Her late husband dominated Sydney’s underworld for years, his infamy now immortalised in the TV drama Underbelly. Here, Georgina Freeman tells us of her enduring love for the man she describes as more George Clooney than Chopper Read.
There have been many kings of Kings Cross, but if there is a queen, it is Georgina Freeman. As the widow of crime boss George Freeman, confidante to powerbroker John Ibrahim and mother of an up-and-coming nightclub baron, Georgina has been a willing muse to three generations of Kings Cross royalty. “It’s not for the faint-hearted,” she says. “You never know what lies ahead, but it never stays bad for long – there is always something else to take you flying.”
It is 30 years since Georgina stepped into a world where money was plentiful, police were corrupt and men mysteriously disappeared. It was a world in which danger went hand in hand with glamour. By day, her husband and his associates fixed races, ran protection rackets and dispatched their rivals. By night, they wore tuxedos, gave their wives diamonds and drank French champagne. Her husband was, she remembers, “more like George Clooney out of Ocean’s Eleven than Chopper [Read]”.
In her first major interview since his death 20 years ago – and as the television series Underbelly brings these characters to life again – Georgina, 52, tells The Weekly about her enduring love for Freeman, her hopes for their children and why John Ibrahim is “gorgeous”.
George Freeman was 44, divorced and at the height of his notoriety when he met 22-year-old actress Georgina McLoughlin at a fundraising picnic in 1979. With fellow criminals Lenny McPherson and Stan Smith, he had dominated Sydney’s underworld for decades, sharing profits, scheming against rivals and watching each other’s backs.
“If you were going to have a shot at one, the other two would get you,”says Clive Small, a former deputy NSW police commissioner and the author of Smack Express: How Organised Crime Got Hooked On Drugs. “That was the point at which we would say organised crime entered the modern era.”
McPherson ran protection rackets, Smith provided the muscle and Freeman specialised in SP bookmaking, illegal casinos and race rigging. Authorities marvelled at his luck on the track – his racing tips were right between 98 and 99 per cent of the time.
George, a ladies man, was immediately drawn to the youthful Georgina, who knew of his reputation from newspapers. “I knew that he was a bad boy,” she says. “I knew he was … maybe a crime boss? I’d heard he was a bit of a playboy.” Their introduction was brief, but left an impression on them both. “I knew that once he looked at me and I looked at him, there was something,” she says.
George knew Georgina had a fiancé, Stephen McDonald, the former heart-throb actor from the television series Number 96. George had a girlfriend, too. That did not stop him from pursuing her and one invitation to a Neil Sedaka concert turned into two years of clandestine meetings. Georgina still lived with Stephen, but couldn’t resist George’s charisma – she met him for dinners, films and trysts in hotels. She was dazzled by his sophistication.
“It was exciting,” she says. “I loved his intelligence. I loved his sense of humour. I loved his style. I guess I loved the bad boy thing. He was generous to a fault.”
Having an affair was a “risqué, fun thing to do”, she says. “Then I would go home to my sweet, good-looking Stephen and our dog and cat.” She did not give much thought to George’s line of business.
One day, lying on a bed at the Boulevard Hotel in Sydney, George proposed and Georgina accepted. They told everyone at the Golden Slipper Ball that night. However, Georgina still had the little problem of her engagement to Stephen. George gave her two weeks to leave Stephen or their wedding was off.
For those two weeks, engaged to two men at the same time, she picked fights with Stephen and tried to push him away, but couldn’t face telling him. Eventually, she waited until he went out, packed her bags and arrived at George’s house in a taxi, just minutes before the midnight deadline. Stephen didn’t know why she left until he saw Georgina’s wedding to George Freeman on television. He was shattered.
Your say: What do you think about George Freeman? Have you been watching the Underbelly series? Share with us below.
Read more of our exclusive chat with Georgina Freeman in the May issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Out now with Susan Boyle on the cover.
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