Tag: new idea magazine

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Why Are You Doing this to Robb Demarest?

Jackie M. Tang

This is Woman #7  In Her Own Words

It was 31 March, 2016 Sydney time, two days after my first post on the Demarest scandal, and three days after the story broke in New Idea magazine.  

New Idea Magazine
Story in New Idea Magazine on Monday 28 March 2016. I particularly like the silhouette of the rat on the left.

Halfway around the world in Portland, Oregon, a woman woke up to messages from her friends about a story they’d read online concerning her boyfriend.

In fact, I would find out later that he had previously warned her about this “crazy Australian chick who was going to spread rumours about him because she was upset he wouldn’t go to Vietnam with her”.

This coincided with his discovery on March 9 that I had found out about his cheating. He had tried to contact me back then but I’d ignored all his calls and messages.

Demarest knew me well enough to know I was going to take action. And I knew Demarest well enough to know he would stalk me online to get a sense of what I would do, so despite having blocked each other on social media, I made a point of continuing with my usual, innocuous, shares while I put together my plan of action.

It had been an intense 48 hours – I was sharing the New Idea story everywhere and churning out blog posts while fielding media calls, responding to attacks from Demarest’s defenders and talking to the women who started coming forward.

These women in turn were supplying me with names of other potential victims that they thought I needed to track down. Profiles they had largely (though not all) collated from their observations of past, flirty interactions with Demarest on his social media pages.

Some of the leads turned out to be hostile, and I had some unpleasant exchanges that made me leery of reaching out to others. Woman #7 was on the list and the fact there was a very recent photo of them together made me think she was probably going to be staunchly in Camp Demarest.

I wasn’t looking forward to making contact.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to.

Late at night on 31 March Sydney time, I received a number of messages from The Daily Mail. I called them back and gave them a 45-minute interview, then headed to bed. During the night, the reporter managed to track down Woman #7 to ask her about her relationship with Demarest.

I woke up to this message the next morning –

seven1.png

Woman #7 –I’m sorry to bother you but why are you doing this to Robb Demerest I just need to know. Thank you
Apr 1 · Sent from Messenger

Woman #7 – Will you please call me? I need closure please. xxx xxxxxx
I need to know the truth. Thank you.. You can call me on messenger as well.
Apr 1 · Sent from Messenger

Jackie M Tang
Hey xxxx, are you on skype? my id is xxxxx
Apr 1

Woman #7 – No I do not.. I just need closure.. I am not ok. I am supposed to be practicing routines for work tomorrow but I’m so upset I haven’t been able to move
Is this all true?
Apr 1

My heart broke. Up to this point, all the women I had spoken to were no longer in a relationship with Demarest. For what it was worth, they’d had time to recover somewhat from their break-ups by the time they found out about his cheating.

Woman #7 was different.

During the course of our conversation Robb was messaging and calling her.  I was trying to convince her not to take his call until she heard all the evidence.

Apart from these texts she also left me some voice messages because she was too upset to write. Listening to her timid, anguished voice was gut wrenching.

(ps. these are direct copy-pastes from our conversation, with bits pulled out for brevity and confidentiality)

Jackie M Tang – Are you still “with him”?
Woman #7 – Yes
He just left a week ago he met my family
Can I ask you a favor woman to woman will you please keep this confidence please I don’t want to break down
….

Woman #7  – He said he loved to me
Jackie M Tang – He said that to all of us.
Woman #7  – Because we are still together and I still love him

Jackie M Tang – You need to stop.
Woman #7 – Actually not after this
I believe you
I am completely in shock and I feel NOM inside
I’m sorry to bother you
Jackie M Tang – I’m glad you made contact.
When was the last time you spoke?
Woman #7  – An hour ago
Jackie M Tang – Did you talk about this?

Woman #7  – I told him about all these messages he said they were all lies and To ignore them

Jackie M Tang – Well I’m very sorry xxxxx but they’re true. You are #7
When did you start dating him? ……

Woman #7 – I started dating him March 7, 2015
Jackie M Tang – How many times did you meet up?
Woman #7 – He came to see me for the first time in December. Then he came and saw me a week ago he was doing event for us at the xxxxxxx and he stayed with me and extra week to meet my family
Jackie M Tang – Are you single? Any kids?
Woman #7 – Thank you for keeping me anonymous I don’t want anybody to know I don’t want him to know or my family
I am single and I do have kids they are adults

Jackie M Tang – Are you going to keep talking to him?
Woman #7  – I understand that I hope he doesn’t hurt anyone else
Jackie M Tang – Did he talk of a future? I’m guessing he’s got lots of compromising photos like with all the other women.
Woman #7 – After messaging you no I will block him after my talk with you. Yes we talk to our future of moving in together
Jackie M Tang – Were you planning on moving to Florida?
Woman #7 –  We didn’t really talk about a place
He has thousands of pictures of me when I say thousands I am not lying
I feel completely stupid
I just don’t want my family and friends to know I’ve been through a lot in the last two years I don’t want to put my family and friends through it
…

Woman #7 – We were supposedly in a relationship since March 7 now I know it’s all a lie he just messaged me but I’m not gonna respond like I said I’m gonna block him after our conversation there’s nothing I have left to say to him
I’m just going to tell my friends and family it didn’t work out
Jackie M Tang – What was his last message?
…
Woman #7 –  A sticker with hearts
Woman #7 – He’s trying to call me now but I’m not answering
Thank you I trust you 100%
Thank you for being strong enough for all of us
Jackie M Tang – Thank you for believing me
Woman #7 – I do. Please keep me posted and I will do the same again I’m going to go block him right now
Bye Jackie
Jackie M Tang – You bet. Bye xxxxxxx

I’ve cut out portions where I gave her specific examples of Demarest’s multiple relationships.

My public silence between when he realised on March 9 that I had made contact with 2 of his past girlfriends, and March 28 when the story was published, had paid off.

Not knowing what I was going to reveal, he had told her to ignore anything by a crazy Aussie woman who wanted more from their friendship and was now spreading lies about being in a relationship with him.

He then changed it to say that he and I broke up a long time ago, back in 2012. Oh, and any allegations of cheating are ancient history and he was now a changed man (sound familiar?). He had never and would never cheat on her.

When the story and my blog posts were published, she confronted him about the very recent dates in my blog post transcripts. He started to slip up, saying (following based on voice messages supplied by Woman #7) –

1) we were joking around when he said that I was his Baby and he owned me etc. In fact, it was a running joke between the two of us, apparently.

2) he couldn’t even remember where he was in February 2016, that he might have been in Saudi (no, he moved back to Florida in 2015)

3) this voice message is revealing in his specificity about not cheating on her with me (as opposed to cheating on her, period) –

https://clyp.it/mr4yrrm1

Keep in mind she dated him from March 2015-March 2016;

  1. This was his message to Woman #6 in November 2015 (responding directly to HER suspicions he was cheating) –

https://clyp.it/5oiul4rh

(The following are gleaned from interviews with the relevant women; transcripts available on request)

2. He broke up with Woman #3 in November 2015, then tried to get back with her a few weeks later.

3. He wanted Woman #4 to book them a hotel room for a tryst in June 2015 and got upset when she refused.

4. He proposed marriage to Woman #1 in February 2016 after he and I were done for good.

5. He tried to get back with Woman #5 in February 2016 after his marriage proposal to Woman #1 was knocked back.

6. And these are snippets of our Vietnam plans made in February 2016 (blocks of his dialogue blacked out because of their sexual nature) –

vietnam1.png

vietnam2.png

Notice this next bit where I asked if he’s seeing anyone else since he had disappeared for months before making contact again in January 2016 –

vietnam3.png

Demarest soundbite the next day after talking about Vietnam – 

https://clyp.it/kyhc42gj

I guess in Robb Demarest’s moral universe, this kind of behaviour isn’t “cheating”.

Woman #7 subsequently sent me this message from Demarest. No “I’m sorry, I love you, etc. – just this”,  as she put it. –

woman7block.png

Woman #7 has had a rocky time getting back on her feet emotionally. Out of respect and to allow her time to heal, I’ve left some details out from her account of their relationship. As bad as it seems, some of the worst of Demarest’s behaviour remain undisclosed to this day to protect the women.

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The Women In Their Own Words – 1

Jackie M. Tang

I’ve written in previous posts about some of the Demarest women and how I found them. This 2-part series lets them tell their stories in their own words. 

It’s not always practical to screenshot the conversations (large chunks of of them reveal too much about their identities), so I’ve mixed them up with quotes from the transcripts.

I’ve picked up the following patterns from these initial conversations –

  • promises of a future by Demarest
  • fear of compromising pics leaking out
  • Demarest’s tendency to go quiet for periods of time
  • the batch dumping of girlfriends and batch attempts at reigniting relationships
  • their bewilderment at being dumped for trivial reasons after long courtships

If you’re just catching up, here’s my post outlining these women’s relationships (the date patterns are more obvious there) => The Robb Demarest Relationships Timeline

I’m sticking to the same numerical sequence in referencing the women.

To reiterate, this was how things unfolded –

24 Feb 2016 – Demarest breaks up with me over a minor fight. We had first started dating in 2012 and he would go silent for long periods over the next 4 years, but always came back.

8 March – A former colleague of Demarest contacts me online and tells me about what he knew while filming Haunting Australia in 2013.

The conversation below picks up from my disclosure that I was the person who pitched Haunting:Australia for Demarest; a fact that he had kept secret from his co-stars the whole time. For as long as we were together I didn’t want to push the point about getting sidelined. I wasn’t even allowed to visit him on set and wasn’t invited to the HA wrap party.

I thought he needed the ego boost and adulation of his co-stars to be seen as the guy who successfully secured the show and got them a TV gig. He had, after all, been dumped from Ghost Hunters International previously and had had no luck getting any of his projects off the ground until I came along.

Now that we’d split up, I had no problem telling it like it is. Anyone who researches the production company that made HA would know their genre is food, which is how I had a pre-existing relationship with them.

ian1

This was the first mention of another girlfriend – Woman #3.

According to this person, Woman #3 got in touch with a number of people during Haunting:Australia because he had gone silent.

He continued –

He’s just dumped her about a month ago! But was seeing her when we was in OZ so she said. I told her he was ment (sp) to be with you! At the time! She was shocked as he was ment (sp) to be with her! All very messy…

Me – Did you tell her who I was?

(…)

Yes! I said I had met you and you was a stunning person! But at the time I don’t think she believed me.

(…)

Talk to her babe she’s a nice girl X 

(NB. Woman #3 would later tell me they broke up 4  months ago as opposed to “a month ago” per this person’s account; it doesn’t matter in this sequence but I’m pedantic.)

And then this – first mention of Demarest with one of the women in the show’s production (Woman #5)

ian3

Because of my involvement with pitching Haunting:Australia, I had been FB friends with Woman #5 since 2013 with neither of us aware we were both dating him.

Woman #5

I confronted Woman #5 on FB. (Yes, I was pretty blunt – I was still in shock about the revelations.)

rayleen1.jpg

A long phone conversation followed, during which Woman #5 said Demarest also promised a future with her, wanted her to have his baby, etc.

She had heard from him after a long silence, on Feb 26 – ie. 2 days after he broke up with me. In that conversation he had wanted to reignite their relationship but she said no.

She recently found out that during his last trip with her in 2015, he had met another woman and had been private messaging and asking her for nude pics as well.

Unfortunately for him, this woman already had a boyfriend so she told some mutual friends who passed on the information to Woman #5.

Woman #5 about a sex tape –

rayleen2.jpg

This was as well as photos he had of her. Despite the reassurance, woman #5 ultimately decided against going public because of her children and career.

Woman #3

I then contacted Woman #3 on Instagram and this was part of the conversation –

Woman #3 – I was with Robb for like 2.5 years…He told me the exact same things about a future together etc. I fell for it. I feel so stupid now…

About pics & being dumped by Demarest –

maya1

(NB not that it would have deterred me, but the reality is Demarest doesn’t really have any photos of mine that are that revealing; you’d see more skin on any Australian beach.)

About not tagging him on social media and about going to Florida –

maya2.jpg

Woman #4

I’ve already written about the next woman, ie. Woman #4 => I Know Another Woman – whose friend contacted me within 24 hours of my social media shares. As she’s requested high confidentiality, I won’t even share any of her transcripts.

According to her, she was dumped in November 2015 after 2.5 years though he continued to chase for nude pics (which she refused) as recently as February 2016. She was one of the most badly affected emotionally from his behaviour.

It was only since the story broke that she started putting the missing pieces together and is now on her way to rebuilding her self-worth.

Woman #6

Woman #6 got in touch with me the same night I heard from Woman #4 –

 

Rachel & Jackie_Twitter - 1.JPG

About a future together, and pics –

rachel2

Woman #6 never got to meet up with Demarest despite numerous attempts –

rach8

This was the same story told by Woman #3 and Woman #4 – he always found a way to prevent them meeting him in Florida – which made us suspect there was another woman there.

Like Woman #4, Woman #6 constantly questioned Demarest about whether there were other women – and he always denied it. This was one instance –

https://clyp.it/5oiul4rh

The breakup, when she found he was about to fly out to meet with a woman in Portland, December 2015 –

Rachel & Jackie_Twitter - 5.JPG

Despite being the one to break it off, Woman #6 could not understand why Demarest did not try harder to explain himself or to make contact (eg. by phone or email). Finding my story online was what gave her some resolution.

This was what she had to say about it (and about the flak I was getting from cyber crybabies saying I should shut up and move on with my life) –

They can’t relate to us. They don’t know the mental manipulation and the mind games he plays. I didn’t lose 55 pounds from diet and working out…. I was mentally tormented. Robb did a number on me mentally. I thought breaking things off was the worst mistake I ever made…. It wasn’t and now I have some relief.

I can’t emphasize enough the hit on the women’s self-worth to be so disposable after long-term relationships with Demarest. It didn’t make sense until after the story broke and they realised it was because he had several women on the go at the same time.

Next up – the rest of the women.

 

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I Know Another Woman…

Jackie M. Tang
cropped
Photo by Robb Demarest

I’ll never forget those words.

Let’s backtrack to two days before.

On 27 March 2016, I sent out this email to my mailing list. The story was due to break the next morning –

——————————————

, on Easter Monday, New Idea Magazine will feature an interview with me – and it has NOTHING to do with food or cooking.

I’m sorry the rest of this email sounds vague – there’s a reason for this – which I’ll reveal in the coming days.

You see, I’ve been keeping a secret for nearly 4 ½ years but have decided to come forward because of some new information that was given to me earlier this month.

I wish I had this information when I did an internet search back when this started; it would have saved me from all that has ensued.  That’s why I’m speaking out – I believe it is important that other potential victims are warned about it.

I’ve given a mountain of evidence to New Idea to back up my story, and it’s been vetted by their lawyers.

Depending on the kind of blowback I get once the story breaks, I will release the evidence online to defend myself.

I will speak a lot more about it after the first 48 hours of the story coming out – and will fill in the gaps for you.

I want you to know that but for the fact that it affects other people (and will continue to do so), I would never have spoken out. In fact, most people I’ve talked to think I should keep quiet because they think it’ll damage my reputation and disrupt my life, so please don’t think this is about publicity.

This is not the sort of spotlight I relish – I’d much rather be known for my food and my Down Syndrome advocacy.

If you’re in Australia, please pick up a copy of Easter Monday’s New Idea.  Once you’ve read it, if you decide to stand with me, please share the story with everyone you know and every media outlet you have access to.

Thank you , from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate your support.

Jackie M.

My email subscribers are meant to be my most loyal followers. I like to keep it fairly exclusive; rather than try to push hard for subscribers, I’ve been known to delete annoying people from it.

I hate showing vulnerability; that had been a tough email to write.

This was the first reply to hit my Inbox –

Peter – Please remove me from this conversation. I don’t indulge in gossip, I’m only interested in your food.

Me – Based on your response I’ve deleted you from my subscriber list. 

Peter – That was a bit petulant.

Me – I would say the same about you. 

Peter – You’ve just lost a fan.

Me – Trust me, it’s not a loss.

(As you can see, I’m real mature.)

I found out after that interaction, that Peter was that same creepy guy who had commented on too many of my social media posts for months. Contrary to his high email horse, they weren’t always food-related either. Weirdo.

After that inauspicious start to my campaign, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  At the time the New Idea story broke, there were only 3 known women, including myself.

I ploughed on with this post on my website (since updated), and shared it on social media.-

http://jackiem.com.au/2016/03/28/new-idea-magazine-story/ 

Again, more negativity.

In response, I wrote my first post at Medium.com/@JackieM  – “Did he say this to you? Then you’re not special.”

And…BINGO!

That same night, I received this message from a stranger – a man from halfway across the world –

I know another woman. A mother. I am sharing this with her. (…) 

I think she needs to know this. 

Thank you for sharing. This could not have been easy and I am very sorry for all that have been impacted. 

My friend will be upset. (…)

I am so sorry. Men should honour women. Especially mums….

Mar 29 · Sent from Mobile

I just about fell off my chair. My decision to come forward had been vindicated.

Our conversation continued like this (with parts redacted for brevity and confidentiality)-

(…)

Man – So she is number 4 out of what appears to be many. Wow…

Jackie M. – Yes.

Man – She will kill him

Jackie M. – I would kill him myself.

Man – She cannot go public. That’s her fear.

Jackie M. – I understand. Same with the other two women.(…) 

Man – Wow.

Jackie M. – He’ll soon learn he f*cked the wrong woman.

Man – Amen. Good luck to you all

Woman #4 got in touch with me after my initial exchanges with her friend. We continue to communicate to this day.

Medium Posts

Today Tonight TV Interview About Robb Demarest Scandal

Jackie M. Tang

This is the story about Ghost Hunters International’s Robb Demarest that aired on Australia’s Today Tonight on 5 April 2016. The interview was conducted a week before that.

At the time of the interview I was aware of only 3 women but by the time it came on TV, more had come forward.

Today Tonight

There are a few minor facts that need correction/clarification (I don’t think these misstatements took away from the story, which I think was very well done) —

  1. we were messaging on pretty much everything EXCEPT Twitter, whereas the segment says we were messaging on Twitter.
  2. it says Robb was dumped from GH, when in fact it was GHI.
  3. it says he begged for a second chance after I found out about his cheating — I think there were some crossed wires there — they asked if he’d tried to get in touch and I said yes (he sent several messages and called 2x) but that I didn’t answer him. I would imagine they were his attempts at damage control; I definitely didn’t think he was trying to get back with me.

The New Idea interview was published on 28 March. Once I started sharing about it more women came forward, taking the number to eight, seven of whom are single moms.

I guess the moral of the story, to would-be cheaters, is to not piss off Hakka-Chinese single moms with disabled babies and 1.9 million followers.

Story in New Idea Magazine on Monday 28 March 2016. I particularly like the silhouette of the rat on the left.
Story in New Idea Magazine on Monday 28 March 2016. I particularly like the silhouette of the rat on the left.

Medium Posts

New Idea Magazine Interview on Robb Demarest Scandal

Jackie M. Tang

New Idea

My initial blog post at JackieM.com.au from when the story first broke on 28 March 2016, re-shared here for those who missed it.

=========================================================================

Today’s New Idea Magazine has what I think is an important albeit non-food story about me. It is about my relationship with reality TV star Robb Demarest from Ghost Hunters International and Haunting:Australia.

This is NOT a bad breakup story. My marriage to Noah’s dad was a bad breakup and you’ve never heard me divulge the details nor name him in public. This affects other potential victims, which is why I’m coming forward.

I know I share a lot about my personal story but this is sufficiently off on a tangent that I’d much prefer to move the discussion to a different platform.

Please follow me at RobbDemarestCheats.com – I’ve started posting about this topic there. Depending on the response from all concerned I’ll also post any evidence needed to back up my story.

Thank you all.

(In some people’s minds I should only be sharing recipes and cooking videos, but the reality is I’m a real person with my own story, struggles and flaws so if you have a problem with it, you’re probably best served by following other recipe-sharing sites instead of mine.)

New Idea 2