High profile Adelaide couple Natasha Stott Despoja and Ian Smith separate after 20 years of marriage
Former senator Natasha Stott Despoja has been left ‘blindsided’ after her 20-year marriage to political lobbyist Ian Smith ended.
Ms. Stott Despoja, 54, and Ian Smith, a former political consultant who has become a globally respected business consultant, went their separate ways this summer, according to friends and colleagues.
For more than two decades the high-profile couple, who married in a romantic beach ceremony in Byron Bay in 2003, were considered one of South Australia’s power couples.
Mrs Stott Despoja, the youngest woman to serve in federal parliament when she was appointed to the Australian Senate at the age of 26, was ‘blindsided’ by the breakdown of their marriage, the report reported. Daily telegram.
Happier times: Natasha Stott Despoja, 54, and Ian Smith, a former political consultant who became a globally respected business consultant, recently went their separate ways
The couple married in a romantic beach ceremony in Byron Bay in 2003 (pictured),
Mr Smith has reportedly told friends the split was mutual.
The couple shares two teenage children.
Mr Smith made headlines last year when a worm dance he performed during a Rita Ora performance at the Prince’s Trust Gala Dinner in New York went viral.
The pop star later urged her 16 million Instagram followers. to ‘find this man’.
“Find him, find this man,” Ora said.
“I need him at every show, I need you in my life.”
Mr Smith, who claimed to have perfected the energetic dance since his teens, joked that he planned to “give up lobbying for political advice”.
I have now mostly left Adelaide. The worm goes global, Mr Smith joked to ANC News.
“When Rita Ora posted this on her Instagram, it dawned on me that finally… after about forty years of doing this dance, someone finally appreciated it.”
Mr Smith made headlines last year when a worm dance he performed at a Rita Ora performance in New York went viral, with the pop star urging her followers to ‘find this man’ (pictured)
The lobbyist later met Ora in person after Ms Stott Despoja introduced him as ‘the worm man’ (photo, left to right: Julie Bishop, Rita Ora and Ian Smith)
Mr Smith then revealed that he had briefly met the pop star and was subsequently photographed with the singer.
The lobbyist later met Ora in person after his wife introduced him as “the worm man.”
“Natasha kind of saw her and said, ‘My husband is the worm man,’” Mr. Smith recalled.
Not long before the couple married in 2003, Ms Stott Despoja resigned as leader of the Australian Democrats amid bitter party infighting.
She was leader of the party for over a year.
The couple welcomed their child in 2004 and Mrs. Stott Despoja remained in the Senate until 2008.
She then founded Our Watch, a national foundation to prevent violence against women and children.
This work on gender equality earned her an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019 and an appointment to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Pictured: Natasha Stott Despoja is congratulated by her then fiancé Ian Smith after giving a speech at the Democrats’ Conference in Canberra in 2002. The couple married the following year
In March, Ms Stott Despoja was appointed South Australia’s Royal Commissioner for Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence.
Originally born in Britain, Mr Smith began his career as a journalist before moving on to advise political leaders of state.
He later founded the business consultancy firm Bespoke Approach.
He is considered one of Australia’s most influential political lobbyists.
Ms Stott Despoja previously dated television journalist Hugh Riminton in 2001 before dating Mr Smith.
The couple announced their engagement in April 2002 after a whirlwind romance and married the following year.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted both Ms Stott Despoja and Mr Smith for comment.
Natasha Stott Despoja and Ian Smith were together for 22 years