SameSame.com.au ~ Inside Out Australia

Some shacked up, some were totally loved up and others split up. Same Same takes a look back over the rocky, romantic road that was 2008.

The A-list Aussie gay couple of last year was no doubt Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell. News of the pair’s romance became public during a radio interview last February on Vega 915 in Melbourne, when Campbell let it slip.

“There was stuff written in the paper a while ago… and actually Anthony and I are a bit of an item at the moment,” said Campbell. “The question was asked a while ago and we weren’t, but we have gotten to a point where we are very happy together.”

Almost a year later and the pair are going strong! In a recent interview with Joy FM they were practically beaming when they were talking about living together.

As the saying goes, it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, which brings us to Carson Kressley and his brief relationship with Sydneysider George Maloukis. The pair caused waves back in May last year when they were snapped by paparazzi frolicking in speedos on Bondi Beach.

In August George revealed to Kyle Sandilands that he’d broken up with Carson on email. “I know it’s wrong and I feel really bad,” he told 2Day FM radio. “I just came home one day and I sent him an email, not thinking. Then I thought about it and sent him another email the next day saying I was so so sorry. I felt bad the way it was done.”

George later came into the Same Same forums to let people know his side of the story and to defend himself against claims that he was after ‘15 minutes of fame’. “I made it very clear to Carson that I wanted to be left out of the public eye,” wrote George. “It’s not my fault pictures were taken at Bondi Beach.”

Last year was a big one for lesbian love. The announcement that DJ Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan were together set the tabloids ablaze. During a DJ gig in Sydney Samantha blogged on her myspace, telling the world how much she was missing her girlfriend.

“So I’m here… in Sydney, it’s my first trip here. After a super long flight I am now a day ahead of New York – kind of strange if you think about it. It’s yesterday there,” Ronson wrote on her Myspace. ”...I wish I was in New York so I could re-do yesterday and see someone I am missing…”

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi made headlines when they tied the knot last year. Ellen announced the news on her TV show in May saying, “This is very exciting, I gotta say. Yesterday, if you haven’t heard, the California supreme court overturned a ban on gay marriage. So I would like to say, for the first time, I am announcing I am getting married.” The crowd gave her a standing ovation. De Rossi, who was in the audience, was beaming from ear to ear. When the applause stopped, Ellen added, “Thank you. I’ll tell you who the lucky guy is soon.”

The pair married shortly after in August at a private, intimate ceremony at their Beverly Hills home on Saturday night. Although the smiles on their faces didn’t last too long. The passing of Proposition 8 saw gay marriage banned again only months later.

2008 was a big year for Jodie Foster. Early in 2008 she revealed to the world that she’d been in a long term relationship with Cydney Bernard and only months later the two split. They’d been together for 14 years and had two children together. Reports said that the relationship ended because Jodie had an affair with 51 year old producer and screenwriter Cynthia Mort.

Sex And The City star Cynthia Nixon spoke publicly about her relationship with Christine Marinoni. “I’m in a fantastic relationship,” Nixon said proudly to the press, “It’s been about four years.”

While some spent 2008 on cloud nine, others were taking their other halves to court. Comedian and Little Britain star Matt Lucas divorced his partner of six years, Kevin McGee, which made them the first celebrity pair to divorce since the UK’s civil partnership laws came into effect in December 2005.

And of course, there was Madonna’s split from hubby Guy Ritchie, who denied divorce rumours for months before officially confirming it in October through a statement from Madonna’s spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg, which read, “Madonna and Guy Ritchie have agreed to divorce after seven and a half years of marriage… They have both requested that the media maintain respect for their family at this difficult time.”

While the pair said they wanted to keep it as amicable as possible, that didn’t stop Madonna from bad mouthing Ritchie, calling him an “emotional retard” in front of thousands during a live performance.

Other articles in the 2008 series:
The Big Let Downs Of 2008.
The Big Scandals Of 2008.