Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed the news that he is engaged to his partner Jodie Haydon.
Taking to social media, Anthony announced the news on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning, with a photo of the happy couple.
“She said yes ♥️,” he captioned the selfie of the lovebirds, with Jodie’s sparkly new ring on display as she has her hand on Anthony’s chest.
Anthony is the first Australian prime minister to get engaged while in office.
The pair have been together since 2020, after meeting at an event in Melbourne where Anthony had been speaking.
He’d asked whether there were any South Sydney rugby league supporters in the audience and Jodie yelled out: “Up the Rabbitohs”, which also happened to be his favourite team.
Later, he introduced himself and learned that they not only had a football team in common, but that Jodie lived in his electorate, just a few suburbs over.
Anthony and Jodie spoke with The Australian Women’s Weekly in 2022, saying “We had what I thought would just be a drink at Young Henrys in Newtown, and we got on really well. That’s how it started,” he says.
Neither was looking for a relationship at the time, and Jodie explained: “I’d reached a point in my life where I was enjoying being single.”
Anthony was still emotionally bruised by the sudden departure a year earlier of his partner of 30 years (wife for 19), former NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt. It was as amicable as it could be and no third parties were involved, but for Anthony it was heartbreaking.
Then, out of nowhere, came Jodie, and the ease and joy that sprung up between them that night at a backstreet brewery in Newtown told Anthony that this was a life-changing connection.
Congratulations to the happy couple!
