Barnaby Joyce and his mistress Vikki Campion clashed on television when asked about the suggestion the former deputy prime minister may not be baby Sebastian’s father.
Campion, who gave birth to the couple’s child on April 16, contradicted her boyfriend’s suggestion it had been a mutual decision to describe the paternity of the unborn boy as a ‘grey area’ in bid to distract the media in Canberra.
After Mr Joyce had said ‘it was a decision we made together’, his 33-year-old girlfriend cut him off, creating the tensest moment in the Seven Network’s $150,000 paid interview.
Barnaby Joyce and his mistress Vikki Campion clashed on television when asked about the suggestion the former deputy prime minister may not be baby Sebastian’s father
‘I didn’t say use the words “grey area”,’ she told the Sunday Night program.
Ms Campion, a former News Corp journalist, explained her boyfriend had made suggestions he wasn’t the father after receiving a series of questions from the media.
‘At that point, he was getting these questions from journalists saying, “Look, we’re hearing it’s not your baby” so the bigger scoop for them would have been that it wasn’t,’ she said.
However, the first-time mother, whose affair with Mr Joyce ended his 24-year marriage to his estranged wife Natalie, wasn’t happy with the media coverage suggesting someone else was the father of the baby.
Campion, who gave birth on April 16, contradicted her boyfriend’s suggestion it had been a mutual decision to speak about the pregnancy in bid to distract the media
‘I was deeply hurt by the “grey area” headline. Definitely,’ she said.
In early March Mr Joyce told Fairfax Media the baby due in April would be raised as his but conceded the identity of the potential father was a ‘grey area’.
This was five days after had he resigned as deputy PM and Nationals leader, leading to a front page ‘grey area’ headline in News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph the next day.
ABC comedy writer Gerard McCulloch saw the funny side of the couple’s situation.
‘I fear Barnaby’s long-term future in this relationship is a grey area,’ he tweeted.
ABC comedy writer Gerard McCulloch saw the funny side of the couple’s situation
Another critic, Sophie Clark, mocked Mr Joyce for blaming someone else for getting Ms Campion pregnant.
‘Obviously, Barnaby Joyce saying his baby’s paternity was a “grey area” was someone else’s fault. Obviously,’ she said.
Studio 10 personality Sarah Harris, who started her television career with 7News in Brisbane, questioned the value of the $150,000 paid interview.
‘Seven won’t be happy with last night’s Barnaby ratings: 631,000 in capital cities,’ she tweeted.
The Sunday Night interview was out rated by Nine’s Sixty Minutes, which had 747,000 viewers.
The OzTam ratings also showed the Barnaby Joyce interview was a turn-off to viewers, with 882,000 people in the capital cities tuning in for Seven’s House Rules only for 251,000 to switch off once Sunday Night aired.
Another critic, Sophie Clark, mocked Mr Joyce for blaming someone else for getting Ms Campion pregnant
Studio 10 personality Sarah Harris, who started her television career with 7News in Brisbane, questioned the value of the $150,000 paid interview