There was little doubt broadcaster Lisa Wilkinson thought she was doing the right thing by her Today Show colleague, friend and fellow journalist Karl Stefanovic when she leapt to his defence during an interview a few days ago.
Wilkinson pulled no punches while chastising sections of the media for their reporting on Stefanovic's highly-publicised shock marriage breakdown, parting ways from Cassandra Thorburn and moving out of the family home three months ago after what we, the public, had been lead to believe were 21 blissful years.
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Nine hires lawyer for Karl Stefanovic
Channel Nine has hired a defamation lawyer to protect Karl Stefanovic and their business from what they claim are 'fictitious and damaging articles'.
Naturally, the question everyone was asking was "why?", yet Wilkinson was "disgusted" by her peers in the media for having the temerity to ask it.
Indeed Wilkinson and Stefanovic are not above discussing the travails of other high-profile people's personal lives, a recent example being Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Such stories are the fodder which fuels breakfast television chit-chat, but when it comes to Stefanovic, Wilkinson told her old magazine pal Mia Freedman: "There's a lot of rubbish out there at the moment, a lot of lies."
![Lisa Wilkinson thought she was doing the right thing by her <i>Today Show</i> colleague Karl Stefanovic when she leapt ...](/web/20161204182140im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/8/9/7/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt0lue.png/1480762950062.jpg)
"It's been really interesting, looking at weekly women's magazines and seeing the way they operate in 2016, and seeing some of the online sites, and the complete lies they are happy to write," the former Cleo editor claimed.
She accused the outlets of publishing articles "without any regard to the fact there's human beings involved here, and there's children involved."
"My growing disgust for the people in charge of those magazines and those websites right now makes me so angry. My anger knows no bounds over that."
"And I feel very protective towards the people that are involved … and you don't want to give it oxygen. You don't dignify any of it."
![Karl Stefanovic and his wife Cassandra Thorburn photographed at the 2011 Logies.](/web/20161204182140im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/i/r/8/f/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gt0lue.png/1480762950062.jpg)
And yet that is exactly what Wilkinson's comments had done: in the absence of any response from Stefanovic, Wilkinson had given his ongoing personal saga enough oxygen to ensure the story was given another airing across the same media outlets she was so "disgusted" by.
Wilkinson's comments came on the eve of news that Stefanovic's employer Channel Nine had retained top gun defamation lawyer Mark O'Brien to represent the network and Stefanovic in any potential lawsuits over the coverage.
What Channel Nine's shareholders make of the company paying the expensive legal bills to prosecute on behalf of an employee who reportedly earns $2 million a year over a matter which intrinsically is about his private life remains unclear.
However, Nine's intentions were very clear: fire a warning shot specifically aimed at New Idea magazine, owned by rival Channel Seven. Among the many stories New Idea has published on the bust up were claims Stefanovic was leaving Today as a result of his personal issues.
Not true, said Nine, which now claims the story was commercially motivated by its rival to destabilise one of its flagship programs, hence the threat of legal action.
However the cost of such litigation would not only be measured in dollars, especially for Stefanovic under cross-examination in a public court, inevitably generating further media interest and prolonging the uncomfortably scrutiny he and his family are currently experiencing.
Nor should it be forgotten that public interest in Stefanovic's marriage breakdown is a by-product of him being one of the most famous faces in the country, and a man who had previously espoused the virtues of a happy family life.
Unlike a tap, you can't turn that public interest off when it suits you, something Stefanovic now knows better than anyone.