'She's absolutely perfect': Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough confirm the birth of their baby girl and share a gorgeous photo of the bub... before revealing her very sweet name
Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough have welcomed their first child together.
Jasmine gave birth to a 'beautiful baby girl' named Harper May Stefanovic on Friday at the North Shore Private Hospital.
In a statement to the Today show, Karl said: 'Harper and Jasmine are doing well and dad had a great night's sleep.
He added: 'I am in awe. Harper is absolutely perfect.'
The first photo: Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough have welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Harper May (pictured)
The happy news was announced on the Today show on Saturday morning by Karl's colleague and close friend, Richard Wilkins.
Richard confirmed that Harper weighs 2.9kg and was born on Friday, just after midday.
'Mum and bub are both doing very well,' he said proudly.
'Harper is absolutely perfect': The couple welcomed the baby girl on Friday, just after midday. In a statement, Karl said he was 'in awe' of his new little girl
'To Karl and Jas, you guys are really going to love this special time in your life. They deserve all the happiness that's coming their way,' he added.
The couple were spotted driving at speed to Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital on Friday morning in exclusive photos obtained by Daily Mail Australia.
The breakfast TV anchor 'raced' in his $140,000 Toyota Land Cruiser Sahara after finishing his daily broadcast of the Today show.
'Mum and bub are both doing very well': The happy news was announced on the Today show on Saturday morning by Karl's colleague and close friend, Richard Wilkins (far left)
Karl, 45, had a serious expression on his face, while shoe designer Jasmine, 36, sat in the front passenger seat looking uncomfortable.
When they arrived at the hospital, Karl appeared nervous as he walked through the parking lot. He also reminded paparazzi outside the entrance to keep away due to social distancing restrictions.
He had a bag of essentials, which he packed on the ground next to his car.
Tense: The couple were spotted driving at speed to Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital on Friday morning in exclusive photos obtained by Daily Mail Australia
Almost time! The 36-year-old shoe designer sat in the front passenger seat looking slightly uncomfortable
Jasmine last shared a photo of herself to Instagram on Tuesday. She posed in a black dress while cradling her baby bump alongside the caption: 'Countdown is on.'
Her pregnancy was mostly kept private, with only a few photos surfacing of her visible bump over her three trimesters.
Earlier this week, she told her Instagram followers she was 'currently daydreaming of meeting my new baby girl'.
Nerves: When they arrived at the hospital, Karl appeared nervous as he walked through the parking lot
Birthplace: Little Harper May was born at the North Shore Private Hospital (pictured) on Friday, just after midday
Last month, the Stefanovics moved into a $7.3million waterfront mansion in Sydney as they prepared to become parents.
The lavish property on Sydney's lower north shore has plenty of space for a growing family, with a total of four bedrooms across four levels.
Jasmine, who is the co-founder of footwear brand Mara & Mine, had been preparing for her daughter's arrival by decorating a nursery in the home.
She also installed a child's car seat in her and Karl's family vehicle.
Jasmine last shared a photo of herself to Instagram on Tuesday. She posed in a black dress while cradling her baby bump alongside the caption: 'Countdown is on'
Proud mum: Jasmine showed off a rare glimpse of her baby bump in a TikTok video in January
Karl told Daily Mail Australia last month that he was looking forward to becoming a father again.
'We're slowly getting a nursery together,' he said. 'I've had a fair few boxes arrive at the door and I've had to get the allen keys out.
'I've helped build the cot, they've got this breast-feeding chair thing that I've put together. This is not easy stuff for a guy like me. But we are all ready to roll now.'
'My snoo has arrived!' Jasmine and Karl prepared their nursery in advance for the baby's arrival, with Karl admitting that he assembled much of the furniture in the room
'Car's all ready!' Jasmine also recently installed a child's car seat in her and Karl's family vehicle
The birth was tinged with sadness for Karl, whose mother, Jenny, lives in Cairns and was unable to meet the child due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
It was previously reported that Jasmine's parents, Bob and Cheryl Yarbrough, would be coming down from Brisbane so they could spend a fortnight in quarantine then help care for the baby girl.
Karl said: 'For a while there it looked like I may not even be able to be in the birthing suite. Fortunately it looks like I'll be able to do that which is a wonderful thing.'
Living large! Last month, the Stefanovics moved into a $7.3million waterfront mansion in Sydney as they prepared to become parents
Luxury: The lavish property on Sydney's lower north shore has plenty of space for a growing family, with a total of four bedrooms across four levels
The couple began dating in late 2016, five months after he had separated from his first wife, Cassandra Thorburn, following 21 years of marriage.
The former couple share three children: Jackson, 20, River, 12, and Ava, 15.
In December, Karl and Jasmine celebrated their one-year anniversary after tying the knot at Mexico's five-star One&Only Palmilla resort in late 2018.
Happily ever after: In December, Karl and Jasmine celebrated their one-year anniversary after tying the knot in Los Cabos, Mexico, in late 2018. Pictured on their wedding day
'She's absolutely perfect': Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough confirm the birth of their baby girl and share a gorgeous photo of the bub... before revealing her very sweet name
Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough have welcomed their first child together.
Jasmine gave birth to a 'beautiful baby girl' named Harper May Stefanovic on Friday at the North Shore Private Hospital.
In a statement to the Today show, Karl said: 'Harper and Jasmine are doing well and dad had a great night's sleep.
He added: 'I am in awe. Harper is absolutely perfect.'
The first photo: Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough have welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Harper May (pictured)
'Harper is absolutely perfect': The couple welcomed the baby girl on Friday, just after midday. In a statement, Karl said he was 'in awe' of his new little girl
The happy news was announced on the Today show on Saturday morning by Karl's colleague and close friend, Richard Wilkins.
Richard confirmed that Harper weighs 2.9kg and was born on Friday, just after midday.
'Mum and bub are both doing very well,' he said proudly.
'To Karl and Jas, you guys are really going to love this special time in your life. They deserve all the happiness that's coming their way,' he added.
The couple were spotted driving at speed to Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital on Friday morning in exclusive photos obtained by Daily Mail Australia.
The breakfast TV anchor 'raced' in his $140,000 Toyota Land Cruiser Sahara after finishing his daily broadcast of the Today show.
Karl, 45, had a serious expression on his face, while shoe designer Jasmine, 36, sat in the front passenger seat looking uncomfortable.
When they arrived at the hospital, Karl appeared nervous as he walked through the parking lot. He also reminded paparazzi outside the entrance to keep away due to social distancing restrictions.
He had a bag of essentials, which he packed on the ground next to his car.
Tense: The couple were spotted driving at speed to Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital on Friday morning in exclusive photos obtained by Daily Mail Australia
Almost time! The 36-year-old shoe designer sat in the front passenger seat looking slightly uncomfortable
Jasmine last shared a photo of herself to Instagram on Tuesday. She posed in a black dress while cradling her baby bump alongside the caption: 'Countdown is on.'
Her pregnancy was mostly kept private, with only a few photos surfacing of her visible bump over her three trimesters.
Earlier this week, she told her Instagram followers she was 'currently daydreaming of meeting my new baby girl'.
Nerves: When they arrived at the hospital, Karl appeared nervous as he walked through the parking lot
Birthplace: Little Harper May was born at the North Shore Private Hospital (pictured) on Friday, just after midday
Last month, the Stefanovics moved into a $7.3million waterfront mansion in Sydney as they prepared to become parents.
The lavish property on Sydney's lower north shore has plenty of space for a growing family, with a total of four bedrooms across four levels.
Jasmine, who is the co-founder of footwear brand Mara & Mine, had been preparing for her daughter's arrival by decorating a nursery in the home.
She also installed a child's car seat in her and Karl's family vehicle.
Jasmine last shared a photo of herself to Instagram on Tuesday. She posed in a black dress while cradling her baby bump alongside the caption: 'Countdown is on'
Proud mum: Jasmine showed off a rare glimpse of her baby bump in a TikTok video in January
Karl told Daily Mail Australia last month that he was looking forward to becoming a father again.
'We're slowly getting a nursery together,' he said. 'I've had a fair few boxes arrive at the door and I've had to get the allen keys out.
'I've helped build the cot, they've got this breast-feeding chair thing that I've put together. This is not easy stuff for a guy like me. But we are all ready to roll now.'
'My snoo has arrived!' Jasmine and Karl prepared their nursery in advance for the baby's arrival, with Karl admitting that he assembled much of the furniture in the room
'Car's all ready!' Jasmine also recently installed a child's car seat in her and Karl's family vehicle
The birth was tinged with sadness for Karl, whose mother, Jenny, lives in Cairns and was unable to meet the child due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
It was previously reported that Jasmine's parents, Bob and Cheryl Yarbrough, would be coming down from Brisbane so they could spend a fortnight in quarantine then help care for the baby girl.
Karl said: 'For a while there it looked like I may not even be able to be in the birthing suite. Fortunately it looks like I'll be able to do that which is a wonderful thing.'
Living large! Last month, the Stefanovics moved into a $7.3million waterfront mansion in Sydney as they prepared to become parents
Luxury: The lavish property on Sydney's lower north shore has plenty of space for a growing family, with a total of four bedrooms across four levels
the couple began dating in late 2016, five months after he had separated from his first wife, Cassandra Thorburn, following 21 years of marriage.
The former couple share three children: Jackson, 20, River, 12, and Ava, 15.
In December, Karl and Jasmine celebrated their one-year anniversary after tying the knot at Mexico's five-star One&Only Palmilla resort in late 2018.
Happily ever after: In December, Karl and Jasmine celebrated their one-year anniversary after tying the knot in Los Cabos, Mexico, in late 2018. Pictured on their wedding day
In this unguarded moment, Sutton was telling us about much more than golf. To anyone wondering why, in Daniel Andrews’ Victoria, there is a greater reluctance to lift restrictions on school attendances and social movement than in every other mainland state, the whiff of paternalism is hard to miss. Despite a demonstrated willingness to comply with social distancing measures, we are still being protected from our lesser selves.
And it really is Andrews’ Victoria. If you doubt this, just listen to those who have done the top job. Steve Bracks, a revered Labor figure who never lost an election, describes Andrews as the nation’s pre-eminent political leader and one of the state’s best premiers. “It is almost as if he was made for this,’’ he says.
Jeff Kennett, renowned for bulldozing ideas through noisy opposition, says Andrews is singularly focused: “He hasn’t given into the bayings of interest groups along the way.”
John Brumby led Victoria through the Black Saturday bushfire disaster and says Andrews’ crisis management is textbook. “Rule number one is you have got to share information with people you need to be open and transparent, get rid of the politics and be straight about what we need to know and what we need to do to get through this together. Daniel has done everything right and you are seeing that in the response from the Victorian people.’’
Even some of Andrews’ fiercest critics concede that right now, there is no better communicator in Australian politics. His withering response to the sandbelt revolt by frustrated golfers is a case in point.
“Playing golf is not worth someone’s life,’’ declared Andrews, himself a passionate golfer.
This echoed the language Andrews adopted the morning after national cabinet agreed stage one restrictions were needed to suppress the virus. “If people simply behave as normal, if they don’t take this thing seriously, if they act selfishly, then people will die. I can’t put it any clearer.’’
Daniel Andrews says 'playing golf is not worth someone’s life'.Credit:Julian Kingma
Few politicians can. Throughout the COVID crisis, Andrews has shown a rare ability to distill complex issues into a simple, relatable message. Yet, as effective as this is, his tendency to absolutism - you either agree with me or are indifferent to human life - betrays something else about his leadership.
Despite sharing national cabinet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the leaders of every other state and territory government, despite receiving the same unanimous public health advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, Andrews is convinced that in all areas of policy conflict, his approach is right.
When Daniel Andrews believes he is right - as he does about the need to keep students and teachers away from school until a greater volume of testing is done and Victoria’s state of emergency expires on May 11 - it is very difficult for anyone to change his mind.
Kennett says it is a trait that pre-dates the pandemic: “He is not a man who turns easy on any issue.’’
Not for turning: former premier Jeff Kennett.Credit:Wayne Ludbey
Opposition leader Michael O’Brien says we are seeing this “writ large” in the Premier’s response to the COVID crisis. “Daniel Andrews has never been one to handle criticism or alternative views well,’’ he says. “People inside the Labor Party would say that about him and I think people who have dealt with him in public life would say the same thing.”
Andrews’ convictions have served him well. Bracks mentored Andrews in the lead-up to his 2014 election win. He says it was a victory few inside the Labor Party thought possible.
“He was convinced more than anyone else that Labor had a chance of coming back within one term, which is very unusual in Victorian history,’’ Bracks says. “That is part of what is Daniel Andrews. We have seen that in successive issues he has had to deal with in government and this one, the biggest of all.’’
Brumby made Andrews his minister for health. One of the issues he confronted was the H1N1 pandemic, which in Australia infected more than 34,000 people and killed 191 - twice the number of deaths recorded so far from COVID-19.
Brumby says Andrews was fascinated by public health and developed a deep understanding of the health system. Since then, Andrews has led the Labor Party for 10 years, governed as Premier for six and last summer fronted the state’s protracted bushfire crisis.
“You would have to go a long way to find anybody in government that has as good a set of skills and experience to deal with this issue as Daniel,’’ Brumby says. “In turn, that has meant he has had a pretty clear view about what we need to do to tackle this issue.”
Yet now that Victoria has arrived at a dramatically different place than anyone anticipated in the early weeks of the pandemic, is the strength of Andrews’ conviction an obstacle to a commensurate change in policy?
At the start of this pandemic, epidemiological modelling prepared for the Victorian government predicted that, in the absence of strict social distancing and other measures since enacted, as many as 36,000 people could die.
Brumby, the chairman of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust, reveals it was only two weeks ago that the Victorian government formally shelved a plan to take over the cavernous Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on the edge of the CBD and turn it into a 1000-bed intensive care hospital and temporary morgue. “It was just about a done deal,’’ he says. “We had builders measuring everything up.”
Former Victorian premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby in parliament.Credit:Paul Harris
Instead, there were on Friday a total of 53 active cases of coronavirus in Victoria. The state’s most senior legal adviser, Solicitor-General Kristen Walker QC, this week told the Supreme Court, in opposing an application for a prisoner to be released from jail because of the risk of COVID-19, that on any given day any Victorian stood between a one in 200,000 and one in 500,000 chance of infection.
Do these odds justify preventing Victorian students and teachers from returning to class, as they did this week in South Australia, have done in Western Australia and will start to do in NSW from May 11? Do they support some easing of social distancing, as we are seeing in Queensland and most dramatically in South Australia, where the state hasn’t recorded a COVID case for more than a week and Premier Steve Marshall is signalling the end of lockdown?
Andrews has indicated that come May 11, things will reviewed. Within senior levels of Victoria’s education bureaucracy, there are growing expectations that kids may return to class in early June. Yet for now Andrews is not budging.
Victoria’s reticence to shift from its provisional, term three return-to-school date was part of the reason for Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan’s intervention this week in which he offered to bring forward funding already promised to independent and Catholic schools if they agreed to be back in class by the start of June.
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan and Prime Minister Scott Morrison say it is safe for all students to return to class.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
In Victoria, the aim of the intervention was two-fold; to entice independent schools to return to class and to put pressure on the state system to follow suit. In WA, South Australia and the Northern Territory, it served a different purpose; to encourage independent schools to join state schools already back to class and alleviate teachers’ union pressure on Marshall and his WA counterpart Mark McGowan.
Independent schools had been asking since early March for funding to be brought forward to ease the cash flow problems of schools where out-of-work parents could no longer afford to pay fees. Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green says that about 30 Victorian schools were identified as being at risk of financial collapse without a funding advance or access to a government-secured loan.
Tehan tells The Age that for educational, social and economic reasons, class should be in for every student in every state. “We have always been convinced because that has been the advice given to us by the AHPPC right throughout this pandemic; that it is safe for children to be at school and for our teachers to be at school with the right protocols in place.”
His message to Andrews is to look at South Australia, WA and the NT, where they have suppressed the rate of infection while keeping their schools open.
The Andrews position, based on Sutton’s advice, is that the reopening of schools runs contrary to the broader public health imperative to keep people at home and, if done too early, would increase the risk of another spike in coronavirus cases.
Andrews insists the science is not settled on whether children transmit the virus and even if it was, he doesn’t see how sanctioning the daily mass movement of people to get kids to and from school is consistent with the broader public health message to stay at home.
He wants to see the results of a further 100,000 coronavirus tests to better determine what the rate of community infection is before declaring it safe to go back to school. Until then, Sutton’s advice is that students who can learn from home should. This makes it difficult for any school to do otherwise.
O’Brien says it has never been explained why Sutton’s advice on schools to the Andrews government appears at odds with the advice of Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy and every other member of the AHPPC. Put another way: Why is Victoria the doomsday state?
While Victoria remains an outlier, it is difficult for any school to contemplate a return to class. As Jeremy Stowe-Lindner, the principal of Bialik College in Hawthorn, tells The Age: “I am a history and philosophy teacher. I am not one to override the advice of my state’s chief health officer. That would be an enormous leap of faith and an enormous act of arrogance.”
Daniel Andrews’ Victoria has taken its own leap of faith, perhaps without even realising it.
On April 23, the Victorian Parliament was recalled from its pandemic recess for a day. In a matter of hours - with no amendments, limited debate and no time for public consultation - both houses passed three substantial pieces of legislation.
The first provided the government with supply. The second provided access to $24.5 billion in new borrowings, putting the government on a path to more than triple state debt from the $21.8 billion inherited by Andrews to $73.8 billion by the end of the next financial year. The third invests a level of power in Andrews, his ministers and senior government bureaucrats never previously contemplated.
The most profound measure within the COVID-19 Omnibus Bill, a set of interim, emergency measures enacted with a six-month sunset clause, is the power given to the “Governor in council”, a meeting of as few as two ministers chaired by Victorian Governor Linda Dessau, to issue regulations which override statute and in some cases constitutional provisions over a wide range of policy areas including tenancy arrangements, the courts and jails.
Andrews described it as a “Bill like no other” which would “enable us to help slow the spread and save lives". O’Brien, an MP for 14 years and former state treasurer, agrees it is “like nothing I have seen before” - and has grave misgivings about it.
Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien says he has grave misgivings about the extra powers given to government ministers.Credit:Simon Schluter
“I have never seen a minister with a regulation power that can override the constitution,’’ he says. “That is what this Bill does. It gives ministers extraordinary power that normally is only given to the parliament acting as a whole.’’
O’Brien, like Kennett, is also deeply concerned about the record debt Victoria is taking on. Kennett points out that additional borrowings is roughly the same amount of debt he took seven years to pay down when his government took over Victoria’s financially stricken books from John Cain and Joan Kirner’s governments.
O’Brien says the size of the debt is a “huge problem’’ and it remains unclear what the government intends to spend the money on. “If we just see budget black holes being filled and paying recurrent expenses like public service wages out of borrowed money, that is the road to economic ruin,’’ he says.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas says it is too early to say what the economic impacts of the coronavirus will be and what the pandemic means for state tax revenue and future GST receipts.
“Clearly there will be a hit to revenue,’’ he says. “We know that property prices are set to decline, the unemployment rate is rising and we’re seeing a decline in general consumption in many sectors of the economy, which has a detrimental impact on GST.’’
Victoria also faces a double whammy to two of its largest export industries, tourism and education.
Treasury Corporation of Victoria managing director Bill Whitford, who will issue AAA-rated Domestic Benchmark Bonds to raise the additional debt, says that when you consider Victoria’s debt-to-GDP ratio, it is in a “very advantageous position’’ compared to the Commonwealth and other countries.
“The things that are keeping me awake at the moment certainly aren’t my ability to access the debt markets as the Treasury requires,’’ he says.
Whitford agrees, however, that it is not yet apparent what the government plans to do with the money.
Throughout the pandemic, decision-making within the Andrews government has been concentrated in the hands of the Premier and seven hand-picked ministers who make up the Crisis Committee of Cabinet. The CCC, which Andrews chairs, divvies up responsibility for all COVID policy matters to the government’s most experienced ministers. It usually meetings twice a week through video conferences and has relegated the rest of Cabinet, which still meets weekly, to a secondary role.
This concentration of power is intended to streamline the process of government and enable decisions to be made more quickly. It was last used during the Black Saturday bushfires, when Brumby was premier and Andrews was responsible for co-ordinating the health response.
“You need to make a whole lot of big decisions and you need to make them in a timely way,’’ Brumby says. “The normal cabinet processes don’t give you that flexibility and agility. Some people feel a bit left out but it is just the way it has got to be.”
O’Brien warns that, with the abandonment of parliament until June 2, the government’s refusal to establish an independent oversight mechanism means the Andrews government is not being subjected to the scrutiny Victoria needs. “The Premier has effectively suspended parliament and he has sidelined the Cabinet. Does it make for quick decision-making? I am sure it does. Does it make for good decision-making? I have got my doubts.”
Brumby says that other matters will be weighing on Andrews’ mind.
In the 11 years since Black Saturday, when 173 people died, Brumby has often gone back over the decisions he made and warnings he issued in the days leading up to those fires.
“You think, if you had your chance again, would you do things differently? I think we did everything we could and everything we knew at the time but of course, you regret that terrible loss of life.
“Here Daniel is, front and centre, and the difference between 50 deaths or 5000 deaths or 50,000 deaths, which is what the modelling was showing, is profound. That is what he will be feeling. So he will put up with a bit of criticism about keeping schools closed. That is what leaders do.”
Chip Le Grand is The Age’s chief reporter. He writes about crime, sport and national affairs, with a particular focus on Melbourne.
London: London's High Court on Friday threw out part of a claim brought by Meghan, Britain's Duchess of Sussex, against a tabloid newspaper for breaching her privacy.
Meghan, wife of Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince Harry, is suing publisher Associated Newspapers over articles its Mail on Sunday newspaper printed in February last year which included parts of a letter she had sent to her father, Thomas Markle.
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, earlier this year in the United Kingdom.Credit:Getty
At a hearing last week, the paper's lawyer argued that allegations it had acted dishonestly and had stoked the family rift should be removed from the case along with references to other articles about the royal which Meghan says were false.
"I agree that all three categories of allegation should be struck out of the Particulars of Claim," judge Mark Warby said in his ruling.
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Lawyers for the duchess say the publication of her letter by the paper was a misuse of private information and breached her copyright. They are seeking aggravated damages.
As part of the claim, they had accused the Mail and other tabloids of harassing, humiliating and manipulating Thomas Markle, and contributing towards a fallout between him and his daughter. The two have not spoken since her glitzy wedding to Harry in May 2018.
The paper rejected the allegation it had acted dishonestly or maliciously by publishing extracts of the letter she sent her father in August 2018 and said it was "remarkable" the claim about the treatment of Markle had been made without the duchess having contacted him to see if he agreed.
"Today’s ruling makes very clear that the core elements of this case do not change and will continue to move forward," said a spokesman for Schillings, Meghan's law firm.
He added: "The Duchess’ rights were violated; the legal boundaries around privacy were crossed. As part of this process, the extremes to which the Mail on Sunday used distortive, manipulative, and dishonest tactics to target The Duchess of Sussex have been put on full display."
Meghan and Harry are now living in the Los Angeles area having stepped down from their royal roles at the end of March.
The case will still go on to a full trial but no date for it has yet been set.
But fairytales have their limits, and so does Ryan Murphy’s latest Netflix drama Hollywood, a slick, wish-fulfilment story about ambitious young up-and-comers in post-World War II Los Angeles.
Starring Darren Criss, Samara Weaving, Laura Harrier, David Corenswet and Jeremy Pope, the seven-part miniseries is an exercise in good intentions – and an expensive and lavish one at that.
The series is focused on six dreamers trying to get their start in the business of show: wannabe actors Jack (Corenswet), Camille (Harrier), Roy (Jay Picking) and Claire (Weaving), plus fledgling director Raymond (Criss) and screenwriter Archie (Pope).
Claire and Camille are on contract at the fictional Ace Studios while veteran Jack is desperate to get in the door. Roy, soon to be renamed by his agent Henry Wilson (Jim Parsons) as Rock Hudson – yes, that Rock Hudson – is newly arrived in town from Illinois.
The half-Filipino Raymond is given the opportunity to direct his first movie, but not the one he wants to make with Anna May Wong (Michelle Krusiec), a looked-over real-life Hollywood star of the 1930s, the first actor of Chinese heritage to make it big in Hollywood but who was still relegated to stereotyped villains and passed over for Asian roles in favour of white actors in yellowface.
Instead, Raymond picks a screenplay about the doomed Peg Enwhistle by Archie, who wants to break through the barrier as an African-American writer.
With the exception of Jack and Claire, everyone has something to hold them back, whether it’s their race or homosexuality.
Hollywood is an unforgiving, competitive town full of people who will rip you down at any opportunity to further their own wants. Even more so, it’s a place that’s reflective of its context – a deeply racist America that condemns gay people and oppresses women.
In real-life Hollywood history, the late-1940s was not a place of inclusivity and diversity, beholden as much to the moralistic Hays Code as it was to the social and political prejudices of the audiences that paid to see the pictures.
Not to mention the toxic studio system which churned out manufactured stars like Henry Ford churned out cars off the production line.
Murphy’s Hollywood is a Pollyanna, revisionist version of what he wished had gone on, if only a few compassionate and empathetic souls had taken a stand and made the correct choice instead of the easy one, and bolstered each other up along the way.
At a time when movie theatres are closed, Murphy’s clear love of cinema, of the power of a story strikes the right note.
As does Murphy’s fervent declaration that screen representation matters. Of course it matters, but the idea that all that needed to happen for the past 70 years of racial, sexual, gender and political struggles to have not been necessary was one movie defying anti-miscegenation laws and anti-homosexuality laws to have been a hit in 1947 is ludicrous.
To that end, Hollywood is really let down by its plot armour. There are twists, story choices and character turnarounds that are not earnt, all in the service of this idealised 2020 version.
Hollywood wanted to pull back the curtain of the dehumanising and unethical practices of an industry that sold you a dream and then crushed it as soon as you dared to chase it, before offering a different “what if?” path.
The first half is a noble aim, but it’s one that’s been told before, and it’s certainly not as effective as, say, Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust, published eight years before Hollywood is set.
As for Hollywood’s second aim, it’s so earnest in its execution, you can only roll your eyes when characters declare, with all sincerity, “I didn’t have anything, except a dream.”
To be fair, while Murphy’s shows, which also includes Glee, The Politician and American Horror Story, are often a mixed bag, at least they’re never boring and Hollywood is very watchable. It’s also beautiful to look at in that glitzy, no-expenses-spared way – the production design and photography is spectacular to take in.
There are many great, moving performances here, especially from the more established actors including Queen Latifah as Hattie McDaniel, Krusiec as Anna May Wong, Patti LuPone as Avis Amberg, the wife of a fictional studio head, Mira Sorvino as an older actor and Holland Taylor as an acting coach.
There are genuinely moving moments when the characters express their desire to be seen and heard in a world that would rather wish they weren’t, but it’s all a bit sledgehammer-y.
For all of its impressive parts, it doesn’t gel all that well, which leaves Hollywood feeling a bit soulless. But then again, so is the real one.
Hollywood is available to stream on Netflix from 5pm AEST
