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Newly single politician Mark Latham has been spotted dining with recently retired escort Samantha X, whose real name is Amanda Goff.
The NSW One Nation leader and the woman once described as the country’s highest-paid sex worker spent about two-and-a-half hours together at a Sydney restaurant on Thursday night.
Latham, 61, and Goff, 48, were photographed eating and drinking through the evening at Toppi Bar and Restaurant in Martin Place before leaving separately after 10pm.
Newly single politician Mark Latham has been spotted dining with recently retired escort Samantha X, whose real name is Amanda Goff. The pair is pictured together
The NSW One Nation leader and the woman once described as the country’s highest paid sex worker spent about two-and-a-half hours together at a Sydney restaurant on Thursday night
Latham, 61, and Goff, 48, were photographed eating and drinking through the evening at Toppi Bar and Restaurant in Martin Place before leaving separately after 10pm
The pair was perched for most on the night on stools near the centre of the bar, picking at plates of crab linguine and beetroot salad as they shared two bottles of sparkling water.
Goff is a self-described hopeless cook and recovering alcoholic who has not had a drink in four years. Latham is a noted food connoisseur who last month accused a fellow MP of being ‘paralytically drunk’ in Parliament House.
She was wearing a black dress and high heels and carrying a tan handbag at the Italian diner on Thursday night. He was wearing a suit and tie.
One witness said the pair could be easily seen from the street and Goff was the only woman in the bar when she arrived.
‘If you didn’t want to be seen it’s not a place you’d go for privacy,’ he said.
Goff occasionally checked her phone and appeared to show the former federal Labor leader something on the screen at one point.
‘He got more animated as the night wore on,’ the witness said.
The pair was perched for most on the night on stools near the centre of the bar, picking at plates of food as they shared two bottles of sparkling water. Goff was wearing a black dress and high heels and carrying a tan handbag. Latham was wearing a suit and tie
One witness said the pair could be easily seen from the street and Goff was the only woman in the bar when she arrived. ‘If you didn’t want to be seen it’s not a place you’d go for privacy,’ he said
Latham left through the front door and headed up Martin Place to Parliament House. Goff tried to leave through a side exit but returned to the restaurant when she realised there was a photographer outside.
The mother-of-two was then escorted to the car park below the premises by a waiter who had been serving her and Latham during the night.
Goff told Daily Mail Australia she and Latham had met ‘a few days ago’ when she appeared on a podcast hosted by former NRL stars Eric Grothe Jr and Bryce Gibbs.
Latham, a noted food connoisseur, is pictured perched on a stool alongside Goff as they ate at Toppi on Thursday night. The pair dined on crab linguine and beetroot salad
A waiter came to add a touch of pepper to a plate in front of Latham and Goff at Toppi. ‘The funny thing is I’m a terrible cook and Mark, I didn’t realise, has written a cook book,’ Goff said. ‘So he was very interested in the food’
‘Politics is something I’m quite interested in and we went for dinner,’ she said. ‘That’s pretty much it.
‘The funny thing is I’m a terrible cook and Mark, I didn’t realise, has written a cook book. So he was very interested in the food.’
The pair ate their pasta and had a good time. ‘It was linguine, not love,’ Goff said.
‘I think we can safely say we’re just friends. God, I’m controversial enough.
‘First and foremost I’m a journalist. I’m fascinated by people and Mark’s one of those people I’m quite fascinated by. It was interesting hearing his side of life and politics.’
Latham confirmed: ‘It was politics, not passion’.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest otherwise.
Latham announced in a social media post on September 18 he had split from his wife of 22 years, magistrate Janine Lacy.
Latham digs into his meal as Goff watches on. A witness said she occasionally checked her phone during the night. The pair ate pasta and had a good time. ‘It was linguine, not love,’ Goff said
‘He got more animated as the night wore on,’ one witness said of Latham’s demeanour on Thursday night. Latham said: ‘It was politics, not passion’. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest otherwise
Latham (right) Goff (centre) were pictured together earlier this week when she appeared on a podcast hosted by former NRL stars Bryce Gibbs and Eric Grothe Jr (left)
The post caused wild speculation after the father-of-three described his marriage as having ended in ‘rather unique circumstances’.
He later clarified there were ‘no third parties’ and he had been referring to the pressures of Covid-19 lockdowns.
Latham and Goff were pictured together earlier this week when she appeared on Grothe and Gibbs’s podcast.
‘Me amongst all that testosterone,’ Goff wrote on Instagram. ‘…And lovely to meet fellow guest @marklathamsoutsiders – hard men on the outside, softies in the middle…’
‘First and foremost I’m a journalist. I’m fascinated by people and Mark’s one of those people I’m quite fascinated by,’ Goff said. ‘It was interesting hearing his side of life and politics’
‘Politics is something I’m quite interested in and we went for dinner,’ Goff said. ‘That’s pretty much it. I think we can safely say we’re just friends. God, I’m controversial enough’
Goff, who left a successful career as a magazine journalist to spend more than a decade as a high-class call girl, revealed in July she had quit sex work – and her Samantha X identity.
She told Stellar magazine she now felt shame over her stint as an escort and had changed her ways after being diagnosed with bipolar II disorder.
‘Now the fog has started to clear, I am ashamed of some of my choices, especially about going public,’ she said.
‘I don’t recognise the woman who did that and it’s mortifying for me.’
Latham left through the front door and headed up Martin Place to Parliament House. Goff tried to leave through a side exit but returned to the restaurant when she realised there was a photographer outside
Goff, a mother-of-two, was escorted to the car park below the premises by a waiter who had been serving her and Latham during the night
Goff told the magazine she had been ‘acting’ when she created her alter ego Samantha and had reclaimed the ‘very traditional and conservative’ woman she was at heart.
‘I felt invincible as Samantha,’ she said. ‘At the time, I had no issues with going public despite the shock from friends and family.
‘It was like I couldn’t understand their concerns. I was closed off to it. I was on some kind of high, which now I understand is mania.’
Goff was at one time Australia’s most recognisable sex worker, writing two memoirs and creating her own lingerie label and adult toy line, as well as starting her own escort agency.
Goff, who left a successful career as a magazine journalist to spend more than a decade as a high-class call girl, revealed in July she had quit sex work – and her Samantha X identity
At the height of her fame in 2017 she had a short-lived relationship with Channel Seven reporter Ryan Phelan, during which she hung up her stilettos.
Goff now says she has quit the world’s oldest profession for good.
‘I am not blaming my bipolar or saying it was all down to my bipolar at all,’ she told Stellar. ‘But would I have made those choices if I was diagnosed and medicated? Most likely I wouldn’t have been so public about it.’
Last month Latham wrote on Facebook: ‘In 2000 I married Janine and I thank her for the happy and loving years we shared together’.
‘But now it has ended (in rather unique circumstances). My priority now is my love for and dedication to the best interests of my children.’
Latham announced in a social media post on September 18 he had split from his wife of 22 years, magistrate Janine Lacy. He is pictured with Lacy and his mother Lorraine in 2004
Latham’s post 9above) caused wild speculation after Latham described his marriage as having ended in ‘rather unique circumstances’. He later clarified there were ‘no third parties’ and he had been referring to the pressures of Covid-19 lockdowns
Latham edited that post two days later with a clarification designed to end speculation about what the phrase ‘in rather unique circumstances’ actually meant.
‘Just to clarify: “In rather unique circumstances” was a reference to the challenges of Covid-19 and its Lockdown restrictions,’ he wrote.
‘There were no third parties. Janine and I remain on good terms, working co-operatively in the best interests of our children.’
In his original post Latham wrote that he wanted to move on with his life and to continue in public service, ‘particularly the forthcoming NSW election’.
He added that he wished Lacy, with whom he has two sons and a daughter, well.
Lacy was Latham’s second wife. He married his first wife, Gabrielle Gwyther, in 1991. They separated in 1997 and divorced in 1999.
Janine Lacy was Latham’s second wife. He married his first wife, Gabrielle Gwyther, in 1991. They separated in 1997 and divorced in 1999
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