The heartbreaking love story became the fodder of women’s magazines.

Two months passed before Gordon was back at it on the red carpet at the TV Week Logies in Melbourne, her “brave” appearance winning many supporters.

So when I spotted her the next day, I was naturally curious as to what I was witnessing during my post-Logies haze in the David Jones Food Hall on the Bourke Street Mall.

Gordon was sitting directly opposite on the other side of the pizza bar, canoodling with Seven Media heir Ryan Stokes, oblivious to me or anyone else. They only had eyes for each other as they giggled and kissed for all the world to see, including a gossip columnist sitting in prime position who couldn’t believe his luck.

For a while, she finally appeared to have it all: beauty, fame, a successful television career and a billionaire boyfriend whose dad happened to own the network she starred on.

It all came crashing down in June 2009 when a desperately worried Stokes filed a missing person report with Kings Cross police after his young girlfriend failed to come home one night.

Gordon was later found “cowering” in the corner of a Sydney apartment with notorious bikie Mark Judge. Bizarrely, the pair had called the police themselves after an all-night partying binge to report a phantom home invasion.

A deeply embarrassed Stokes promptly ditched Gordon. She was heartbroken once more.

Just as she had before, Gordon resurfaced in November at the Melbourne Cup, posing for the cameras with her trademark toothy smile belying any of the drama.

She went on to date former star rugby league player Braith Anasta, the couple marrying in Bali in October 2012 in a lavish ceremony – for which they sold the exclusive rights to a women’s magazine for more than $150,000. It was such a big deal that when Gordon’s security team discovered paparazzi hiding in the jungle it was suggested a full “cavity” search be carried out to ensure no rogue memory sticks escaped. Thankfully, it wasn’t necessary.

They welcomed daughter Aleeia in March 2014, but by December 2015 the marriage was over and Anasta, who has since remarried and fathered again, remains the primary carer for their daughter – a situation Gordon’s friends concede she finds deeply challenging.

Finally, in November 2020, Gordon declared she was “head over heels” after meeting Blackler, making it public on Instagram. But days later police were called to Gordon’s Double Bay apartment and took out an interim AVO against Blackler.

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Despite reportedly splitting last year – the supposed proof being they had “unfollowed” each other on Instagram – last month police reportedly took out matching AVOs against both Blackler and Gordon, who each sported bruises, to protect them from each other after an incident at a B&B on April 3.

Looking for clues as to Gordon’s current personal situation on Instagram seems pointless. With acting work drying up, Gordon makes her living these days flogging health supplements and beauty treatments on the platform, the paid posts bizarrely continuing this week as photos of her looking worse for wear in rehab surfaced.

And yet another happy ending eludes Gordon.

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