TV fixture Richard Wilkins takes his role as Channel Nine entertainment guru very seriously, and it’s understood the star may be less than pleased by his son Christian Wilkins‘ potentially brand-damaging confession that he’s a ‘bottom of the barrel’ reality TV star.
WATCH: First look at Dancing with the Stars 2020 featuring Christian Wilkins
Following confirmation that Christian is out of his old job at Channel Nine after taking a gig on Channel Ten’s Dancing with The Stars, the socialite known as ‘The Prince’ is again courting controversy with his out-there millennial ways.
Confronted on his Instagram account by an apparent troll who wasn’t happy with Christian being cast on a show with the word ‘star’ in the title, the socialite was ready with a noteworthy comeback.
‘You aren’t a celebrity, you wannabe,’ ranted the troll. ‘How embarrassing for you!’, to which Christian responded, ‘Oh they’re absolutely scraping the bottom of the barrel with me.’
The critic wasn’t deterred by Christian’s disarming response, replying, ‘They really are, who pulled out the last minute? Like 30 seconds before the announcement had to be made?’
TV insiders say that Richard, 65 – who has interviewed most of the Hollywood A-list, and reportedly once stormed off the set of TODAY after his hairstyle was mocked – ‘probably won’t be thrilled’ by the headline-grabbing exchange.
‘Dickie is as old school as they come when it comes to fame,’ says a Nine source. ‘He made his name the hard way, through decades of hard work. What he’s done is about as far from reality TV and Instagram fame as you can get.’
Despite loving dad Richard’s well known pride in his son’s achievements, the source speculated that Richard would find Christian’s latest headline grabbing antics mocking his notoriety ‘humiliating’. Talk about a generation gap!
‘[Richard] takes himself and his work very seriously,’ asserts the source.
This isn’t the first time that Christian has openly mocked his dubious status as a celebrity.
He recently wrote: ‘You may be asking yourself, “Who is this kid? And how’d he get on @dancingon10?!” Well, I say as soon as you find out please let me know.’
Christian has said of following his father’s career path: ‘What’s funny is that if I were to follow in my dad’s footsteps it wouldn’t work; I need to forge my own yellow brick road.’
He has also confirmed in the past that his father has been very supportive and proud of his career, and encouraged him to go at his own pace.
‘Both my parents, my family, my school, always really kind of accepted me and always pushed me to be authentically me,’ he has said.
‘Sometimes he has to remind me that he didn’t start working on TV until he was 31. And I do stuff with Nine, with the E! Network, with the podcast — so Dad’s like, “You’re 24 and you’re doing all this. You need to remember where you are, too”’.
Richard has said of his son, ‘[I’m] extremely proud of my beautiful boy.’
Christian, who has until recently had a role in Nine’s social media and marketing department and was a regular red carpet fixture at network-related events, is said to be no longer in Nine’s good books after waltzing around with Ten.
Sources at the company say that looking for after-hours opportunities outside of the network is strictly off limits, and anyone who wants to work elsewhere is required to choose.
‘Christian started disappearing from work more than usual,’ claims a well-placed source at Nine. ‘We wondered why we hadn’t seen him.
‘He is famous for running his own race at Nine but everyone turned a blind eye. Not this time!’
Christian allegedly kept the news of his DWTS casting from his father in the beginning.
‘Nine do not take kindly to this behaviour,’ claims the source.
Another source very close to the drama insisted to New Idea that Christian ‘resigned’ from his job late last year and was ‘not fired’.
Whatever the exact circumstances of his departure from Nine, the network is not only annoyed with Christian – bosses are also said to be unhappy with his father over the socialite’s embarrassing defection.
But whatever bumps lay ahead on the road to fame, there’s one thing for sure – supportive dad Richard will have Christian’s back, no matter what.
‘They are very close,’ says the source. ‘Richard is proud of his son.’
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