After a lengthy period of undergoing IVF, Real Housewives of Melbourne star and practicing psychic medium, Jackie Gillies, finally gave birth to twins in October. Although, her journey towards the family she now has was anything but conventional.
Jackie met her husband, Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies, in the 1990s, when the pair were both teenagers. They re-connected in 2010 and married very quickly after, with Jackie claiming that she manifested the relationship.
This is their rare love story, from meeting at TAFE in Newcastle through to the birth of their delightful twin sons.
Who is Jackie Gillies?
Jackie Gillies was born Jakica Ivancevic on 11 June 1980 in Split, Croatia.
Known best for her appearances on the Real Housewives of Melbourne, the 43-year-old emigrated to Australia with her family when she was just a few weeks old, with her father, Ivan, teaching himself to read and write in English in order to procure a job in the mining industry following the family settling in Newcastle, New South Wales.
“My dad, Ivan, shaped the confident, independent woman I am. He taught me to be truthful, straightforward, and to push through anything in life,” Jackie told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2019.
“He told me that money would always come and go in life, but your character would never change.”
One of four siblings, Jackie first realised she had psychic abilities when her sister started dating a man who would turn out to be allegedly abusive.
“When Angela started seeing this guy, I had a vision and rang my mum, Svetlana … I told her, ‘Angela should not be with him because he was going to hit her,’ which he did, and in 2013 he almost killed her,” Jackie previously told The Sydney Morning Herald.
After joining The Real Housewives of Melbourne in 2014, Jackie has been able to share her abilities and encourage others to listen to their own intuition on a wider scale – going on to publish her self-help book Shine it Up and her manifestation and mindfulness programme TransformU.
Who is Ben Gillies?
Born on 24 October 1979, Ben Gillies is best known as the former drummer of the Australian rock band Silverchair.
Growing up in Newcastle, New South Wales, Ben teamed up with fellow Newcastle High School classmates and Silverchair members Daniel Johns and Chris Joannou in the early 1990s, with the three-piece band releasing their debut EP Tomorrow in 1994, which rocketed straight to #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
In May 2011, Silverchair announced that they would be taking an “indefinite hibernation” from working together as a band. He has since gone on to release solo records in both 2020 and 2021.
How did Jackie and Ben Gillies meet?
The story of how Jackie came to know Ben is particularly unique and leaves us wondering if her psychic abilities may have been at play from a young age.
“I had a Silverchair poster on my bedroom wall and I had written, ‘I love you and am going to marry you,’ under his head,” Jackie previously told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Jackie’s adoration of Ben was not uncommon for most Aussie girls in the 1990s, given just how big Ben’s band was, and the pair crossed paths at a local TAFE.
“I was 15 and Ben was 16 when I met him through a music industry course. We didn’t know Silverchair had paid for the one-day-a-week TAFE course – it was their way to give back to Newcastle,” Jackie said.
“Ben was a larrikin who would flirt with me, but I was a good girl and didn’t flirt back. They came to many classes, so Ben and I became friendlier.”
Jackie and Ben lost touch after the TAFE course and didn’t reconnect for another 14 years when they ran into each other at a house party.
They married in their native Newcastle in 2010 at Christ Church Cathedral, with fellow members of Silverchair in attendance, and lead singer Daniel Johns acting as best man.
Ben revealed in another chat with the Sydney Morning Herald that they’d kissed for the first time two days before he proposed to Jackie.
“’We were lying on the beach under the stars with some wine and I remember thinking to myself that I don’t want to be on my death bed and turn around and think, ‘that was the girl who got away’.”
Do Jackie and Ben Gillies have children?
Jackie Gillies and Ben Gillies have two children – twins Bonham and Rocco.
Although they married more than a decade ago now, the pair struggled to begin a family – which Jackie spoke about quite candidly on The Real Housewives of Melbourne.
“I keep thinking about the memories, going into the scan and hearing the heartbeat and then… the next time you go in it’s not there anymore. You think, is there something wrong with me? Can I not bear a child?” Jackie said on a season five episode of RHOM, following multiple rounds of IVF which resulted in a number of miscarriages for the couple.
“Any woman who has gone through a miscarriage knows it’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever experience. I remember I was crying in my room for two days.”
In the end, their patience paid off, and Jackie became pregnant with twins in early 2021. Speaking to WHO following her return to filming, Jackie said, “When I was first asked by producers to come back for a fifth season, I said no at first because I was going through IVF at the time and I wasn’t in the right headspace to do it. I wouldn’t have been an asset to the show,” she admitted.
“But then, when we got the green light to film after COVID-related delays, I said to myself, ‘You know what, Jacks? There are not enough women who speak out publicly about the realities of IVF. You’ve got to do it.’”
Jackie and Ben welcomed their twins in October 2021, but Jackie held off on sharing their gender or their names at first, instead opting to talk about her birth story first, on her podcast, Shine it Up with Jackie Gillies.
“I have two babies that I now have to look after the rest of my life – which I’m so excited about – but I’m still freaking out about it! It is the most joyous, unconditional love I’ve ever felt. And seeing Ben, oh my god,” she gushed over the mic.
“Listen, I’m still struggling with breastfeeding and I’m still trying to learn everything, and it will take a while. I’ve just got to give into the process and do what works best for me and our babies. But, god us women can do amazing things. I have to say this is one of the happiest, happiest days of my life. Everybody says their own children look beautiful, but they really are gorgeous,” she said of her twins.
What are Jackie and Ben Gillies doing now?
Following the conclusion of their time on The Real Housewives of Melbourne, Jackie and Ben Gillies have dipped their toe into the world of reality television,
In 2018, Jackie entered the jungle to compete on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, with the star being evicted from camp shortly before the grand finale.
Following a break from the television world, Jackie and Ben have returned to reality TV to compete in the 2023 season of The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition.
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