Australians have fawned over Anthony Albanese’s ‘hot’ new look as he tries to outdo his rival Scott Morrison in the pre-election fashion stakes.
The Labor leader, 58, turned heads as he posed in a fitted white shirt, skinny grey chinos and $129 Country Road gum sole sneakers for a Women’s Weekly photoshoot with his girlfriend Jodie Haydon.
His dapper outfit clearly melted hearts among the magazine’s readers, with hundreds of Aussies taking to social media on Thursday to profess their admiration for the potential future prime minister’s new appearance.
‘And I have my first crush on a politician,’ one commenter wrote.
‘Oh my Anthony Albanese – just yummy. I have a crush now,’ wrote one fawning Twitter user.
Hundreds of Aussies have taken to social media on Thursday to profess their admiration for Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s new appearance
‘Hubba hubba hubba,’ another said. ‘You look amazing! Fighting fit and ready to run the country.’
‘He looks pretty damn hot to me,’ another said.
One meme showed an image of Mr Albanese’s photoshoot next to a photo of the Australian prime minister standing in shorts, thongs and a suit jacket.
‘Jenny [Mr Morrison’s wife] I need you to go shopping,’ the meme’s caption said.
Celebrity stylist Donny Galella told Daily Mail Australia the magazine pictures showed a stark contrast between Mr Albanese and Mr Morrison – who typically opts for baggy chinos and RM Williams boots.
‘Comparing the two, Mr Albanese definitely has a much more tailored and stylish look, especially with the white shoes,’ Mr Galella told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Albo is looking pretty stylish in the classic combo of a white shirt and well fitted chinos.
The Opposition leader had a significant makeover last year, losing 15kg and investing in new suits. He is pictured with his partner Jodie Haydon in March 2021
‘His white trainers are a big trend at the moment and the blue stripe even matches Jodie’s dress.’
The Opposition leader had a significant makeover last year, losing 15kg, investing in new suits and snapping up some $349 Byblos Black Havana spectacles.
The photos were taken as Mr Albanese and Ms Haydon conducted their first interview together just three months out from the looming election, where women’s votes could prove decisive.
Mr Albanese revealed he wooed his new girlfriend with a date at a hipster brewery in Sydney’s inner west.
Celebrity stylist Donny Galella said the pictures in Women’s Weekly showed a stark contrast between Mr Albanese and Prime Minister Scott Morrison (centre) who typically opts for baggy chinos and RM Williams boots
The craft beer fanatic enjoyed his first night out with 43-year-old Jodie Haydon at the Young Henrys brewery in Newtown.
‘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 told Women’s Weekly.
The pair met in early 2020 at a conference in Melbourne where Mr Albanese was speaking.
The Opposition leader asked the crowd if there were any fellow South Sydney fans present and finance worker Ms Haydon, who lives in his Grayndler electorate, shouted: ‘Up the Rabbitohs’.
He later introduced himself and they decided to go for a drink when they were back in Sydney.
Mr Albanese, a father-of-one, had recently split from his ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt after 19 years of marriage and 30 years together.
He said he was still ’emotionally bruised’ from the sudden split which involved no third parties but came as a shock.
Ms Haydon, who has never been married or had children, said she wasn’t looking for a relationship but realised she had fallen in love with Mr Albanese when he had a car crash in January 2021.
In January 2021 Mr Albanese’s car (pictured) was hit by a Range Rover but he escaped serious injury
His Toyota was rammed by a Range Rover and he was rushed to hospital for X-rays but escaped serious injury.
Ms Haydon recalled arriving at the scene of the crash in Marrickville after a phone call and seeing her boyfriend’s smashed-up car.
‘I saw the mess of a car before I saw him and thought ‘he couldn’t survive this”. It was very scary, and in that moment, you realise just how much you love this person – the fear of losing them,’ she said.
‘As I jumped in the ambulance and saw Anthony, I knew then the depth of my feelings towards him.’
The interview is Ms Haydon’s first and comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison appeared on 60 Minutes with his wife Jenny and two daughters.
Analysts believe Mr Morrison’s family is his ‘secret weapon’ in connecting with voters.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese with his son Nathan (left) and partner Jodie Haydon in January at the National Press Club in Canberra
Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese (right) with mum Maryanne Ellery and son Nathan
Mr Albanese, who earns $390,820 a year, and the First State Super financial worker were first spotted kissing at an upmarket Sydney restaurant in June 2020.
It was eighteen months earlier on New Year’s Day 2019, that the 58-year-old separated from his ex-wife.
The aspiring future prime minister said he ‘didn’t see it coming’ when Ms Tebbutt abruptly ended their marriage.
‘It was a really tough period and that’s the truth and I’ve acknowledged that. I think part of going through a difficult period and coming out the other end is acknowledging that you’re going through it,’ he told ABC Radio.
Mr Albanese attends the Australian premiere of Hamilton at Lyric Theatre last year with girlfriend Jodie
‘I found it very tough. The relationship was 30 years old.
‘It’s made for a difficult period. I certainly will always, always remember New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day for that momentous event in my life,’ he said.
‘I needed to stop trying to understand it and just accept it and accept that it was a decision that had been made and she was moving on with her life in a different direction and I needed to do the same,’ he said.
‘You can tie yourself in knots trying to understand someone else’s decisions and thought processes.’
Mr Albanese and Ms Tebbutt met in Young Labor during the late 1980s.
Nathan, the couple’s only child, had just turned 18 and completed his HSC exams when Ms Tebbutt ended the relationship.
Mr Albanese declared his relationship with Nathan to be the strongest it’s ever been in January 2020, as the pair were forced to rely on each other more than ever in their two-person household.
Mr Albanese and his ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt – the former NSW deputy premier. The potential future prime minister said he ‘didn’t see it coming’ when Ms Tebbutt ended their marriage on New Year’s Day 2019
The Labor leader was brought up by single mother Maryanne Ellery, who raised him in housing commission on a disability pension income.
‘My story began in a council house in Camperdown,’ he said.
‘Just me and my mum. She wasn’t well and it wasn’t easy. But all things were possible.’
Ms Ellery was rushed to hospital on Mother’s Day in 2002 after a brain aneurysm before dying two weeks later.
Mr Albanese has been open about her death and recently explained how he discovered something was wrong after flying to Sydney from Canberra to take Ms Ellery to a Mother’s Day lunch.
‘When I got to her home in Camperdown, I knew something wasn’t right. The front door had been left open,’ he wrote on Twitter.
Mr Albanese (left) told in 2021 how his mother Maryanne Ellery (right) had a brain aneurism on Mother’s Day in 2002
Ms Ellery (pictured with Nathan) died on May 25 in 2002, two weeks after being hospitalised
‘After decades of health problems, mum had a brain aneurysm, and was rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Mum would spend two weeks in hospital before finally passing.’
His mother died on May 25 and in the two decades since Mr Albanese said he has visited her cemetery every Mother’s Day to ‘remember how much she sacrificed’ for him.
‘Mum always gave me unconditional love. And I feel very privileged to have had that,’ he wrote.
Mr Albanese didn’t meet his Italian father Carlo Albanese until 2009, and believed he was dead until he was 15-years-old.
Carlo died in 2014.
Mr Albanese is pictured campaigning for Medicare services in 1996 when he first joined parliament
Mr Albanese has been the leader of the opposition since 2019. and has held the federal seat of Grayndler, which covers the inner-western Sydney suburb he calls home, since March 1996.
He stripped down Labor’s policy offering to give it the best chance of being elected, scrapping Bill Shorten’s franking credits and negative gearing tax policies.
The strategy is to remain a small target to avoid attacks, and make this election a referendum on Mr Morrison’s leadership and character.
Meanwhile, Mr Albanese has been at pains to point out that he stands for aspiration and will back everyday Aussies who work hard for their families.
‘I stand for a strong economy. I stand for making sure that people can not get left behind, but also that they not get held back for opportunity. I stand for aspiration,’ he told the Today show earlier this month.
Mr Albanese is pictured as a young man in Sydney. He became a federal MP in 1996 aged 33
Asked by host Karl Stefanovic if he stood for ‘inner-city lefties’, Mr Albanese replied: ‘Well, I stand for all Australians, Karl. And I’m comfortable sitting in a pub in Hewenden in North Queensland just as I am comfortable sitting around a boardroom talking about business.’
Drawing a line under his ‘hard left’ days, Mr Albanese said he is now focused ‘on things that matter to Australians like jobs, wage growth, the crisis in aged care and the need for the revival of Australian manufacturing’.
‘I’m very happy to stand by all of the policies that I have outlined ahead of the coming election because these are the policies a Labor government will implement if we are successful,’ he said.
The Australian Women’s Weekly March issue is on sale Thursday February 24, 2022
