Lisa Wilkinson life is revealed in the Brittany Hiiggins tapes

Lisa Wilkinson namedrops Natalie Portman, boasts she knows former prime ministers, calls herself a “champion for women,” talks about her love life and mentions her memoir – all in a lengthy conversation about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations.

These are just some of the comments made by the TV presenter during a five-hour conversation with her Channel 10 producer Angus Llewellyn, Ms Higgins and her boyfriend David Sharaz at a Sydney hotel on January 27, 2021.

The meeting was a chance for Wilkinson and her producer to introduce themselves to Ms. Higgins and discuss how best to cover her upcoming interview on The Project.

On the programme, which aired approximately two weeks later on 15 February, Ms Higgins alleged that she was raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in March 2019. He has always denied the allegations.

Ms Higgins and her now fiancé David Sharaz (pictured) met Wilkinson and Channel 10 producer Angus Llewellyn in January 2021

Wilkinson said she met Natalie Portman (pictured, last month at the Cannes Film Festival) during a discussion about when to set up the interview with Ms Higgins

Wilkinson also called the late billionaire Kerry Packer (pictured): ‘We’re going way back in time’

Ms Higgins broke down at several points during the meeting, as she outlined her alleged rape and the surrounding circumstances – speaking of several ministers, staffers and politicians she interacted with during that period.

During the conversation you could hear Wilkinson interject at various points to say she either knew who Mrs Higgins was referring to, to bring up her biography, or to refer to her childhood as a ‘nobody’ in Sydney’s Western Suburbs .

While the group ate corn chips, vegetable spring rolls and calamari, Mr. Sharaz asked Wilkinson what she had to gain from interviewing his girlfriend about her rape allegations.

“Champion for oppressed women,” she answered immediately.

“I’m always talking about exactly the same thing — the inequality that exists, whether it’s white privilege, whether it’s male domination, whether it’s criminal activity being suppressed.”

Wilkinson then mentioned her upbringing for the first time that day: ‘I’m a girl from Sydney’s Western Suburbs, I’ll always be motivated by exactly the same thing. People who deserve to be heard, not to be heard.’

Although Wilkinson, 63, grew up in Campbelltown, she also lived in Mosman, an affluent harborside suburb on Sydney’s lower north coast, for about 30 years before moving to a sprawling mansion with a tennis court in Cremorne.

Mr. Sharaz then said, “I’m very much in favor of that,” before Wilkinson stepped in again to address the whole group.

“David just asked me an important question that you probably, well, should know the answer to. David said, what’s in it for me, as a journalist.

“And my background is, I was a kid from Campbelltown, who didn’t know anyone, went to public school and just got into the media and loved what I do. So I come from a place of, I know what it’s like to be nobody.’

At another point, the conversation came on the best day to air the interview.

Mr. Llewellyn said, “We’ll do sometime next week, then, yes, that gives us that third week of February, from the fifteenth, to get something else with you.”

Wilkinson said quickly, “I have an interview with Natalie Portman on Monday morning.”

Mr. Llewellyn asked, “The first?”

Wilkinson responded, “Yeah…so I’ll get hair and makeup done, so if you want to film sometime on Monday, I’m good to go.”

At another stage, it revolved around whether they could get ‘friendly MPs’ to support claims that the Liberal Party had a ‘women’s problem’.

Mr Llewellyn referred to former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said in his book that the culture in Parliament House was comparable to ‘the 1980s’.

He then asked whether Mr Turnbull ‘hated’ Scott Morrison, who was Prime Minister at the time, enough to speak out against the government.

“He hates Morrison. Does he hate him that much?’ he asked.

Wilkinson replied, “No, I don’t, yes, I think so.” Malcolm, I know Malcolm well.’

“I’ve known him since I was in magazines.”

Mr. Llewellyn said, “Yes, I know.”

Wilkinson then mentioned the late billionaire media mogul Kerry Packer: “We go way back. Because he’s Kerry Packer’s—”

Mr. Llewellyn interrupted, “Lawyer?”

Wilkinson said, “Yes, everything.”

Moments later, it was suggested that former deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Julie Bishop, speak out on a cultural issue in parliament.

Mr Llewellyn suggested that Ms Bishop had ‘nothing to gain’ by speaking out against the coalition. “Do you know Julie?” he asked.

“I know Julie well,” Wilkinson replied.

It was suggested that former deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Julie Bishop (pictured at the David Jones Indigenous Fashion Projects last month), could speak out on a “cultural issue” in parliament. “I know Julie well,” Wilkinson said

“I know Malcolm well,” Wilkinson also said at the 2021 meeting (pictured, Malcolm Turnbull with wife Lucy)

“Do you think she would talk to the culture in that place the next day?” he asked.

Wilkinson said, “She’s, I mean, the only frustrating thing about Julie is…”

Mr Llewellyn interjected, “The only frustrating thing?”

Wilkinson said, “Yeah, well, the biggest frustration I have with Julie is that she’s had so many opportunities to speak out against the culture. And for one woman, what a deputy she was for thirteen different prime ministers over the course of her time in parliament.’

Mr. Sharaz said, “Always the faithful bridesmaid, never the bride.”

Earlier Wilkinson asked how Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz met – to which Mr Sharaz said they met at work and their first date was on 31 May 2020, during Covid, saying they were living together.

Mrs. Higgins said, “Yes, it happened very quickly.”

Wilkinson said, “Between you and me, that’s what the best do.”

Mr. Sharaz chimed in, “When you’re in a bad time, you know what a good one is.”

Wilkinson then hinted at her own love life, before marrying Peter FitzSimons, and referenced her forthcoming memoir, titled “It Wasn’t Meant to Be.”

She said, ‘Yeah and I’ve had a bad one, my heart is broken, because I just wrote about this.

“But I actually turned three guys into one, so not one of them, yeah, it was the smartest thing to do. So someone in particular will look for himself in the book and I won’t grant him the satisfaction.’

She also said friends sometimes ask her how she copes when “all the time coming up to you and saying ‘oh I love your job’ – it’s like it’s so much better than the alternative.”

“If I’m at a point in my career where I get upset because someone likes my job, I shouldn’t be working anymore because that’s the ultimate that you’ve lost all sense of the real world,” she continued.

Wilkinson, at another point, asked “where’s the minibar?”, made a series of observations about her industry colleagues – suggesting one of them was a “bad boy,” and suggested Vodafone had a team of hackers on standby.

‘I’m a girl from Sydney’s Western Suburbs, I’ll always be motivated by exactly the same thing. People who deserve to be heard, not to be heard,” Wilkinson (pictured last month at a Tina Turner musical) said at the five-hour gathering

Mr Sharaz (pictured, with Mrs Higgins) asked Wilkinson what she would gain from the interview with his girlfriend

She also compared herself to Mary Tyler Moore — an actress in the 1960s and 1970s who was known for her revolutionary television for women — and called former Defense Secretary Linda Reynolds a “nobody.”

Recalling her first interaction with Senator Reynolds on Twitter, she said, “I’m trying to find out who this damn woman is, like I’d never heard of her.”

The Project interview aired on February 15, 2021, sparking a wave of political, social, and media controversies that continue to make headlines to this day.

Mr Lehrmann was charged with assault in August last year and will be tried in October 2022 in the ACT Supreme Court. However, the trial was halted due to misconduct by a juror.

ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold subsequently dropped the charges altogether, citing concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.

He continues to maintain his innocence.