He’s Australia’s highest paid television personality, taking home a whopping $2 million a year. And ever since his divorce, he’s been living a jet-set life of international holidays and sports cars.
It seems Karl’s extravagance knows no bounds, after splashing out on a multi-million-dollar home, a lavish engagement party, forking out for his and Jasmine’s exclusive commitment ceremony with designer gowns earlier this year, and bucks’ and hens’ weekends.
Then there was his big, glitzy destination wedding in Mexico.
Despite getting a lot of freebies, friends are concerned that he has reached his financial limit.
“He has been splashing the cash for the past couple of years and it’s really added up,” says a friend. “Anyone with those sorts of outgoings would be worried.”
Starting to feel the financial pinch, the breakfast TV host is fretting about his mounting bills and is even more desperate than ever to repair his tarnished image in the hope of gaining more highly paid gigs.
“A lot of big sponsors won’t touch him right now,” a source reveals. “Even Network Nine have been resting him from his extra work on 60 Minutes.”
Last year, it was reported that the divorce settlement with his ex-wife Cassandra Thorburn gave her the lion’s share of their assets, including their $8 million mansion and $35,000 a month payment.
Worse yet, entertainment reporter Peter Ford says that Karl’s contract with Nine will end at Easter. In a recent radio interview, Ford claims Brenton Ragless is filling in for Karl and he thinks Ragless will take over the job from Easter next year.
If the more conservative figures were true, the Aussie larrikin would be left with a comfortable $50,000 a month after tax.
But with hefty mortgage repayments on his new $7 million Mosman “man cave”, in the realm of $30,000 a month, the Today co-host has been left to live off $5000 a week.
“That’s obviously a lot for most people but Karl doesn’t just have everyday bills to pay,” says the source.
“He has an expensive car and high insurance premiums. He has a manager, a cleaner, he hangs around with very wealthy people who go to very expensive places and it’s hard to keep up.”
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