and it sounds like maybe
Tammy was the one that said, look, if you want
people to take us seriously, it's probably not going to
be good that we go off and just alope. We
need to actually have a proper wedding now.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
In January, Tammy Hembro made a guest appearance on That's
podcast and revealed that she would be changing her last
name to Sakowski when she gets married.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
This is what she said, Yeah, Tammy Sakowski, that that
rolls off the tongue.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
Yeah, will you change your name?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (19:15):
I think I love that.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
I said, I don't.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It does sound nice, Actually, I said.
Speaker 7 (19:21):
I understand if you don't want to.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Well, it's like none of my kids have my last name,
so it's like I'm not trying to you know, like yeah,
so it's not like I'm trying to hold on to
it for a reason, Like.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
That's true, But your brand is your name.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yeah, obviously my like brand, and but you'd keep it,
but yeah, I can still Yeah, yeah, Like, people can
call me whatever they want, but yeah, it'll be Tammy Sekowska.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's it's pretty awkward because Matt recently spoken to his
podcast about how Tammy was in the process of changing
her last name. As someone who recently legally changed their name,
the process is so drawn out and such a pain
in the ass. So I feel for Tammy if she
has to go change it back.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I think he should have changed his name to hem Bro.
He could have done a Dalton Henshaw. I mean she's
got the better last name. Well, she's got the bigger profile.
I'm surprised he didn't want to take them. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
In this interview, Tammy opened up about her engagement to Matt.
So she explained it's the third time she's been engaged,
but she never actually planned a wedding or bought a
wedding dress before.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, and she also touched on the backlash they had
received after announcing their engagement. Here's what Tammy said, I
don't really care.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I've been engaged three times.
Speaker 7 (20:32):
Get over it as well. I call her Thanos.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, I'm collecting stones.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
She's got her own color.
Speaker 8 (20:40):
I mean it's a good thing, right, Like when I
was twenty nine and hadn't been engaged at all.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I was like, I'm offender that I.
Speaker 8 (20:46):
Haven't been proposed to yet, Like, I mean, she's a catch.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
Of course she's gonna you know, I don't know why
people have such a problem.
Speaker 9 (20:53):
With her, Like I don't and I'm marrying, so what's
their problem?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Now? In March twenty twenty three, unverified rumors started circulating
that Matt had been messaging another woman. Screenshots of an
alleged private conversation between Matt and another woman was shared
to a gossip account before being deleted. Now, they of
course were screenshot before they were deleted, and they went viral.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Now.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
In these screenshots, the woman covered her own name, but
you could see Matt's Instagram handle with his verified tick,
and Matt's account set a message saying still with your boyfriend.
The woman ended up replying saying hey Matt, yes, why
is that still marrying? Tammy and Matt responded three hours later,
writing interesting ha ha and yes. The woman wrote back,
(21:39):
why the message then, hah. Now these messages came out
just days after Tammy and Matt attended Glamour on the
Grid for the Grand Prix and there were a bunch
of photos taken at the event where they looked very
loved up. So it was all very confusing.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yeah, and then not long after, Tammy was spotted without
her engagement ring, and the timing couldn't have been work
because a week later, Tammy embarked on a press tour
to promote her book Show Up, And it was clear
that Matt was scrambling to win Tammy back because when
she appeared on Mom and Me as No Filter podcast,
Matt shared a photo of him and Tammy to his
(22:14):
Instagram story and he wrote, I have never felt a
love that is so strong and pure. I love you
so much, babe. He also left a comment under the
podcast promotion of the episode, saying he couldn't wait to
listen now. Tammy didn't address the incident publicly, but twenty
four hours after Matt's post, she followed him now. During
(22:35):
her interview on No Filter, which was obviously recorded prior
to the fallout, Tammy revealed that she's not done having kids,
so she admitted that she thought Posey would be her
last because she broke up with Matt Paul shortly after,
but now that she's in a new relationship she was
open to it. This was interesting news because Matt has
bravely spoken publicly about the fact that he doesn't produce sperm,
(22:57):
so it will be difficult for him to naturally conceived children,
and Tammy explained that Matt was upfront with his fertility
struggles and said there were options for them to conceive.
It was pretty funny because during this press tour she
made a joke about how convenient it was that her
last two fiances are called Matt, so she kinds up
their names. She also admitted that she gets where people
(23:18):
are coming from when they comment that she's introducing her
kids to another man, but she said that she doesn't
do it lightly and always has her kid's best interest
at heart. Tammy also spoke about how Matt's public profile
actually helped their relationship because she said it made him
understand the demands and exposure that comes with being an influencer.
And she was also asked about how she deals with
(23:39):
negativity online and she said, in the beginning, it definitely
got to me, but I couldn't really care less anymore.
It doesn't change how I'm going to act or how
I'm going to live my life. Now In April, Matt
Zakowski broke his silence after being accused of cheating on Tammy.
He spoke candidly on his podcast about the situation and
confirmed he did message another woman, but claimed he did
(24:01):
so on his friend's behalf. The whole episode felt like
damage control, but really lacked the guidance from a public
relations professional to actually achieve. I don't think anyone really
believed him because it just didn't really make much sense.
And you could tell that Matt and Anna were working
in overdrive to try and garner public sympathy for Matt
because at the start of the episode, Anna said she
(24:23):
didn't even recognize him because he looked so disheveled and lost.
She then asked Matt how he was coping with this situation,
and he said.
Speaker 9 (24:31):
This, I'm not gonna lie, I'm in a pretty bad
place mentally, like it's just I don't know, like look
like it's just more embarrassed than anything, and it's just
taken a strain on everyone around me. Like I'll go
into more details later, but like, yeah, I'm exhausted, I'm drained.
(24:56):
It's just something that's like to me was and I
guess what I did, and I'll explain. I get what
I did was wrong. Yeah, it's just exhausting. We're just
working through it.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Before delving into the incident, Matt and Anna really built
up just how hard they had been partying at Glamour
on the Grid, and Matt explained that after the event,
he and Tammy went back to their suite with Anna
and her fiance Michael, and drank until three am. Matt
claimed he was so drunk that he projectile vomited the
following morning, and Anna recounted that she and Michael went
(25:28):
back to their room at three am just as Matt
opened another bottle of champagne. Matt confirmed that this was
the moment he messaged the mystery woman.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
This is what he said.
Speaker 9 (25:38):
Honestly, I'm not making excuses, but I don't fully remember
sending any message.
Speaker 7 (25:44):
I know that sounds.
Speaker 8 (25:45):
Bad, but it doesn't sound bad because Michael was like
when it came out, Michael was like, there's no way
Matt would remember sending that because he was popping.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
Another bottle when we were leaving. Anyway, we're not, you know.
Speaker 9 (25:57):
Not making excuses. Yeah, okay, So what happened was I
saw I messaged a girl and I asked her if
she was single. But the story behind it is my
mate showed me her and he said, your sister and
her follow each other and she follows you. Do you
know her?
Speaker 7 (26:12):
And then he goes, look, do you reckon?
Speaker 6 (26:13):
You could?
Speaker 9 (26:14):
You could message her for me and you know, put
in a good word and tell her to message me.
And I was like, nah, man, like that's not I'm
not going to do that for you.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
And I'm engaged.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
Yeah, I mean, oh yeah, I just don't. It's not
what It's not what I wanted to do. And then
this is cringe.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
But he did say you use your blue tick, she'll
message you back. And I was like, nah, man, I'm
not going to do that. And then I ended up
doing that when I was fucked off my head at
like three am, pissed as waking up the next day,
I realized that that is not a good idea. It's
embarrassing for my fiance, it's embarrassing to my family, it's
(26:49):
embarrassing to my friends, it's embarrassing to her family her friends.
Most of all, is embarrassing to the relationship. Like I
don't want to be someone in a relationship that does
stuff like that like, I'm not that sort of person,
like I don't do stuff like that. I think at
the moment, I did it because I was pissed. I
know it's not an excuse, and I'm not trying to
make any excuse, but the moment something like this came out,
(27:11):
they just jumped on it and they were just like, oh,
he's like this, this is like you know what I mean, cheatah,
all this sort of stuff.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
But that's not what happened.
Speaker 9 (27:18):
And that's what has really like made me frustrated with
it all because I did live did stay quiet on
socials about it. I didn't think that it was worth
addressing in that way, so I kept it quiet because
I wanted to do it like this where I could
actually talk raw and actually talk about it. But yeah,
I think that I'm not making excuses. It was the
(27:40):
wrong thing to do, but I feel like, yeah, it's
embarrassed Tammy, it's embarrassed me, and it's embarrassed a relationship.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I'm so confused how they thought that that was helping
the situation, Like we were so drunk, we had no
idea what we were doing. But I must point out
that it wasn't I wasn't messaging this girl for me,
it was refresh.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Yeah right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
They constantly contradicted themselves throughout the entire episode, making excuses
for Matt's behavior, and they kept using alcohol as an
excuse because after talking about how drunk they were at
the event, they also spoke in length about how Matt
had all these other instances where he's lost control binge drinking.
So he recounted a story about how he fell through
a glass door of his friend's house and his roommate's
(28:24):
girlfriend had to call the police. He also spoke about
how he was really drunk Anna's thirtieth and woke up
on Chapel Street and his phone had been stolen and
he didn't know where he was. So I don't think
it was helping the situation. He then read out the
apparent full text exchange Let's take a listen.
Speaker 9 (28:39):
She asked me why I think so? She said he
still a tammy, and I said yes, because I don't.
I'm not interested in this girl, So I said yes,
and then she goes, why the message is then, and
I said, my friend Dale saw you while we were out,
was trying to help a friend friend.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Haha.
Speaker 9 (28:56):
But I will let him down gently. She goes, oh, say,
hope he finds the white and I said, so do I.
The hunt continues. She goes, I've got a friend. I said, okay,
send through your friend's instant and I'll get him to
message her. She sent the name. I said, thank you
for the help. She love Heart reacted to that, and
she goes, this was this one was scouted by Love Island.
Do your magic, and I said, I'll try my best.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Look, I'm finding it hard to believe this text exchange,
particularly because he didn't provide a screenshot of it. Yeah,
I mean, all this episode achieved was just making Matt
look even guiltier than he already did. And it made
no sense because throughout the episode he kept saying that
he was in the wrong and he'd learnt his lesson,
but then he denied cheating, so it really didn't make
the sense. It really did make the situation work. So
(29:40):
he literally confirmed that he did in fact message a woman.
Tammy isn't happy about it. He then dropped that they're
currently in couples chouncling over it and said, this.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
Is there anything else that you want to say, Matt?
Speaker 9 (29:52):
Yeah, I'd like to officially in front of everyone apologized
to Tammy. I am sorry that I did that. I
really do love you and I can't wait to spend
the rest of my life with you.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
The groveling was next level. I think a lot of
us just assumed that this was it for Tammy and Matt.
There was no coming back from it. But spoiler alert,
they got married seven months after this incident.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
I mean, it's hard not to feel sorry for Tammy.
It was completely embarrassing for her. It was at this
point where her audience completely turned against Matt. At the start,
for Matt, it may have looked very lucrative being Tammy's fiance,
but not when you piss off twenty million people who
follow her.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Now, that is.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Where we're going to leave things today. Next week, in
the final installment of this series, we'll be diving into
the wedding and seven months have not been maritalis. If
you did enjoy this episode, we would love if you
could help us out by leaving us a review. This
episode was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana
people of the Adelaide Planes.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
We pay respect to elders past and present,
Tammy Hembro is Australia's most talked about influencer. At nineteen,
she made it big on social media when she shared
her fitness journey whilst pregnant. This is my first blog again,
so it might be a little bad.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I don't know if it's going to be boring or what,
but hope you guys enjoy it. Tammy's life is far
from boring. The fitness influencer and her family are Australia's
answer to the Kardashians. In fact, she's even been involved
in a few Kardashian scandals herself.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
A model explains why she had to leave Kylie Janno's
Los Angeles birthday party in a stretcher. By sharing her
life online, Tammy has attracted over twenty million followers and
built an empire worth fifty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What has really kept her followers glued are her romantic relationships.
Over the last ten years, the internet has borne witness
to three engagements, three children, one epic wedding and now
a divorce.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We are journalists Amy and Kate Torber, and in this
special Outspoken series, we explore the real story behind the
rise of Tammy Hembro.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Now, when we last left you, things were officially over
between Tammy Hembro and Matt Paul and the end of
the last episode, we promised to take you back to
the start of Tammy's brief but controversial love story with
Matt Szakowski. So that's where we're going to begin today.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I'm most excited for this part of the Tammy story.
Matt two point zero.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, when we originally started planning this series back in March,
I always thought it was going to be four parts,
but Matt Sakowski and Tammy Hembro, they just keep giving.
This is the fourth episode, but we will be having
an episode next week. Number five will be the final one.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, let's take things back to the start. So on
the third of September twenty twenty three, Tammy was photographed
outside a hotel with former Love Island contestant Matt Zakowski.
And this photograph it was taken by a fan and
it was actually sent into an influencer Watchdog account Influencer
Updates AU. I remember first seeing this photo and being like,
(01:58):
there is no way she's kissing Matt Zakowski, Like, surely
this is somebody else.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, because I've been a longtime listener of Matt's podcast
Where's Your Head At? And I've listened to a lot
of his stories about his past relationships. He'd only recently
broken up with his girlfriend Jen, and I was like, what, Like,
no way, this matchup does not make sense.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, it was this really weird crossover between reality TV
and the influencer world.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Now, shortly after, the pair was spotted again, this time
at Tammy's sister's skin clinic event. Now I want to
go into who Mattzakowski is. As mentioned, Matt rose to
fame in twenty nineteen after being runner up on the
second series of Love Island Australia. But before appearing on
reality TV, he actually worked as an international model in
(02:44):
London and Milan. He also was a professional wrestler, so
he performed under the stage name Charlie Matthews and according
to Matt, his character was known for winning the genetic Lottery.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It's interesting he was a wrestler before going on Love
Island because family men who appear on reality shows come
off it and then they start up these big celebrity
boxing matches against each other.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Do you know what'd be great if he did some
celebrity wrestle off between him, Reese Hawkins and Matt.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Pol That would go viral. It sounds very Jordan Simmy,
like maybe they could fight for the love of Tammy.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Oh God, that would absolutely go off on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
As for Matt's day job, he worked and still works
at his father's pool company as a project manager. However,
it was Matt's side hustle his podcast that led him
to meet Tammy. So Matt hosts a podcast called Where's
Your Head At with his former Love Island co star
an A macavoy, and in a bid to gain publicity
leading into the launch, Matt and Anna pretended that they
(03:43):
were dating, so they uploaded a video to TikTok where
they looked like they were about to kiss and wrote
something coming soon Now. Matt's ex girlfriend, former Bachelor contestant,
Kira Maguire, wasn't thrilled about this publicity stunt, so they'd
broken up just a few months early after dating for
over a year. In terms of their dating timeline, they
(04:04):
went official in July twenty twenty, shortly after Kira left
Bachelor in Paradise, but they'd been dating for a few
months prior and there was quite a large age gap
between them, so at the time Matt was twenty five
and Kira was thirty four.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
We spoke about bizarre crossovers with Tammy and Matt. I
think this was even weirder seeing Matt from Love Island
hook up with Kira from the Bachelot.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, which made people question whether it was a pr relationship.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
This was peak COVID time, and I remember watching a
lot of their content together. They were isolating at home,
so maybe it was just one of those COVID relationships
where they thought, oh, well, I can't actually go out
and meet anyone. We're sort of in this together now now.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
In July twenty twenty one, off the back of Matt
and Anna's video, Kira told The Daily Mail they aren't dating.
They are pretending to be together as they want to
get exposure for some podcasts they are doing. I had
to block them both on socials as it was really
hurtful to watch. I expressed to both of them, especially Anna,
who were supposed to be my friend, this was hurtful,
but she told me I shouldn't care and continue to
(05:03):
do it. I guess people will do anything to get exposure,
even if it hurts the people they are supposed to
care about, it makes me really question both of their
intentions for being in my life in the first place.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Now, off the back of Kira's comments, Matt told The
Daily Mail, we don't want to put any labels on anything.
We're just seeing where's our head at. It just reminds
me of all those people that come off maths now
that are pretending that they're in relationships, and I can't
believe people are buying it. You're just like, they're clearly not.
They're trying to get They're trying to extend their fifteen
minutes of fame.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Well after launching the podcast, Matt backtrack, telling The Daily Mail, look,
we've just been hanging out a lot, and people write
their own narratives, so we just didn't comment. We didn't
lead anyone on. We literally hung out and put Instagram
stories up together and the public wrote their own narrative.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Now they weren't misleading anybody, but they were happy with
the publicity they were getting.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Well, Anna also gave an interview, so when asked about
the podcast, she said, when I was on Love Island,
I was like the go to advice girl. Matt gets
himself into bad situations and I try and give him
the best advice possible, So we thought it would be
a good dynamic. Now the strategy appeared to work because
by twenty twenty three, the podcast had hit one million
downloads and Matt and Anna did a live show tour
(06:15):
to celebrate the milestone. So, while planning for the live show,
Matt claims a pr manager for his podcast mentioned that
Tammy Hembrow was on the invite list, and according to Matt,
he didn't know who she was, so took it upon
himself to look her up, and he said his first
reaction upon seeing Tammy was fuck, she looks all right.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, there was actually journalist Meek and Bistetto who debunked
Matt's claims that he didn't know who Tammy Hembro was.
So in an episode of So Dramatic in October twenty
twenty four, Megan dug up an old podcast interview where
Matt and Anna had interviewed Chase Demore, and during the interview,
they discussed in length Chase's strategic attempt to date Tammy
by sliding into her DMS. Let's throw to some of
(06:57):
the clip.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
When I was trying to get I was trying to
holler at Tammy while I was over there because I
saw whatever guy that she used to be with making
out with another girl at the pavilion and so me,
I was just.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Trying to do do my honors due diligence. And I
was like, look, Cammy, like if he's cheating on you,
like you need your shoulder to cry on. I know
a really tall, good looking American boy that's here for
the holiday wow play with kids, like come on?
Speaker 6 (07:27):
So did she reply to the slide in?
Speaker 5 (07:30):
She just liked my message?
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Did she send her a voice note?
Speaker 7 (07:35):
Yes? I sent her a voice note.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
And she liked it. I mean, you gotta like it's
pretty good.
Speaker 8 (07:40):
She's one of our, like the most famous influencer we
have here. Did you tell her in the voice note
that you saw her ex or her boyfriend?
Speaker 6 (07:50):
I don't know if they're sill together.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
I could I could play the voice No, if you
guys want to hear it, play the.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Voice note sent to Tammy. Hembrow.
Speaker 7 (07:57):
That's a bold move.
Speaker 9 (07:58):
So normally someone who passes on the message gets shot,
like they always shoot the messager.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I'm assuming this is where Matt got the idea to
slide into Tammy's DMS and invite her to the live
show because it was literally six months later.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Wouldn't be say awkward because he's obviously pretended to Tammy like,
I have no idea who you were, Like, I just
you know, was inviting you to this event, and then
this clip comes out, you'd probably be like, oh, for
fuck's sake.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
No imagine trying to explain that now. Anyway, back to
the podcast live show planning meeting, Matt ended up dming
Tammy and he wrote to her, Hey, there'll be a
ticket on the door at the Brisbane show, and Tammy
just double tapped the message but didn't respond.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I remember hearing an interview with Tammy and she was
talking about the first message that Matt sent her and
she's like, I double tapped, but then I didn't hear
from him, and I felt it saying, but you can't
just double tap a message which has a question in it,
like what's he meant to If someone just double tapped
my message, I would take that as Oh, they're being polite,
they're not interested, they don't want to talk to me.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
To be fair, she's got three kids. That's probably her
way of responding to people. You've got to be quick
and efficient.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So is the love heart message the mom's equivalent of
the dad's thumbs up?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I mean, I think the love heart is still nicer
bumbs up. Anyway, Matt ended up double messaging Tammy and
she did finally reply, and Matt spoke to his podcast
about how he found it really hard to read Tammy's
tone over message, so he ended up calling her and
apparently they talked for hours and arranged a date.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
What do you think about that strategy of him just
giving Tammy a call that do you like it? Or
if you're in that situation, are you just thinking just
reply to my text mate, I don't actually want to
talk to you on the phone.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
In twenty twenty five, I don't think anyone wants to
talk on the phone. I couldn't think of anything worse
than some guy I've never met calling me in having to.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Talk for hours.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
But I suppose it's also a sign that someone really
likes you if they're willing to do that.
Speaker 8 (09:43):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Apparently Tammy thought that her meeting up with Matt was
fate because his videos had been popping up on her
TikTok for you page, and she thought he was really cute.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
And as we spoke about last week, she possibly watched
him on Love Island Now with Tammy based on the
Gold Coast and Matt living in Melbourne. Matt flew to
Tammy for their first date, and I think this is
becoming more and more common thanks to dating apps like Raya.
A couple of our friends have somehow got on to Raya,
and they're not celebrities, and they've mentioned that they've been
offered to be flown out into state for dates before. Well,
(10:13):
if we thought the phone call sounded keen, I mean
flying over from Melbourne to Gold Coast, that's next level.
I want to know did Matt pay for his own
flights or to Tammy? Because Tammy, you know, she's worth
fifty million dollars, She's got a lot of coin. Matt
was working for his dad's pool company, not quite the
same and if.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
You listen to his podcast, it sounds like Matt isn't
the most generous person. It sounds like he's actually a
bit stingy on date. But I think in this case,
he would have paid for his own flights because he
wanted to impress Tammy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, I'm hoping he paid for his own flight.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Matt recounted the story on his podcast of their first date,
and he said that he had butterflies when he first
saw Tammy and also confirmed that they kissed on the
first date. He said that Tammy was staring at him
and he asked her what she was thinking, and she replied,
you tell me what I'm thinking, And he said, does
this mount taste as good as itself? And she ended
up laughing and they both went off separately to the
(11:05):
toilet and met back up in the hallway and kissed.
It's one of those stories where probably lovely for you
that was involved in it, not so lovely for people
listening like It just made me feel ooh yuck.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
It sounds like a real Love Island line as well,
like real cringe. Sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Now. Tammy and Matt were again spotted together hugging at
the Whar's Your Head at podcast live show in Sydney
on the twenty second of September, and they made things
Instagram official on the twenty seventh of September, appearing together
at a premiere of a Stan original series in Sydney.
So Matt shared a photo dump with videos of the
couple making out in front of the sunset at the beach,
(11:41):
kissing in front of Australian landmarks, and even a video
of Tammy getting a strike at bowling and Matt of course,
also opened up about the relationship on his podcast.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yeah, and despite the couple looking very smitten, Tammy's followers
weren't convinced. So Tammy received a lot of naggi commentary
around the fact that she was moving on with a
new man so quickly after Matt poul. I think there
was a lot of judgment from the public because of
the fact that Tammy had a young daughter, but interestingly
that same judgment wasn't given to Matt Pool, who also
(12:14):
moved on quite quickly.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, there was a lot of mum shaming, dressed up
as folk concern, and also a lot of slut shaming
going on because a lot of the comments complained that
they couldn't keep up with all the men that Tammy
was dating. To put this into perspective, it was a
third man that she had publicly posted within ten years.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
It is really sexist. I mean again, if you look
at someone like Rhys Hawkins, he didn't cop the same
commentary when he also has children with two different women
and continues to date other people.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Hmmm, exactly now. Tammy hit back at the trolls, reiterating
that she had only been with three men and suggested
that people who were struggling to keep up with the
three of them needed help with their memory. She also
stated that people don't know why she ended her relationships,
and the wording was rather interesting as she essentially confirmed
that she was the one broke up with Matt Paul
and also Rhyse Hawkins.
Speaker 9 (13:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Tammy ended the video saying that she hadn't planned to
ever share her relationship online again, but she couldn't help
herself because she was so happy and wanted to shout
it from the rooftops. Now, it's interesting. She mentioned that
because the months leading into this relationship with Matt Sakowski,
she was very open about how difficult it was to
day as a single mom and that she didn't want
a relationship. And I think that is what led to
(13:24):
people being really confused and a little bit worried for
her that this relationship was moving so early, and just.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
A few weeks after making an Instagram official, Tammy dropped
a bomb at the White Fox boutique tenth birthday celebrations
in La So. The White Fox social media team were
playing a game of past the mic with the influencers
at the event, and M Davies stitched Tammy up, saying
this before passing the microphone to Tammy.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
And passing the mike to someone who got their boyfriend's
name tatooed on them after dating them for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It was a big night for Tammy, with her ex
Tiger also performing on stage at the event.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Tammy ended up debuting her Matt tattoo on the couple's
first romantic getaway to the Maldives in late November twenty
twenty three, and fans were quick to spot Matt's name
inked on Tammy's inner thigh with a little love heart
in a photo dump she posted off the trip. However,
there was another photo that generated even more attention. So
In one of the photos, Tammy was spotted sporting a
(14:27):
mystery ring on her wedding finger, which sent her followers
into a frenzy. Tammy's friend and fellow influencer M Davies,
who stitched her up at the White Fox Boutique event commented,
I can't even see these picks without screaming.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
She then further fueled engagement speculation by uploading and quickly
deleting a photo to her Instagram story wearing a massive
diamond ring. She also got a lot of people talking
after miming to this audio in a TikTok video.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
To everyone who watches My Life and gossips about it,
don't give up.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
Season two was about to come out.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
Of pay.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
To everyone now.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Because this is an audio platform, I do need to
mention that during the TikTok Matt joined Tammy at the
end of the video to indicate that needs part of
season two now. Pap shots of the couple on their
way home from the Maldives threw fans off the scent, though,
so someone snapped a sneaky photo of Tammy and Matt
ewing separately at the airport, and in the photo, Tammy
(15:28):
was standing ahead of Matt in the airport queue with
several people between them, So fans hypothesized that the couple
were fighting because they weren't standing together, and it turns
out the speculation could have possibly been true because Tammy
opened up about their nightmare trip home from the mal dives,
so to begin with, their flight was delayed, and once
they were in the air, their pilot made three attempts
(15:50):
to land the plane before diverting to another airport. They
then missed their connecting flights and sat around airports for
days waiting. Tammy even emitted on instead that she had
a quote mental breakdown at the airport because she missed
her kids so much, and she said that she had
major mum guilt for being away from them for even longer.
So knowing all of these details, I can see how
(16:12):
a disagreement could have potentially be broken one hundred percent. Well,
once the couple arrived home, it was clear just how
serious their relationship was because Tammy shared a photo of Matt,
her three kids, and her dad Mark, and an anonymous
source told Influencer Updates AU they are engaged. Just had
my nails done next to Tammy on the ghost Now
(16:32):
this tip off ended up being one hundred percent correct,
because on the tenth of December, just three months after
going public with their relationship, Tammy announced that she was
engaged to Matt Sakowski. So she shared a real of
the romantic moment to her seventeen million Instagram followers captioning
the post Never in my life have I felt so safe,
so loved, so understood, so cared for. What a plot
(16:55):
twist you were?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I love how as soon as that post went up,
everyone started comparing all of the engagement rings. Do you
have a favorite of Tammy's?
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Well?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I mentioned last week that my favorite has to be
the one Matt Paul gave her. It's an oval shaped
diamond with a lot of diamonds around it. I have
an oval shaped engagement ring, so I think that's why
it's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
What about you? I actually think my favorite one was
Matt Zukowski's. He did a really good job. When I
first saw the ring, though, I thought, has Matt got
it from some kind of sponsored deal? Because it would
be worth an absolute fortune and we know that Matt
isn't in the same financial bracket as Tammy.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Well, it seems like the engagement wasn't so spontaneous as
they made it out to be, because when he was
interviewed on the Inherited podcast in May, when asked if
he and Tammy had discussed marriage before he proposed three
months into their relationship, he said this.
Speaker 9 (17:43):
Yes, we spoke about marriage yes, we were planning on
eloping and I just thought to myself, it came back
to Melbourne to do something, and I spoke to Anna
and I told her. She was one of the people
I told we had a date booked in at the
courthouse and she said, well, you know you're going to
the mold Ives in like four days when you do
something there. So my idea was originally to get like
(18:05):
a promise ring and be like, look, I understand I'm
not doing it traditional. But then I saw a ring
there and it was it was gorgeous and I fell
in love with it and I was like, okay, So
I got an engagement ring for her, yeah, and then
did the proposal, organized it quickly with the people at
the Maldives. I said, look, I'm planning on proposing. Can
you organize like a thing for me in organize it?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Don't So it sounds like the original plan was to
actually elope to the Maldives and get legally married at
the registry office beforehand. And Matt said that, And Matt
said that Anna macavoy was the one that talked him
out of it, but I think it was Tammy's sisters
who did that.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, because I recall in their interview that they did
with Matt on his podcast, they were saying to him
that they were horrified to hear that Matt and Tammy
were planning on a loping, and it sounds like maybe
Tammy was the one that said, look, if you want
people to take us seriously, it's probably not going to
be good that we go off and just alope. We
need to actually have a proper wedding now.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
In January, Tammy Hembro made a guest appearance on That's
podcast and revealed that she would be changing her last
name to Sakowski when she gets married.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
This is what she said, Yeah, Tammy Sakowski, that that
rolls off the tongue.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
Yeah, will you change your name?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (19:15):
I think I love that.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
I said, I don't.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
It does sound nice, Actually, I said.
Speaker 7 (19:21):
I understand if you don't want to.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Well, it's like none of my kids have my last name,
so it's like I'm not trying to you know, like yeah,
so it's not like I'm trying to hold on to
it for a reason, Like.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
That's true, But your brand is your name.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yeah, obviously my like brand, and but you'd keep it,
but yeah, I can still Yeah, yeah, Like, people can
call me whatever they want, but yeah, it'll be Tammy Sekowska.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's it's pretty awkward because Matt recently spoken to his
podcast about how Tammy was in the process of changing
her last name. As someone who recently legally changed their name,
the process is so drawn out and such a pain
in the ass. So I feel for Tammy if she
has to go change it back.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I think he should have changed his name to hem Bro.
He could have done a Dalton Henshaw. I mean she's
got the better last name. Well, she's got the bigger profile.
I'm surprised he didn't want to take them. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
In this interview, Tammy opened up about her engagement to Matt.
So she explained it's the third time she's been engaged,
but she never actually planned a wedding or bought a
wedding dress before.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, and she also touched on the backlash they had
received after announcing their engagement. Here's what Tammy said, I
don't really care.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I've been engaged three times.
Speaker 7 (20:32):
Get over it as well. I call her Thanos.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, I'm collecting stones.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
She's got her own color.
Speaker 8 (20:40):
I mean it's a good thing, right, Like when I
was twenty nine and hadn't been engaged at all.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I was like, I'm offender that I.
Speaker 8 (20:46):
Haven't been proposed to yet, Like, I mean, she's a catch.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
Of course she's gonna you know, I don't know why
people have such a problem.
Speaker 9 (20:53):
With her, Like I don't and I'm marrying, so what's
their problem?
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Now? In March twenty twenty three, unverified rumors started circulating
that Matt had been messaging another woman. Screenshots of an
alleged private conversation between Matt and another woman was shared
to a gossip account before being deleted. Now, they of
course were screenshot before they were deleted, and they went viral.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Now.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
In these screenshots, the woman covered her own name, but
you could see Matt's Instagram handle with his verified tick,
and Matt's account set a message saying still with your boyfriend.
The woman ended up replying saying hey Matt, yes, why
is that still marrying? Tammy and Matt responded three hours later,
writing interesting ha ha and yes. The woman wrote back,
(21:39):
why the message then, hah. Now these messages came out
just days after Tammy and Matt attended Glamour on the
Grid for the Grand Prix and there were a bunch
of photos taken at the event where they looked very
loved up. So it was all very confusing.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yeah, and then not long after, Tammy was spotted without
her engagement ring, and the timing couldn't have been work
because a week later, Tammy embarked on a press tour
to promote her book Show Up, And it was clear
that Matt was scrambling to win Tammy back because when
she appeared on Mom and Me as No Filter podcast,
Matt shared a photo of him and Tammy to his
(22:14):
Instagram story and he wrote, I have never felt a
love that is so strong and pure. I love you
so much, babe. He also left a comment under the
podcast promotion of the episode, saying he couldn't wait to
listen now. Tammy didn't address the incident publicly, but twenty
four hours after Matt's post, she followed him now. During
(22:35):
her interview on No Filter, which was obviously recorded prior
to the fallout, Tammy revealed that she's not done having kids,
so she admitted that she thought Posey would be her
last because she broke up with Matt Paul shortly after,
but now that she's in a new relationship she was
open to it. This was interesting news because Matt has
bravely spoken publicly about the fact that he doesn't produce sperm,
(22:57):
so it will be difficult for him to naturally conceived children,
and Tammy explained that Matt was upfront with his fertility
struggles and said there were options for them to conceive.
It was pretty funny because during this press tour she
made a joke about how convenient it was that her
last two fiances are called Matt, so she kinds up
their names. She also admitted that she gets where people
(23:18):
are coming from when they comment that she's introducing her
kids to another man, but she said that she doesn't
do it lightly and always has her kid's best interest
at heart. Tammy also spoke about how Matt's public profile
actually helped their relationship because she said it made him
understand the demands and exposure that comes with being an influencer.
And she was also asked about how she deals with
(23:39):
negativity online and she said, in the beginning, it definitely
got to me, but I couldn't really care less anymore.
It doesn't change how I'm going to act or how
I'm going to live my life. Now In April, Matt
Zakowski broke his silence after being accused of cheating on Tammy.
He spoke candidly on his podcast about the situation and
confirmed he did message another woman, but claimed he did
(24:01):
so on his friend's behalf. The whole episode felt like
damage control, but really lacked the guidance from a public
relations professional to actually achieve. I don't think anyone really
believed him because it just didn't really make much sense.
And you could tell that Matt and Anna were working
in overdrive to try and garner public sympathy for Matt
because at the start of the episode, Anna said she
(24:23):
didn't even recognize him because he looked so disheveled and lost.
She then asked Matt how he was coping with this situation,
and he said.
Speaker 9 (24:31):
This, I'm not gonna lie, I'm in a pretty bad
place mentally, like it's just I don't know, like look
like it's just more embarrassed than anything, and it's just
taken a strain on everyone around me. Like I'll go
into more details later, but like, yeah, I'm exhausted, I'm drained.
(24:56):
It's just something that's like to me was and I
guess what I did, and I'll explain. I get what
I did was wrong. Yeah, it's just exhausting. We're just
working through it.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Before delving into the incident, Matt and Anna really built
up just how hard they had been partying at Glamour
on the Grid, and Matt explained that after the event,
he and Tammy went back to their suite with Anna
and her fiance Michael, and drank until three am. Matt
claimed he was so drunk that he projectile vomited the
following morning, and Anna recounted that she and Michael went
(25:28):
back to their room at three am just as Matt
opened another bottle of champagne. Matt confirmed that this was
the moment he messaged the mystery woman.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
This is what he said.
Speaker 9 (25:38):
Honestly, I'm not making excuses, but I don't fully remember
sending any message.
Speaker 7 (25:44):
I know that sounds.
Speaker 8 (25:45):
Bad, but it doesn't sound bad because Michael was like
when it came out, Michael was like, there's no way
Matt would remember sending that because he was popping.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
Another bottle when we were leaving. Anyway, we're not, you know.
Speaker 9 (25:57):
Not making excuses. Yeah, okay, So what happened was I
saw I messaged a girl and I asked her if
she was single. But the story behind it is my
mate showed me her and he said, your sister and
her follow each other and she follows you. Do you
know her?
Speaker 7 (26:12):
And then he goes, look, do you reckon?
Speaker 6 (26:13):
You could?
Speaker 9 (26:14):
You could message her for me and you know, put
in a good word and tell her to message me.
And I was like, nah, man, like that's not I'm
not going to do that for you.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
And I'm engaged.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
Yeah, I mean, oh yeah, I just don't. It's not
what It's not what I wanted to do. And then
this is cringe.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
But he did say you use your blue tick, she'll
message you back. And I was like, nah, man, I'm
not going to do that. And then I ended up
doing that when I was fucked off my head at
like three am, pissed as waking up the next day,
I realized that that is not a good idea. It's
embarrassing for my fiance, it's embarrassing to my family, it's
(26:49):
embarrassing to my friends, it's embarrassing to her family her friends.
Most of all, is embarrassing to the relationship. Like I
don't want to be someone in a relationship that does
stuff like that like, I'm not that sort of person,
like I don't do stuff like that. I think at
the moment, I did it because I was pissed. I
know it's not an excuse, and I'm not trying to
make any excuse, but the moment something like this came out,
(27:11):
they just jumped on it and they were just like, oh,
he's like this, this is like you know what I mean, cheatah,
all this sort of stuff.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
But that's not what happened.
Speaker 9 (27:18):
And that's what has really like made me frustrated with
it all because I did live did stay quiet on
socials about it. I didn't think that it was worth
addressing in that way, so I kept it quiet because
I wanted to do it like this where I could
actually talk raw and actually talk about it. But yeah,
I think that I'm not making excuses. It was the
(27:40):
wrong thing to do, but I feel like, yeah, it's
embarrassed Tammy, it's embarrassed me, and it's embarrassed a relationship.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I'm so confused how they thought that that was helping
the situation, Like we were so drunk, we had no
idea what we were doing. But I must point out
that it wasn't I wasn't messaging this girl for me,
it was refresh.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
Yeah right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
They constantly contradicted themselves throughout the entire episode, making excuses
for Matt's behavior, and they kept using alcohol as an
excuse because after talking about how drunk they were at
the event, they also spoke in length about how Matt
had all these other instances where he's lost control binge drinking.
So he recounted a story about how he fell through
a glass door of his friend's house and his roommate's
(28:24):
girlfriend had to call the police. He also spoke about
how he was really drunk Anna's thirtieth and woke up
on Chapel Street and his phone had been stolen and
he didn't know where he was. So I don't think
it was helping the situation. He then read out the
apparent full text exchange Let's take a listen.
Speaker 9 (28:39):
She asked me why I think so? She said he
still a tammy, and I said yes, because I don't.
I'm not interested in this girl, So I said yes,
and then she goes, why the message is then, and
I said, my friend Dale saw you while we were out,
was trying to help a friend friend.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Haha.
Speaker 9 (28:56):
But I will let him down gently. She goes, oh, say,
hope he finds the white and I said, so do I.
The hunt continues. She goes, I've got a friend. I said, okay,
send through your friend's instant and I'll get him to
message her. She sent the name. I said, thank you
for the help. She love Heart reacted to that, and
she goes, this was this one was scouted by Love Island.
Do your magic, and I said, I'll try my best.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Look, I'm finding it hard to believe this text exchange,
particularly because he didn't provide a screenshot of it. Yeah,
I mean, all this episode achieved was just making Matt
look even guiltier than he already did. And it made
no sense because throughout the episode he kept saying that
he was in the wrong and he'd learnt his lesson,
but then he denied cheating, so it really didn't make
the sense. It really did make the situation work. So
(29:40):
he literally confirmed that he did in fact message a woman.
Tammy isn't happy about it. He then dropped that they're
currently in couples chouncling over it and said, this.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
Is there anything else that you want to say, Matt?
Speaker 9 (29:52):
Yeah, I'd like to officially in front of everyone apologized
to Tammy. I am sorry that I did that. I
really do love you and I can't wait to spend
the rest of my life with you.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
The groveling was next level. I think a lot of
us just assumed that this was it for Tammy and Matt.
There was no coming back from it. But spoiler alert,
they got married seven months after this incident.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
I mean, it's hard not to feel sorry for Tammy.
It was completely embarrassing for her. It was at this
point where her audience completely turned against Matt. At the start,
for Matt, it may have looked very lucrative being Tammy's fiance,
but not when you piss off twenty million people who
follow her.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Now, that is.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Where we're going to leave things today. Next week, in
the final installment of this series, we'll be diving into
the wedding and seven months have not been maritalis. If
you did enjoy this episode, we would love if you
could help us out by leaving us a review. This
episode was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana
people of the Adelaide Planes.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
We pay respect to elders past and present,
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.