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Lisa Wilkinson appeared downcast as she had breakfast alone at a Mosman café on Thursday.
The outing comes after media insiders said the former Project host’s TV career is likely to be over and there were calls for her to hand back the Logie she won for her controversial Brittany Higgins interview.
The 63-year-old sipped a coffee at a local eatery near her multimillion dollar mansion.
Lisa dressed casually for the outing in a pair of white slacks and a navy coat.
She finished off the ensemble with a pair of tan boots and a large brown designer bag.
Lisa Wilkinson appeared downcast as she had breakfast alone at a Mosman café on Thursday
On Friday, she appeared stony-faced and shielded her eyes with a pair of sunglasses as she took a stroll around the swanky suburb where she lives with her husband, Peter FitzSimons.
The sighting comes just a few weeks after Lisa embarked on a mass online blocking spree to mute her critics who called for her to hand back the Logie she won for her now controversial Higgins interview.
Lisa won the award in June 2022 for her interview with the former Liberal staffer, 28, which first aired explosive rape allegations in February 2021.
But earlier this month, Channel Seven aired part of a five-hour lunch meeting between Lisa and Higgins recorded in the days before the 2021 TV interview.
The lunch was part of the network’s Spotlight program, which aired the first interview with her accused rapist, Bruce Lehrmann, where he denied the allegations.
The outing comes after media insiders said the former Project host’s TV career is likely to be over and there were calls for her to hand back the Logie she won for her controversial Brittany Higgins interview
On Friday, she appeared stony-faced and shielded her eyes with a pair of sunglasses as she took a stroll around the swanky suburb where she lives with her husband Peter FitzSimons
She rugged up from the cold in an oversized grey sweater
The sightings comes just a few weeks after Lisa embarked on a mass online blocking spree to mute her critics
TV insiders have also said Lisa ‘was done’ at Channel 10
The allegations which arose from the recorded lunch meeting claim Lisa coached and prompted Higgins prior to her interview about the rape allegations inside then minister Linda Reynolds’ office in Parliament House in the early hours of Saturday, March 23, 2019, after a night out.
Higgins’ boyfriend David Sharaz was also at the lunch and asked Lisa what she expected from the interview.
‘The inequality that exists out there,’ she replied. ‘Whether it’s white privilege, whether it’s male domination, whether it’s you know criminal activity that is suppressed…
‘I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but if you can enunciate the fact that this place is all about suppression of people’s natural sense of justice.
Wilkinson allegedly muted her critics in a mass online blocking spree after campaigners demanded she be stripped of her Logie for her Brittany Higgins report
Lisa scooped the Logie in June 2022 (pictured left) for her interview with Higgins which first aired the explosive rape allegations in February 2021. Sky News Australia contributor Prue McSween (right) told Daily Mail Australia that she should hand the award back
‘Because you see around you the way that this place works.’
Furious viewers reacted online after the new details emerged, triggering an impromptu campaign for Lisa to be stripped of the prestigious Logie award.
‘If I was in her position, I would definitely have offered to hand the Logie back,’ Sky News Australia contributor Prue McSween told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Journalists are supposed to remain objective, not driven by their own agendas. Clearly this became much more for Lisa than a scoop.
‘No journalist should seek to insert themselves or become the story.
‘But Lisa was “feeding the beast” with her involvement in the womens’ protest outside Parliament House and the #metoo political theme that drove this whole storyline.
‘I would not like my professional ethics questioned as hers now are.’
Many claimed Lisa hit back at her critics by blocking them online, effectively silencing them by censoring their comments from her timeline.
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‘She’s blocking EVERYONE who she even thinks might not stand with her!’ posted one blocked follower.
Among those hit in the spree was former South Australia senator Cory Bernardi, who tweeted: ‘Proud to be a member of the “blocked by Lisa Wilkinson” club.’
He was flooded with examples of other followers who had also been blocked by the TV star and the former politician dubbed it ‘the real #MeToo Movement’.
Scores posted their own notifications revealing they were also blocked by Lisa, with one adding: ‘Welcome – there’s plenty of good people in this club.’
Another added Lisa and her columnist husband Peter FitzSimons were both muting their opponents.
‘She and her hubby are very busy today with limiting their Twitter audience to yes-people,’ they said.
‘Where great leaders surround themselves with no-people to promote debate to reach high achievements, poor leaders surround themselves with yes-people to silence debate.’
Twitter users claimed Lisa and her columnist husband Peter FitzSimons had both muted their opponents
One posted: ‘Lisa Wilkinson blocked me, yet I have never ever Tweeted to her.
‘Clearly she is blocking anyone that says anything negative about Brittany Higgins or people who refuse to worship Anthony Albanese and Labor.’
The crackdown came amid growing calls for Lisa to be stripped of her Logie award over revelations about the process behind Higgins’ rape allegations.
Lisa’s Logie acceptance speech triggered contempt of court concerns and forced Lehrmann’s rape trial last June to be pushed back until later in the year.
Lisa and Ten are being sued for defamation by Lehrmann over the high-profile interview in which Higgins told The Project star she was raped by ‘a male colleague’ in Parliament House in 2019.
The backlash comes amid allegations that Lisa coached and prompted Ms Higgins (centre) before her explosive TV interview in February 2021
Lehrmann wasn’t named during the TV show nor was he publicly identified as Higgins’ alleged rapist until August 2021, when he was formally charged with sexual assault.
He pleaded not guilty and continues to maintain his innocence.
A call out on Twitter for Wilkinson to be stripped of the award was liked more than 5000 times, with many replies demanding she should even be jailed over the row. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Wilkinson has broken any laws.
The Australian columnist Janet Albrechtsen branded Wilkinson’s interview with Ms Higgins ‘shoddy journalism’ in an op-ed and said she should return her Logie now.
‘The proper thing to do would be for Wilkinson to hand in her Logie for her Higgins interview,’ she wrote.
‘That interview has been nothing but trouble for her, for the justice system, for good journalism and for people who deserved to be treated better.’
Meanwhile, a Project insider and a veteran TV commentator have both said Lisa will never return to the screen at Channel Ten and that her television career, at least as major star, is likely to be over.
Television and radio industry expert Peter Ford said Lisa was ‘Australia’s highest paid TV star at $44,000 a week and she’s not actually doing anything on camera’ and would likely never again appear on the Ten Network.
He told Daily Mail Australia the legal fallout from Lisa’s Higgins’ interview was ‘a very toxic situation’ for the embattled network.
The Project insider, who asked to remain nameless, said Lisa was likely ‘done for good’ at Ten and as far as her prospects were with other networks: ‘I don’t reckon anyone else will take her’.
Veteran entertainment journalist Peter Ford (right) told Sunrise host Natalie Barr (left) Wilkinson had crossed a line and said she could lose the Logie she was awarded for the interview
The insider said Lisa’s huge salary was an issue amid the messy fallout from the Higgins interview.
As far as getting another job on any network, Ford said ‘well, never say never’ but that the days of massive salaries were ending in the industry.
‘‘I can’t imagine her face being on TV (at Ten) again,’ he said. ‘She’s a very, very expensive commodity. It’s a very unusual situation.’
The Project insider said that Ten might use Wilkinson’s ‘voice for one-offs’ but he doubted she would be facing a camera on air.
