Hollywood superstar Taika Waititi, new couple Blair Tuke and Mikayla Plaw and billionaire Berridge Spencer.
Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. The exclusive parties, the exotic holidays, the hook-ups, the break-ups and the high-stakes business deals - this new Thursday column pulls back the curtain to reveal how New Zealand’s other half live.
Four straight wins in the America’s Cup is not the only thing Kiwi sailor Blair Tuke is celebrating this week.
It seems he has a special woman cheering him on in Barcelona – Mikayla Plaw, 34, daughter of Waikato philanthropists Kate and Mitch Plaw.
Last week, Society Insider reported the Plaws were among the rich listers in Barcelona to support Team NZ. We can now confirm Mikayla is one of the most ardent members of the cheer squad.
She is a good friend of lawyer and interior designer Lucinda Burling, wife of Team NZ captain Peter Burling. Plaw was a guest at the pair’s glamorous nuptials, which took place by the beach in Matarangi on the Coromandel in March last year.
Sources tell Society Insider the couple have been dating for about a year, and they have looked very loved-up around Barcelona.
Mikayla was seen enjoying the racing with Lucinda Burling and their friends, Kiwi celebrity cook Polly Markus - no stranger to sailing herself, having been a crew chef on a superyacht - Victoria Harris, founder of finance platform The Curve, and Lucy Kirkwood, owner of design and branding studio Friends of Friends. Tuke’s brother, 2022 Treasure Island winner Jesse, is in Barcelona too.
The Plaw family - reported to be worth $120 million in 2019 - reportedly love sailing, especially in the Pacific. Mikayla has sailed professionally in the waters near Kerikeri-raised Tuke’s end of the North Island.
Last year she skippered the Melges 40 Sassinate during Bay of Island Sailing Week and helmed her boat to victory in the regatta, taking line honours for the series in B Division and second place on PHRF.
Plaw is also passionate about sustainability, making her a great match for Tuke, who together with Burling established charitable trust the Live Ocean Foundation.
Plaw attended Diocesan School for Girls and studied at the University of Otago and is executive director, sustainability for Profile Group, the parent company of APL Window Solutions, a major supporter of Live Ocean Foundation.
APL is New Zealand’s largest aluminium joinery business, started by Plaw’s late grandparents Ian and Val. Mitch Plaw and his sister Robin inherited the business and moved it from its Hamilton base to an architecturally impressive site near Cambridge. The business is reported to be one of the Waikato’s biggest employers.
Mikayla Plaw has been credited with bringing a new vision of sustainability and wellbeing to the family business.
Her parents Mitch and Kate are renowned philanthropists. As well as sponsoring several sports teams and athletes, they are Legacy Founders of the New Zealand Olympic Foundation, of which Mikayla is a council member.
The Plaws’ 243ha Takapoto Estate, 3km of which runs beside Lake Karapiro, has been lovingly restored. Nearly one million native trees and plants have been established on the estate, which now provides a thriving eco-sanctuary to the neighbouring Maungatautari mountain.
The estate encompasses a world-class equestrian facility, boutique cottage accommodation, award-winning vineyards and wines, Angus bulls, a market garden and several function options, for events such as weddings and corporate meetings to black-tie balls.
Over the last several years, horse lovers and society people in the know have been heading down to the impressive Takapoto Classic, a five-day showjumping spectacular in February, held at the estate’s APL sand arena.
Getting the perfect sand took three trips to the United Kingdom, with imported fibres creating the right blend. It has had Olympic and World Cup riders and prominent internationals competing on it since 2018.
It’s not all sport for the family, however – the Plaws are also major backers of the Waikato Regional Theatre construction and in 2021 Mitch was part of a group of New Zealand private investors who purchased Hawke’s Bay’s famous winery, Trinity Hill.
Other notables cheering on Team NZ in Barcelona include rich listers Olivia and James Kirkpatrick and Gretchen Hawkesby, a week after her daughter Jemima Hawkesby’s 21st in Auckland.
Kiwi billionaire Berridge Spencer is opening up to visitors his once-private slice of Waiheke Island, steeped in 300 years of heritage.
Forest Flight is the latest tourism venture at Spencer’s Man O’ War estate, a zipline experience on the pristine northeast end of Waiheke Island within Stony Batter Estate. It’s fair to say it’s the first time the paying public has got to see the immense scale of the estate.
Spencer, 54, is the son of the late John Spencer. The third-generation New Zealand pulp and paper baron was renowned for his two-decade campaign to stop the public using 4km of road on his 2500ha property to reach Stony Batter farm on the island.
The dispute, which was lost, went all the way to the Privy Council.
Berridge Spencer is as fiercely private as his father, who in the mid-1980s was New Zealand’s richest man. He started his own career as a hedge fund specialist, but he has always been passionate about the development of Man O’ War vineyards within the Stony Batter Estate.
The first vines were planted in 1993 and since then, 75 vineyards have been established on the farm. It’s now estimated to be worth in excess of $85m.
In 2005 Spencer took an active role in marketing Man O’ War wines in New Zealand and globally.
Next came opening Man O’ War Bay up to the public. A wedding chapel and pavilion opened early last decade, with Spencer using the venue in 2013 for his wedding to freelance fashion creative director Olivia Davison.
Since then, the bay has become a haven for boaties and tourists alike, offering a beachfront cellar door and restaurant.
Spencer grew up on the family compound on Clifton Rd in Takapuna. Since his father died in England in 2016, Spencer has been building a family compound for himself, his wife and their children on Stanley Pt near Devonport, on the land owned by his grandfather, Berridge Spencer snr.
It is understood the bulk of the work on the 1.5ha of waterfront land was finished in early 2021, with valuations of the property reported to be more than $50m.
Olivia lived in New York for 12 years working on luxury designer campaigns, including Lanvin, Mulberry and Vera Wang, before moving to London and then settling back here.
Last year, she worked on a campaign for charity Dove Hospice with photographer and wife of rich lister James, Olivia Kirkpatrick, aimed at encouraging Kiwis to shop second-hand. TV presenter Renee Wright and the uber-stylish Masako Hylands - mother of stylist Michiko - were among models showing off the cool collections.
The Spencers are also understood to have a holiday home overlooking The Hills, just outside of Arrowtown.
Last year Herald property editor Anne Gibson reported Spencer and business associate Mark Hiddleston had purchased a block of heritage properties in Devonport for redevelopment valued at $40m.
Soon after, OneRoof reported Spencer and Hiddleston purchased three lifestyle blocks in the Waikato for a total of $19.8m.
Man O’ War Forest Flight officially opened at the end of last month and it’s fair to say it’s the first time the paying public has got to see the immense scale of the Stony Batter estate.
Three tandem ziplines span more than 900m of the estate, connected by 660m of elevated boardwalk. The highest point is 210m above sea level, offering breathtaking panoramic views of Waiheke’s picturesque scenery.
Spencer isn’t the first rich lister to embrace eco-tourism - Topher Richwhite and wife Bridget Thackwray hope to open their Queenstown glow worm Eco-Cave in early 2027.
Multimillionaire director Taika Waititi has been accused of being tone deaf for his latest social media post promoting private MRIs in the US while Kiwis back home struggle to access healthcare.
Waititi joined a list of Hollywood A-listers, including Kim Kardashian, who have shown themselves on Instagram going for an MRI with start-up US healthy company Prenuvo.
“There’s this amazing app which shows you the results and findings of all the different parts of your body,” he wrote, giving his followers a discount code and letting them know it was a paid partnership.
“The aim is to see everything and deal with anything that might pop up. Preventive action baby.”
Prenuvo, which is growing rapidly with clinics across the US and calls model Cindy Crawford an investor, charges US$999 ($1640) to scan the torso, US$1799 for the head and torso or US$2499 for the entire body. It claims one in 20 scans result in a potentially life-saving diagnosis.
In Wellington, patients have reportedly waited for up to a year for an MRI with the public health system with only one scanning machine and not enough staff. Other areas have had long average waits according to data released to Radio New Zealand in July.
In March, Society Insider celebrated Waititi, 49, and his British popstar wife Rita Ora, 33, for scoring goodwill and fans all over New Zealand with “The Taika and Rita Effect” on Instagram.
His humour when promoting New Zealand businesses such as spa pool company Stoked Stainless and Land Rover NZ went down well. But the comments on his latest Prenuvo post have not.
Numerous followers commented that it was not his best moment, with one calling him “a sell-out” and another saying he was “out of touch”.
“Awesome man. Took me four months to get approved for an MRI for an active issue. Being rich seems great,” said one commenter.
“Love you Taika, but this is so tone deaf. Probably 99.9% of the people who follow you cannot afford and will never be able to afford this. This isn’t health, it’s wealth,” said another.
Other comments included: “It’s giving healthcare inequality”, “Did the scan reveal any integrity?” and “Sad to see this when so many can’t get healthcare in NZ”.
Another commenter referenced Waititi’s East Coast New Zealand roots. “How many of the whānau on the east coast are accessing that my bro?” the commenter wrote.
“Not even easy to see a GP down those ways, nice to see that a rich man like you will be ok, nice elite health.”
The negative comments were extensive, with one follower asking if Waititi had a PR agent and another querying why, after the backlash, Waititi had not taken the post down.
Waititi’s New Zealand representation declined to comment to Society Insider.
In New Zealand, a GP or specialist referral is needed for an MRI. The medical scans use magnetic fields to produce detailed images of organs, bones and other structures inside the body.
Companies like Prenuvo say their scans can help identify more than 500 medical conditions that can go undetected at a typical doctor’s visit.
Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) College medical director Dr Luke Bradford told Society Insider if patients have a few thousand dollars to throw around they are better off buying medical insurance.
Bradford says a full body scan is still some years off being a good way to gauge health.
“Such things as incidentaloma can show up on such scans, such as benign cysts, which may take you down a road of having them checked for the next five years,” says Bradford.
“A better approach to your health is to look at your genetics and lifestyle and focus on problems with your GP when they arise.”
In the same post Waititi assured his 3 million Instagram followers that, as he expected, he had no catastrophes and that he was going to live forever.
“The only thing they found that caused everyone a bit of panic was that I’m maybe too good-looking to be hidden away in a scanning machine.”
Waititi does still have his feet on the ground in Godzone. Late last month he was at Eden Park to see NZ gain its Guinness World Record for the world’s biggest haka.
And industry whispers say the king of the mockumentary is set to make a guest appearance in the fourth season of TVNZ+’s unscripted show Educators.
Last weekend during a Hawaiian holiday, Los Angeles-based fashion influencer Jaime Ridge announced she was pregnant with her second child during a beautifully-curated photo shoot.
She was pictured at the Kona Village Resort at Kahuwai Bay with husband Tommy Bates, their 2-year-old son Porter and Jaime’s mother Sally Ridge.
Tony Astle’s anticipated book launch
It’s the book that has many in society quaking that their past indiscretions might come to light.
The Godfather of Fine Dining, Tony Astle, celebrated the launch of his memoir Let Them Eat Tripe at The Wave Room at the Auckland Institute of Technology.
AUT has a special place in Astle’s heart after its culinary theatre was renamed the Tony and Beth Astle Culinary Theatre.
Bateman Publishing has been kind to customers of the Astles’ legendary Parnell restaurant Antoines, which closed in 2021 after 47 years.
The book’s cover blurb promises it will dish the dirt on the “crooks, lawyers, car dealers, stockbrokers, show-offs, corporate cowboys, lovely couples, warring couples, and the richeratti”.
However, names have mostly been changed by ghostwriter Geraldine Johns. So much so that Astle hinted at perhaps a second book.
The book delivers an insider account of the famous international superstar visits and the local society movers and shakers who visited the restaurant over its nearly five decades. Astle’s late wife Beth, to whom the book is dedicated, shines through the pages.
At the launch, the Pol Roger flowed and Astle’s quintessential cuisine was made into canape form, with guests a who’s who of the food world, including A-list chefs Simon Gault and Michael Meredith.
Astle’s old favourite politician, former Prime Minister Sir John Key, beamed in via video link because of US travel plans. Auckland Deputy Mayor and Antoines regular Desley Simpson was in attendance, and Astle’s new favourite politician, Education Minister Erica Stanford, gave a mighty speech which, she told Society Insider, her husband Kane helped write.
Rich listers of note included Sir Michael and Lady Sarah Fay, whose Great Mercury Island visits from Astle and his team make the pages.
As does the Pollock family legacy of the late Gordon and Renee Pollock at Antoines. Daughter Cara Pollock-Turner and husband, Sleepyhead mogul Craig Turner, who were freshly back from Barcelona, were there.
Cara’s sister Meegan Pollock was in Hawaii, but her daughter Georgette Pollock-Johnson stood in for her mum with her new fiance Raj Sharma.
Three talented New Zealand Gen Z entertainment entrepreneurs have taken their film to the US this week, to premiere alongside movies starring Hollywood A-listers Amy Adams, John Malkovich, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana.
Actor Richard Crouchley, writer, director and producer Logan Marshall and producer Huai Hsuan Huang are premiering their psychological thriller Seen at the San Diego Film Festival.
“Being accepted to compete out of 3500 submissions with no one big pushing it means that the film clearly speaks for itself,” Marshall tells Society Insider.
He says being accepted into the festival means the film has already begun to draw attention from the local and international industry.
“It has gotten us in the door with film executives to discuss the future of the film and our own individual careers.”
In San Diego, where the trio will share a stylish Airbnb, the objective is to sell and get face time with international cinematic and streaming distributors and sales agents.
After the festival, the trio will head to Los Angeles and couch surf at Kiwi industry friends’ houses for a few days, with Marshall and Hsuan Huang taking meetings with various industry professionals.
Crouchley stars as the pivotal character in Seen with a stellar Kiwi line-up of co-stars including Joel Tobeck, Lydia Peckham, Miriama Smith and Mirabai Pease.
With three movies under Crouchley’s belt, his NZ agent Johnson & Laird has been busy setting up appointments and he will also meet his US manager Ryan Bundra of LINK Entertainment in person for the first time.
Crouchley can be seen in cinemas in the acclaimed movie A Mistake, starring alongside Hollywood A-lister Elizabeth Banks. He will feature next in Pike River, alongside Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm.
When he was 18, Marshall was a runner and Hsuan Huang an assistant producer and translator on Disney’s big-budget Mulan, filmed in NZ five years ago.
And proving it’s who you know that really helps you get ahead in the world of movies, one of the film’s executive producers is Mario Iscovich, who has worked on Hollywood hits including Sister Act, Mulholland Falls and The Princess Diaries. Hsuan Huang worked with Iscovich when he went to LA to finish work on Mulan.
“Mario was incredibly impressed with Logan’s vision and the talent of the entire team, and has been a major support since then throughout post-production and as we move into international sales,” says Hsuan Huang.
The film was given a $60,000 feature film finishing grant by the NZ Film Commission.
The film centres on Crouchley’s character, a socially awkward outcast who becomes obsessed with a girl he meets online.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.
Prince George, 11, tapped Louis to remind him to stop waving.