It is not clear which is more extraordinary: that Miranda Kerr managed to date a Malaysian moneybags for nearly a year without being detected or that for the four years since then, she hung on to nearly $11 million worth of precious jewels she was apparently gifted from him?
This week Kerr's American spokesman confirmed that the recently married former Gunnedah girl turned global supermodel handed over $10.7 million worth of jewellery from her Los Angeles safe deposit box to US government agents.
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Private Sydney: Fame beckons for magpie
Northern beaches couple Cameron and Sam Bloom have enlisted one of Australia's top screenwriters to help bring their story about a visiting magpie that helped save their family in its darkest hour to the big screen. Andrew Hornery investigates.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday the jewels included a 11.72 carat heart-shaped diamond pendant Valentine's Day gift from former "boyfriend" and Malaysian financier Jho Low.
"From the start of the inquiry, Miranda Kerr co-operated fully and pledged to turn over the gifts of jewellery to the government," Kerr's spokesman told PS.
![Second marriage: Miaranda Kerr with her husband, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, in 2016.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701193040im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/f/c/k/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx01eq.png/1498895072784.jpg)
"Ms Kerr will continue to assist with the inquiry in any way she can."
Kerr's sparkling jewels lost a little lustre after they were identified in civil-forfeiture lawsuits filed by the US Justice Department pursuing assets allegedly bought with money misappropriated from Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
![Malaysian financier Jho Low at a New York charity event in October 2014.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701193040im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/z/f/o/a/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1498558851274.png)
Malaysian financier Jho Low at a New York charity event in October 2014. Photo: Getty Images
But back in Sydney PS has been unable to shed much light on the year-long romance Kerr is reported to have had with the chubby Malaysian millionaire, a relationship she apparently struck up after splitting with superhunk and ex-husband, Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom, and around the same time PS revealed she had been going on dates with James Packer.
However Kerr's pals informed PS that she regularly received extravagant gifts from various admirers around the world.
"She's been showered in diamonds from wealth sheikhs in the Middle East to James Packer ... a lot of men have been keen to show their affection over the years ... I know of some serious pieces from Cartier one of them sent her a few years back," one of Kerr's oldest Sydney acquaintances informed PS on the grounds of anonymity.
Keeping her valuables in a bank vault is a wise move for Kerr. Back in 2009 she became a victim of Hollywood's "Bling Ring", a group of young burglars targeting the likes of Paris Hilton and stealing their jewels, artworks and expensive designer clothes.
When Kerr moved in with her then boyfriend Bloom their Hollywood home was pillaged after thieves stole a large amount of high fashion-label clothing, as well as Bloom's Rolex watch collection, Louis Vuitton luggage, and artworks, all totalling nearly half a million dollars.
Just weeks ago Kerr married for a second time, to billionaire Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel. So far she has yet to provide any comment on how or why she received the jewels from Jho Low, or shed any light on how she knew him.
Priscilla creator's new movie is a whale of a tale
Stephan Elliott bluntly sums up his present state of mind: "Absolutely shattered".
Ever since filming wrapped on his new film Flammable Children, the man who gave the world Priscilla Queen Of The Desert has been deep in post-production on what he hopes will be one of the great Australian cinematic classics of the future.
"But to be honest I'm absolutely shattered ... I have not stopped for months, we have been going at it at a frantic pace but I can now start to see a light at the end of the tunnel ... I'm quietly confident with how it is all going, but I don't want to get too confident," Elliott confided to PS.
"I keep saying to people that it will probably just go straight to DVD – that way, anything else is a bonus. We have managed to pull of a miracle with the budgets we had, and everyone is incredibly passionate about the project."
Flammable Children has also seen Elliott reunite with some of his old Priscilla crew including Oscar-winning production designer Colin Gibson, and costume designer Lizzie Gardner.
Set in 1975 in the beach suburb of Nobbys Beach, Flammable Children revolves around surf mats, baby oil, boxed wine and the new miracle of Kentucky Fried Chicken. And just as Priscilla did, Flammable Children will also lean heavily on a soundtrack of classic hits from the era.
The central character is 14-year-old Jeff, who tries to find his feet in a world changing faster than his hormones and deal with his crush on shy and sensitive girl-next-door, Melly.
However, when the beach town suddenly hits the spotlight after the body of a 200-ton whale is washed ashore, Jeff and Melly think it's the biggest thing that ever happened in their lives.
Meanwhile, two of their eccentric parents, played by Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue, are catching up with the sexual revolution that has also washed up on Australia's beaches. The film will also feature Asher Keddie, Rahda Mitchell, Julian McMahon and Jack Thompson.
![Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue in <i>Flammable Children</i>.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701193040im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/d/d/t/q/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1487225315096.png)
Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue in Flammable Children. Photo: Vince Valitutti
"Kylie kept asking me ...'what are you doing to me'. But you know she was great, she just went with it and for the first time she has been given a role where she is not playing Kylie Minogue ... I think people will be pleasantly surprised," Elliott added.
Flammable Children is due for release towards the end of the year with a red carpet premiere being planned for Sydney.
Corporate high-flyer v former mother-in-law
He is one of Sydney's corporate high-flyers, regularly dropping millions of dollars on mega property deals around the country, but banker Michael Rothner, a leading figure in the city's Jewish community and president of the powerful Central Synagogue in Bondi, is embroiled in a legal fight with his aging former mother-in-law over a comparatively modest $135,000 loan.
Rothner's company is claiming his former mother-in-law now owes an additional 15 per cent compound interest on the original loan first made eight years ago, though she claims she was assured at the time that no interest would be applicable and believed the loan was from her son-in-law and her daughter.
In recent weeks Rothner, principal of the elite Ashe Morgan investment bank, has received some unwanted publicity over claims about his "hard partying lifestyle". The bank made front page news as one of his colleagues, Ashe Morgan's financial gatekeeper Hans Borgelt, appeared in court a fortnight ago to oppose an AVO application from his estranged wife who claimed he forced her to watch porn so that she could learn to perform daily sex acts on him.
Rothner, an associate of Rodney Adler, Malcolm Turnbull and the all-powerful Lowy family, recently split with his wife, Lisa Rothner, having sold the lavish family home the couple poured millions of dollars into building in Darling Point, pocketing a cool $23.5 million from the sale in 2015.
![TItle Deeds Nov 22 PAGE 6 - Rothners house at darling point](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701193040im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/1/p/k/t/d/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1416356004553.png)
The Rothners old home in Darling Point. Photo: Supplied
A statement of claim was filed in the Queensland Supreme Court in 2015 around the same time his marriage to the mother of their three young daughters ended.
Rothner, who drives a luxurious Aston Martin, is now living in a multimillion-dollar apartment at Bondi's swanky Pacific building, while bitter divorce proceedings against his ex-wife, who lives with the couple's children, have ensued.
A company called MCR Nominees, of which Rothner and his Ashe Morgan business partners Alton Abrahams and Michael Moss are listed as directors, is also claiming up to 15 per cent interest on the money that was originally handed over to Lisa Rothner's mother, Linda Dalley, in 2009.
Rothner's company is claiming Dalley had approached him for a "loan" as she was experiencing "serious cash flow problems" and was in the process of selling her property but was not able to cover interest repayments on her mortgage.
A mediation order was made by the court for the parties to meet before September in an effort to resolve the issue.
Neither Rothner nor Dalley responded to PS's calls this week.
How Boy George dodged his Sydney fans in 1984
Boy George and his band Culture Club announced they will be touring Australia in December, their third tour in just 18 months.
And while Australia clearly remains a fairly profitable market for the band, Culture Club no longer gets the sort of crowds it once did, though that is probably a good thing.
![Boy George, lead singer of Culture Club performs on stage at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, on June 10.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701193040im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/g/y/z/n/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1465773353193.png)
Boy George, lead singer of Culture Club performs on stage at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. Photo: Wayne Taylor
This week PS' Spotlight shines on a young gender bender who washed up at the now demolished Sebel Town House in 1984 wearing dreadlocks, heavy make up, fingerless gloves and oddball clothes.
Back than, pop bands didn't get much bigger or avant garde than Culture Club, with hundreds of screaming fans following Boy George and his bandmates around town during their brief visit here. He would be showered with hand-made dolls made in his image, while legions of teenage girls (and a few boys) did their best to emulate his look, much to their parents' horror.
Indeed the fans had become such an issue that Boy George had to be smuggled past the saucepans and chefs working in the Sebel's kitchen and taken out the back door in order to evade the frenzied mob that waited for him – hour after hour – outside the hotel's front door.
These days Boy George is living with his nieces in rented digs overlooking Centennial Park, having taken a lease on former Channel Seven boss David Leckie and his wife's Skye's home Lactura while he's been in town shooting The Voice for Channel Nine.
Sadly, there's been no signs of any screaming middle-aged fans lurking about, though Skye Leckie has been threatening to hold a karaoke night in his honour.
Bloom family's story attracts Hollywood heavy-hitters
Sydney couple Cameron and Sam Bloom have enlisted one of Australia's top screenwriters to help bring their story about a visiting magpie which helped save their family in its darkest hour to the big screen. Shaun Grant, the man who wrote the screenplays for Jasper Jones, Deadline Gallipoli and Snowtown, has signed on to adapt the book Penguin Bloom, written by Bradley Trevor Greive, which documented the Bloom family's ordeals after Sam fell from a balcony while on holiday in Thailand, and was left paralysed from the chest down. Around the same time an injured Magpie chick, which the Bloom clan called Penguin, entered their lives.
![###COPYRIGHT PHOTO - FEE PER USE - NO ARCHIVING - MUST CREDIT### Screenwriter Shaun Grant with Sam Bloom at the Bloom home in Newport Beach for PS, pic by Cameron Bloom](http://web.archive.org./web/20170701193040im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/1/p/4/b/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1498777526497.png)
Shaun Grant with Sam Bloom at the Bloom home in Newport Beach. Photo: Cameron Bloom
Having already spawned a successful Instagram page, Penguinthemagpie, last month the book took out the Australian Illustrated book of the year award. In December Hollywood heavy-hitters Naomi Watts, Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea optioned the film rights to the book and are in full swing to produce a major film with Sydney-based Emma Cooper. Watts is set to play Sam Bloom in the movie, due to be shot in the northern beaches next year. The first draft of the screenplay is due at the end of August, and Cameron Bloom told PS the whole experience had provided the family with "a much needed distraction during a very dark time in our lives".
New Seven show 'awful'
PS has been hearing murmurs about the new Channel Seven program Instant Hotel, which insiders say has not been going too well. Billed as a show that will tap into the worldwide trend of home owners renting out their properties as holiday accommodation, Instant Hotel will be hosted by Luke Jakobz with former Vogue Australia editor Juliet Ashworth signing on as a judge. It will see home owners vie for the title of best "instant hotel". However, a recent meeting of all staff on the production indicated that the show's content was "awful" and there was some doubt raised if the show will ever make it to air.
However, Seven programming boss Brad Lyons denied the network was unhappy with the production. Lyons told PS: "We are genuinely excited by what we have been seeing. As it's a new idea it has undergone the normal rigorous production we apply at all our shows. As we always make sure we put out the best show possible."
Dutch courage
Akin to taking coal to Newcastle, the Dutch have designs on Sydney's bikini market, with one of Holland's leading swimwear and lingerie labels pulling out all the stops this week to launch into Australia. Flame-haired designer Marloes Hoedeman brought a crack team of swimwear models to Bondi's Icebergs on Wednesday to showcase her Love Stories wares on a particularly chilly winter's day. The models managed to keep the goosebumps at bay as they paraded in itsy bitsy, teeny weeny bikinis which were thoroughly welcomed by the Australian fashion pack that had assembled. Local designers, you have been warned.