There was one resounding question when Lisa Wilkinson and Peter FitzSimons celebrated their second wedding last week – where was her Today co-host and friend Karl Stefanovic?
It turns out Karl was not only on annual leave thousands of kilometres away in LA, he was celebrating his engagement to girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough.
Friends tell Woman’s Day exclusively that weeks earlier, in a flight of romance, the 43-year-old Gold Logie winner whisked Jasmine off to Paris, the City of Love, to propose, and the couple have been doing their best to keep the news quiet.
As he and Jasmine put plans in place to spend the rest of their lives together, Karl’s divorce from wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn has just been finalised.
Karl and Jasmine attended the Bistro Moncur Ladies Lunch on Friday, 13th October, dressed in bridal-inspired looks.
Secret celebrations? And they looked more in love than ever!
What’s more, in a sign of his dedication to his new love, Karl checked into an LA hospital to have his vasectomy reversed.
“He will do anything to make Jasmine happy, and this is a huge sign of his commitment.”
“He’s aware Jasmine wants a family of her own and is ready to give her what she wants, despite swearing he was done with kids after his third, River, 10 years ago,” a friend tells us exclusively.
Karl couldn’t be happier with Jasmine and the pair are now going very public.
“It was unexpected and lovely,” he says of falling for Jasmine.
Clearly things are going well for the couple, with Karl telling The Daily Telegraph: “There is a lot of love in my life.”‘
“She’s a very strong and passionate person. She has her own world, her own business and her direction. And I am happy to support her in any way I can.”
Jasmine Yarbrough has also opened her Instagram profile to the public, providing the very first behind-the-scenes look into her highly-publicised relationship with Karl.
The shoe designer shared a photo of herself and two other friends sitting poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.
She captioned the sun-drenched photo: “LA, you will always be in my heart,” confirming her move back to Australia.
Jasmine’s friends shared their sadness over Karl’s partner making the huge move.
One pal wrote, “The Beverly Hills Hotel just lost their best customer.”
“Sad sad day!!!! I’ll miss you,” another penned, while a third noted: “So many memories. Keep Sydney warm for me. Xx”
While she’s been loving LA life, Karl is doing everything to make his girlfriend’s move easy.
According to the Daily Mail, he recently gave up his $1980 a week bachelor pad for a $7million five bedroom home, located in North Sydney.
Jasmine is very close to Karl’s friend and co-host Richard Wilkins.
Last month, Karl, 43, opened up to Stellar magazine about the breakdown of his 21-year marriage to Cassandra Thorburn.
“I certainly did not expect to meet someone five months after I broke up with my wife,” he told the publication.
“That was not planned, I did not know her before. I met her on a boat in Sydney. We have a really lovely relationship, but it’s got to be slow for a variety of reasons. I’m not going to share too much on that publicly because I don’t think that’s fair on anyone involved.”
He continued: “It was unexpected and lovely, but we’re going to try to keep a level of privacy to how we’re going and what we’re planning, especially considering I have three beautiful children who need to be taken into consideration.”
For more on Karl’s romance with Jasmine and their exciting baby plans, be sure to pick up a copy of Woman’s Day – on stands now!
Karl pictured with his ex-wife, Cass.
