Their Palm Beach commitment ceremony was shrouded in secrecy, but rumours have been swirling for months that Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough are planning to pull out all the stops for their November nuptials.
Now, sources are telling us the Today host’s wedding has been shelved – and the couple have had to go back to the drawing board.
Disastrous plan
“The wedding was planned for November and they had made plans to have it at James Packer’s Argentinian polo ranch,” a friend reveals to Woman’s Day.
“They’d even gone so far as to tell close friends and family and given them dates, with some guests even booking their flights. Now, without explanation, they’re telling everyone to cancel them.”
“Everything is completely up in the air, they have no venue and there’s not even a firm date. We’re all on tenterhooks wondering if it’s actually going to happen this year or not,” our source adds.
While neither Karl Stefanovic, 43, nor Jasmine, 34, has publicly spoken about the wedding, those closest to the couple believe their plans have come unstuck because of Karl’s increasingly strained relationship with his close friend, billionaire James, 50 – who checked into America’s most exclusive mental health facility in March.
Karl’s plan for the wedding venue has fallen through, and it hasn’t gone down well with Jasmine.
“A team of professionals have been getting James back on his feet, and they’re advising him to put some distance between himself and his rowdy bunch of party mates – and Karl’s top of the list,” a friend reveals.
“James is a very generous man but everyone – especially his 80-year-old mum Ros – wants to make sure he’s well away from any temptations, and partying and heavy drinking is not on the cards while he gets himself better.
“James has been advised to tell Karl he can’t marry at his ranch, and as you can imagine it hasn’t gone down well,” the insider tells.
Instead of accepting James’ decision, friends say Karl has been desperately pleading with him to let him reschedule the wedding at the billionaire’s newly purchased property in Cabo San Lucas.
Want more amazing goss? Listen to the latest episode of the Woman’s Day Uncensored podcast, where the panel exclusively reveal Barnaby Joyce’s ex-wife Natalie’s side of the story, they also chat to the Lucky Lotto man, a multi-time lottery winner, and to wrap up, they reveal Princess Mary is set to become the Queen of Denmark imminently.
Dramas at work
“For Karl to lose the lifeline to his billionaire mate is going to hit him hard, James has always been happy to offer up all his properties, so he’d taken it for granted that they would be able to have it there.”
“What’s worse is Jasmine is completely freaking out because she thought the venue was done and dusted and she was looking forward to wowing her friends with such an amazing location,” our source adds.
“One friend has suggested they just stay in Sydney, or do what the average punter would and book a place, but Jasmine doesn’t want it to be run of the mill.”
“On top of that they’d picked November because the kids would still be in school and after the drama of their commitment ceremony, when the police were called, they thought it would be easier to have it without them attending.”
Drama over his wedding is the last thing Karl needs, especially given reports are surfacing that his popularity has taken a huge nose dive both with his colleagues and viewers in the past few months.
Is the bromance over? After spending the past summer together on James’ yacht, Karl and James haven’t been seen together in months – not since before James went to rehab.
Karl’s ex Cass says Jasmine can have him.
“He’s been all over the place recently and a couple of times on location [for 60 Minutes] it appeared like he just didn’t want to be there. It didn’t help he and his brother had such a go at Kirsty Thomson [the much revered 60 Minutes executive producer] during the Ubergate saga.
“You’d have to be a fool in this industry to have a swing at the woman – especially one who’s a favourite of Wicky [Nine’s national director of news and current affairs Darren Wick].
“He’s so out of favour there’s even talk he might be replaced by Ben Fordham as host for This Time Next Year, when it airs next year.”
Meanwhile, news of Karl’s run of bad luck isn’t causing ex-wife Cassandra Thorburn any sleepless nights.
“Cass finds all this laughable – considering her wedding to Karl cost a total of $8000 and her dress was made by a friend for $900.”
“She’d never dream of taking Karl back. She’s told friends she had the best years of his life and that Jasmine can have him.”
“She actually secretly hopes they do tie the knot soon just so the circus Jasmine and Karl have created stops.”
