Now here’s a man who defines himself by the woman on his arm.
The Brownlows have always been a celebration of fake tan, Hollywood tape and dresses designed for maximum exposure and minimum insulation - but last night a woman no one had ever heard of took it to a new level and I smell a serious case of one-upmanship.
All of a sudden the Edelstens are back in the news, and Geoffrey, 66, is clearly determined to demonstrate he can still wow the ladies like he did in 1986.
Brynne Gorden, Edelsten’s 25-year-old fiance, was a star on the blue carpet at the AFL’s “night of nights” yesterday, sporting an ensemble that makes Rebecca Twigley’s wardobe look like a closet full of nun’s habits.
Gorden got what she was no doubt looking for - her picture all over the TV and the web. But it’s her date who I reckon was really looking for the exposure.
If anyone, or anything, defined the 80s in Sydney it was Dr Geoffrey Edelsten, his gorgeous young wife Leanne and the pink helicopter he bought for her.
Through the fog of 24 years of memory I had an image in my mind of a young Leanne bouncing around in outfits similar to the one Gorden paraded last night. But a search through the (considerable) archive of photos of Leanne from the time of her marriage to Edelsten showed a pretty, and relatively modest young thing who wouldn’t have been caught dead in something as tacky as Gorden’s get up.
After years below the radar Leanne has re-emerged of late, in the guise of a respectable intensive care nurse at St Vincents.
There’s more to the story than that though. Ms Edelsten is said to be shopping a book about town with the help of Harry M. Miller.
And she’s also one of the multitude of Sydneysiders with a tenuous connection to the story surrounding lately murdered property developer Michael McGurk.
You couldn’t make all this up.
The other thing you couldn’t make up is Geoffrey Edelsten’s website. It’s soundtrack includes Forever Young, and something by the Pussycat Dolls. He’s also added a “Prof” to the start of his name. Seriously, its the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time, and if it is a fake, there’s someone out there with a talent for satire that should be immediately recognised.
The site, and his appearance last night at the Brownlows, screams of a man desperately clinging to his heyday, while the woman who defined his success has moved on and built a life for herself with some meaning to it.
It’s a little bit tragic, but mostly very entertaining.
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