Sydney socialite Vanessa Jacobs Fennell is regularly snapped at swanky galas and charity lunches.
But last Friday evening, a set of less glamorous images emerged of the formerly short-listed “real housewife” of Sydney.
Jacobs Fennell, 54, is alleged to have drunk alcohol and then crashed her luxe Range Rover into a parked Tesla before assaulting a police officer.
Photos from the scene outside The Grumpy Baker on Bellevue Rd and Riddell St in eastern Sydney show a dishevelled Fennell sporting jeans.
The police have charged her with refusing to submit to a breath analysis, assault a police officer in the execution of duty and refuse to provide details to the owner of property.
She has been released on bail and will return to Waverley court on April 1.
So what do we know about the woman at the centre of the brouhaha?
Work career
According to her LinkedIn profile, Jacobs Fennell started her work career as a director of relationship management at RBC’s Dexia Investment Services from 2000 to 2003.
She then worked for Macquarie Group as a national account manager from 2003 to 2007 and then a director of business development at UBS Global Asset Management from 2007 to 2009 before moving to Milestone Group from 2012 to 2016.
Socialite life
The mother of two was married to private equity investor Tom Fennell.
She was short-listed to appear in season 2 the controversial Real Housewives of Sydney reality TV show in 2023.
The first season aired in 2017 but was pulled after just one run.
Former Foxtel head of television Brian Walsh said at the time the show was too “nasty”.
“A lot of the women in this show were nasty for nasty’s sake and had no redeeming features,” he said.
Charity
Jacobs Fennell is regularly snapped at charity luncheons and events across Sydney.
She is linked to the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Annual SCHF reports show she gifted between $10,000 and $49,999 to the hospital in 2022 and 2023.
She also donated to the Murdoch Institute in 2015, 2016 and 2022, though donation figures are not listed.
Tamarama mansion blow-up
In 2021, Jacobs Fennell lodged a complaint with NSW Fair Trading over allegedly aggressive tactics from a McGrath real estate agent over her mega Tamarama mansion just south of Bondi Beach.
The agent wanted to sell her home to Afterpay’s former chief financial officer, pushing verbal cash offers of $12.5m.
But the home was not listed for sale and Jacobs Fennell said she did not want to engage in negotiations.
She ended up instructing her lawyers to issue legal letters demanding the agent cease marketing the property.
https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/inside-ritzy-life-of-sydney-socialite-vanessa-jacobs-fennell-c-18139466
