Karl Stefanovic slams ex wife over claims his family ‘alienated’ their kids

Karl Stefanovic has hit back at his ex wife Cassandra Thorburn after she sensationally claimed his family and friends have “alienated” their three children following their divorce.

The Today show host, who has three children Jackson, Ava and River with Cassandra, split from his former wife in 2016 after 21 years of marriage. She famously announced a few months later that he was ‘dead’ to her.

Now Karl has moved on with new partner Jasmine Yarbrough – but his furious former wife has claimed his family have all but cut off contact with her and their three kids.

Speaking to Australian Women’s Weekly, she said: “Last year, I declared that Karl really was dead to me, a man I no longer know, but the children still have their father.”

She added: “The flip-side of that is I feel like we’re dead to his family and almost anyone from our old life. There has been practically no contact. I feel like we’ve been discarded and disposed of, replaced by a whole new line-up of starters.”

Now Karl’s family have hit back, with a representative telling The Fix the claims are simply untrue and they’re “disappointed” in them.

“We are disappointed Cass would claim such inflammatory suggestions that we have alienated Karl’s children from our family,” the statement read. 

Read more: ‘It’s bulls**t’: Karl Stefanovic admits he was ‘broken’ by divorce scrutiny

“Nothing could be further from the truth. Karl regularly co parents his children and has his loving family around them.”

The family’s rep added: “We refuse to keep a running dialogue of the children… Family is often compromised when parents go through a painful divorce and we do our best to continue our love and support for the children.”

It comes after Karl and Jasmine hosted a commitment ceremony in March ahead of their upcoming wedding. However, it was claimed by several news outlets at the time that none of his three children attended the ceremony itself. A source later told Daily Mail Australia that Ava and River did attend the after party celebrations.   

Stefanovic confirmed his engagement to Yarbrough earlier this year, telling Nine’s The Fix at the time: “When Jasmine came into my life, I had no thoughts of new love or the future, but we are happy and grateful we found each other.” He added: “We are yet to work out when we will get married, but probably later this year. We are both very happy.”

They have been dating since December 2016, following the host’s split from Cassandra. They met on a Sydney party boat and have been inseparable ever since.

Read more: Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough exchange vows in commitment ceremony

Last year he told the Page 13 he had “failures” as a husband and father and that he hoped to make up for it in future. He said the hardest part of the separation was how his three children had to suffer through the public fallout.

“For me personally I would definitely have failures in a husband sense and hope that I can rectify my failures as a Dad,” he said at the time. “I hope I can try and rebuild whatever has happened in the past and try and make the most of what I can do with them in the future.”

Do you think a nasty divorce should play out in the public eye like this?