Entertainment guru Richard Wilkins has made a career out of his charm and wit.
So it’s no surprise that the Channel Nine star has always found himself a hit with the ladies, with a string of incredibly smart and gorgeous women linked to Wilkins over the years.
But sadly, the 65-year-old has revealed he has split from his most recent partner, Virginia Burmeister.
Dickie told The Australian he and the 52-year-old dancer broke up “some time ago”, but said the split was “very amicable”.
Now, the newly single star has also been diagnosed with COVID-19 after most likely contracting the disease from actor Tom Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson, while the singer was being interviewed at the Channel Nine studios in Sydney last week.
Thankfully, Richard says he “feels 100 per cent” and has “no symptoms at all”.
While he repairs his body, and possibly a broken heart, let’s take a look back at Richard’s romantic history and meet some of the incredible women he’s had the privilege of dating over the years.
Richard (centre) with his five children from four different partners: (L-R) Nick, Adam, Rebecca, Christian and Estelle.
(Image: Supplied)Lynette, his high school sweetheart
Richard (second from left) pictured with his three sons Christian, Adam and Nick. Adam was born with Down syndrome.
(Image: Getty)Richard’s eldest son Adam, 45, has Down syndrome, and was conceived on the night of Richard’s 18th birthday with his then 16-year-old girlfriend Lynette, in New Zealand.
The last name and full identity of Adam’s mother, and Richard’s high school sweetheart, has never been made public.
However, he has previously opened up about his experience fathering a son with a disability at such a young age.
“I was only 18 when Adam was born [and] his mum was just 16, very unusual for Down syndrome people to be born to such young parents. It was a shock to be a parent let alone of a Down syndrome child,” Richard revealed on the Today Show in March 2019, on World Down Syndrome Day.
“I’m prepared to admit that I wasn’t the greatest Dad back in the day. I didn’t really know how to handle it,” he said.
“I was getting on with my life and career, I wanted to travel the world and make music and do that sort of stuff, and it was with some reluctance that after about a year we put Adam in a home.
“People said you can have him adopted. But I said ‘No he is always going to be my son’ and I want a relationship with him. He has had great people in his life over the years.”
Adam now lives in New Zealand, where Richard was born and spent the beginning of his adult life.
Rebecca Gibney
Yep, the acclaimed Packed To The Rafters actress and Dickie were once an item back in the day, when she was just 22 years old.
Rebecca revealed all the juicy details to Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa in 2015, admitting that she was “madly in love” with the popular TV personality, until he cheated on her with an air hostess.
“I thought we had a future together, until that fateful day,” she told the radio hosts.
The Gold Logie winner explained that the pair were living in different cities at the time and so she gave her beau a rose as a gift, with a card attached that read: “I’ll miss you”.
But Richard actually re-gifted the rose to “the flight attendant on the plane who he was having a fling with,” Rebecca said.
A young Rebecca Gibney pictured around the time she dated Richard Wilkins.
(Image: Getty)Funnily enough, the TV star would eventually go on to marry that hostie, Michelle Burke.
“May the best woman win, she obviously was the best woman,” Rebecca joked.
As the pair move in similar work circles, often attending red carpets and events together, things got a little awkward after their breakup.
“It was a bit messy for a while, because he did break my heart a little, bit but we’re mates now,” she said.
Now it’s all water under the bridge, she said. “Richard, if you’re listening please forgive me.”
Michelle Burke
Richard pictured with his ex-wife Michelle Burke.
(Image: Getty)Richard ended up marrying that flight attendant Michelle Burke, and the couple have a son together, Christian Wilkins.
Speaking about his affair with Michelle while he was dating Rebecca Gibney, Richard told Fitzy and Wippa that he regrets his mistake.
“That was a long, long, long time ago boys, before I saw the error of my ways,'” he said, adding that there are no hard feeling between the exes.
Tottie Goldsmith
Tottie Goldsmith briefly dated Richard Wilkins in 1997.
(Image: Getty)Richard briefly dated Aussie actress Tottie Goldsmith in the late 90s, he confirmed in his 2011 best-selling book, Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms.
Tottie (left) pictured with Olivia Newton-John in 2005.
(Image: Getty)Rebecca Naso
Rebecca and Richard pictured together on the red carpet in 2009.
(Image: Getty)Richard and Rebecca were first linked in 2008 after they were caught out by paparazzi enjoying a romantic holiday in Bryon Bay. It’s believed they were introduced by TV presenter Catriona Rowntree, who went to school with Rebecca.
Richard proposed to the LA-based former actress, but the wedding never eventuated.
In 2013, after five years of dating, the pair split.
WATCH BELOW: The Block star Suzi Taylor claims she was in a relationship with Richard Wilkins. Story continues after video.
Anne-Maree Cooksley
Anne Marie Cooksley and Richard Wilkins at a media event in Sydney in 2001.
(Image: Getty)The Today Show star dated former The Price Is Right model Ann-Maree Cooksley in the early 2000s, with the pair regularly photographed canoodling at media events.
Ann-Maree has also been linked to cricket star Shane Warne.
She now has her own online fashion and accessories store, Ann-Maree Jewellery.
The pair looked loved-up as they posed for pictures.
(Image: Getty)Collette Dinnigan
Richard and fashion designer Collette Dinnigan pictured together at a charity event in 2004.
(Image: Getty)Aussie fashion designer Collette Dinnigan dated Richard in the early 2000s, before calling it quits in 2004.
The former couple share a daughter, Estella, now 14, and happily co-parent Estelle together.
Now, Collette is married to husband Bradley Cooks, and the couple have a young son, called Hunter.
Collette and Richard say they still get along well and have made their relationship work for their daughter.
“I think for all children the most important thing is to know they are loved by both parents and that they are a priority in each of our lives, and that’s the case,” Collette told the Daily Mail in 2015 of her co-parenting relationship with Richard.
“There’s no right or wrong way, as long as your priorities are right.”
Collette and her teenage daughter Estelle.
(Image: Getty)Brownwyn Jones
Bronwyn and Richard attending the Commercial Radio Awards together in 2013.
(Image: Getty)In 2013, it was revealed that Richard was dating Brownyn Jones, a venture capitalist and a close friend of Erica Packer. Early on in her career, Jones starred as a US Lingerie Bowl participant and was a one-time soap actress.
The couple met at the annual GDay LA showcase, which is still held to this day, shortly after Jones had finalised her divorce with her husband.
Virginia Burmeister
The stunning Virginia pictured on the red carpet with the Channel Nine media personality.
(Image: Getty)Virginia, a former dancer, began dating Richard in October 2017, and have been regularly photographed on the red carpet together over the past three years.
Richard’s son Christian even speculated that the pair would make their romance official and get married.
“Maybe [they will marry], they are very happy together,” Christian told the Daily Mail last September.
The pair frequently put on a loved-up display on social media, but rumours of a split first began circulating at the end of 2019.
In January, The Sunday Telegraph reported that the relationship was on its “last legs” and the couple were having “heated arguments” because Richard refuse to invest in Virginia’s property in France.
And in March 2020, just days after it was revealed Richard had been diagnosed with COVID-19, he revealed the pair had broken up “some time ago”, but said the split was “very amicable.”
Virgina is yet to comment publicly on the breakup.
