Tim Mathieson
{{Short description|Australian hairdresser and partner of Prime Minister Julia Gillard}}
{{distinguish|Tim Matheson}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Tim Mathieson
| image = Julia Gillard and Tim Mathieson January 2013 cropped.jpg
| caption = Mathieson with Julia Gillard in 2013
| office = Partner of the Prime Minister of Australia
| term_label = In role
| term_start = 24 June 2010
| term_end = 27 June 2013
| predecessor = Thérèse Rein
| successor = Thérèse Rein
| birth_name = Timothy Raymond Mathieson
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1957}}
| birth_place = Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
| spouse = {{marriage|Diane Stark
|1987|2003|end=divorced}}
| partner = Julia Gillard
(2006–2021)
| children = 3
| education = Shepparton High School{{ref|http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/tim-mathieson-reveals-he-wants-partner-and-prime-minister-julia-gillard-to-be-his-wife/news-story/4478da3c7d39a6ca46ef365c2289b777}}
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Hairdresser
}}
Timothy Raymond Mathieson (born 1957) is an Australian hairdresser and the former domestic partner of Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013.{{cite news |url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/gillards-partner-tim-mathieson-bubbly-20100624-z1o2.html |title=Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson 'bubbly' |date=24 June 2010 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=26 June 2010 |agency=Australian Associated Press}} Mathieson entered the public spotlight when he became Gillard's partner in 2006 while she was deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party.{{cite news |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iNDKSoYfQefXfk6QmkY4gKz3YLrQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628071203/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iNDKSoYfQefXfk6QmkY4gKz3YLrQ |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 June 2010 |title=Beer-swilling hairdresser is Australia's 'First Bloke' |last=Harris |first=Talek |date=25 June 2010 |agency=Agence France-Presse |accessdate=26 June 2010}}{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/julia-gillards-partner-faces-life-in-the-limelight/story-e6frg6nf-1225884482420 |title=Julia Gillard's partner faces life in the limelight |last=Lunn |first=Stephen |date=26 June 2010 |work=The Australian |accessdate=26 June 2010}} His relationship with Gillard ended in 2021.{{Cite news |date=2023-10-19 |title=Tim Mathieson, former partner of Julia Gillard, spared jail over sexual assault on sleeping woman |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-19/tim-mathieson-julia-gillard-partner-spared-jail-sexual-assault/102996542 |access-date=2023-10-19}}
Early life and career
Mathieson was born and raised in Shepparton, Victoria. After a hairdressing apprenticeship in suburban Melbourne, he first operated a Shepparton hair salon, then another on the Gold Coast, Queensland. For much of the 1990s, Mathieson lived and worked in San Francisco in the United States.{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/management/our-julia/2007/05/18/1178995371860.html?page=fullpage |title=Our Julia |last=Valent |first=Dani |date=18 May 2007 |work=The Age |accessdate=26 June 2010 |location=Melbourne}}
Mathieson returned to Australia in 2004, worked for one year as a hairdresser at Heading Out salon in Melbourne, where he met long-standing salon client, politician Julia Gillard. They began dating in March 2006. With financial support from his father and brother, Mathieson established Tim Mathieson Hair in Shepparton but moved back to Melbourne later in 2006{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/annabel-crabb/2008/11/28/1227491825246.html?page=fullpage |title=Gotta wash sexism right outta our hair |last=Crabb |first=Annabel |date=29 November 2008 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=27 June 2010}} as a sales representative for a hair products company. From January to March 2010, Mathieson focused on the sale of high-rise apartments in Melbourne to international buyers on behalf of a local real estate agency.{{cite web|author=Royce Millar and Rafael Epstein |url=http://www.theage.com.au/federal-election/tim-to-quit-job-if-julia-gets-up-20100819-12s25.html |title=Tim to quit job if Julia gets up |work=The Age |date=20 August 2010 |accessdate=26 June 2013}}
Once Gillard became prime minister in June 2010, Mathieson supported her by assuming an unpaid behind-the-scenes role.[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/bath-blowdry-and-barracking-for-the-pm/story-fncvk70o-1226516979434 Bath Blowdry And Barracking For The Pm] The Daily Telegraph {{dead link|date=December 2022}}
= Public life=
In November 2008, Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon appointed Mathieson as one of the government's unpaid men's health ambassadors. He later became an ambassador for Kidney Health Australia,{{cite press release|url=http://www.medialaunch.com.au/919/ |title=Kidney Health Australia Appoints Tim Mathieson as Health Ambassador |date=26 November 2008 |publisher=Kidney Health Australia |accessdate=27 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007064226/http://www.medialaunch.com.au/919/ |archivedate=7 October 2009 }} a patron of the Australian Men's Shed Association{{cite web |url=http://www.mensshed.org/page8386/About_Patrons.aspx |title=AMSA Patrons |year=2009 |publisher=Australian Men's Shed Association |accessdate=26 June 2010 |archive-date=6 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206221245/http://www.mensshed.org/page8386/About_Patrons.aspx |url-status=dead }} and involved with the Indigenous Diabetes Association in Alice Springs and Beyond Blue mental health group.{{cite web |url=http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx?link_id=59.1159 |title=Tim Mathieson, Men's Health Ambassador |year=2009 |publisher=Beyond Blue |accessdate=26 June 2010}} In December 2010, Mathieson was appointed patron of the National Portrait Gallery.{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/julia-gillards-partner-tim-mathieson-new-patron-of-national-portrait-gallery/story-fn3dxity-1225972099051 |work=The Australian |title=Julia Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson new patron of National Portrait Gallery |date=16 December 2010 |accessdate=19 January 2011}}
In January 2013, Mathieson attracted media attention for a joke he made while advocating for prostate examinations, advising men to seek out "a small Asian female doctor" when receiving a rectal prostate exam. After commentators considered his remark inappropriate and in poor taste, he apologised.{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/first-bloke-tim-mathiesons-prostate-joke-labelled-tasteless/story-fn59niix-1226563992926 |title=First Bloke Tim Mathieson apologises for prostate joke 'in poor taste' |work=The Australian |date=28 September 2012 |accessdate=26 June 2013}}
Personal life
While in his late teens during the 1970s, Mathieson fathered a daughter with his girlfriend Pam Child.{{cite web | url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/tim-mathieson-reveals-he-wants-partner-and-prime-minister-julia-gillard-to-be-his-wife/news-story/4478da3c7d39a6ca46ef365c2289b777 | title='First bloke' Tim eyes the altar | work=adelaidenow }}{{cite news |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/gillard-lovers-dark-past/story-e6freuy9-1111114637949 |title=Julia Gillard's partner in plea |last=Tinkler |first=Chris |date=14 October 2007 |work=The Daily Telegraph |accessdate=26 June 2010 |location=Australia}} In 1987, Mathieson married Diane Stark; they had a son and a daughter together{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/first-bloke-is-a-mans-man-20100626-zapz.html |title=First bloke is a man's man |last=Walsh |first=Kerry-Anne |author2=Benns, Matthew |date=27 June 2010 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |accessdate=27 June 2010}} and divorced in 2003.{{cite news |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/election/speeding-tim-was-also-a-drink-driver/story-fn5zm695-1225899457615 |title=Speeding Tim Mathieson was also a drink-driver |last=Weston |first=Paul |date=1 August 2010 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=Australia |accessdate=1 August 2010}} In March 2006, Mathieson started dating Julia Gillard. When asked in 2010 about formal marriage to Gillard, he said that they had not discussed it at that stage.{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/lets-wait-and-see-on-marriage-says-julia-gillards-partner/story-fn5vfgwx-1225884011977 |title=Let's wait and see on marriage, says Julia Gillard's partner |last=Lunn |first=Stephen |date=25 June 2010 |work=The Australian |accessdate=26 June 2010}} Mathieson's relationship with Gillard ended in 2021.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Natalie |title=Julia Gillard confirms she's quietly split with former 'First Bloke' Tim Mathieson |url=https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/julia-gillard-confirms-shes-quietly-split-with-former-first-bloke-tim-mathieson/news-story/fd7f2eb354d1a921e203222162f94de9 |access-date=27 March 2022 |work=news.com.au |date=27 March 2022}}
Sexual assault
In July 2023, Mathieson pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault after non-consensually sucking the nipple of a sleeping woman and "latching onto her breast when she tried to fend him off" in March 2022.{{Cite web |last=Pearson |first=Erin |date=2023-07-27 |title=Julia Gillard's ex-partner Tim Mathieson to plead guilty to sex assault |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/julia-gillard-s-ex-partner-tim-mathieson-pleads-guilty-to-sex-assault-20230727-p5dro9.html |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}} Mathieson was convicted in October 2023 and fined $7000.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=Thérèse Rein}}
{{s-ttl|title=Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia|years=24 June 2010 – 26 June 2013}}
{{s-aft|after=Thérèse Rein}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathieson, Tim}}
Category:Australian hairdressers
Category:Australian sex offenders
Category:Date of birth missing (living people)
Category:People convicted of indecent assault