Fact-checking Tracey Jewel: The three controversies that won't go away.

Since appearing on Married at First Sight earlier this year, 35-year-old Tracey Jewel has steadily remained in the headlines. From her relationship and subsequent break up with fellow contestant Sean Thomsen, to leaked text messages, to the launch of her latest book, This Goddess Means Business, Tracey has been the focus of a great deal of media attention.

The latest attention, however, focuses on a number of claims made by the reality star, author and professional speaker, that don’t appear to add up.

Now, we’ve fact-checked the controversies that seem to refuse to let go of Tracey Jewel.

The cervical cancer scare

In April this year, Tracey referred to her experience with cervical cancer in an Instagram post. Thanking her hairdresser, who she said has been doing her extensions for years, Tracey added, “Hair never grows back after cervical cancer the same way”.

Speaking to YahooBe! later that month, Tracey said she was diagnosed with stage zero CIN3 cervical cancer eight weeks after her daughter Grace was born.

“Unfortunately that meant I couldn’t breastfeed after that,” she said, “which you know, was quite traumatic to go through that when you’re a new mum, especially a first time mum”.

I’ve been getting my @greatlengthsaus hair extensions from my gorgeous friend @naomipanizza_thestudio for years! (Hair never grows back after cervical cancer the same way) thank you for always being so amazing and making my hair look fabulous! #wakeupready #hairextensions #nobedhair #hairfordays

A post shared by Tracey Jewel (@traceyjewel_ify) on Apr 13, 2018 at 9:33pm PDT

According to Dr. Brad McKay, it’s crucial to note “CIN3 isn’t cervical cancer – it’s the step before getting cervical cancer.”

“Treatment of CIN3 involves removing the abnormal cells from the cervical,” he told Mamamia. “Depending on the extent of abnormality, we will either use cryotherapy to freeze the abnormal cells, or perform what’s called a ‘cone biopsy’ to cut out the abnormal cells. These procedures are only performed locally on the cervix and do not alter any other part of the human body, particularly not hair growth or breast tissue.”

When Mamamia contacted Tracey for comment, she said, “My comment [regarding] my hair was taken completely out of context by the media.”

“My comment was relating to body and hormone changes from pregnancy, breastfeeding and going through two lletz procedures 6 weeks after giving birth.”

The mum-of-one also said the reason she was no longer able to breastfeed was because “the stress of it all” caused her milk to dry up.

“I have never made false claims of cancer or anything of the sort,” she said.

Plagiarism

In the most recent issue of Woman’s Day, Tracey is accused of writing a story for Kidspot earlier this year that was very similar to an article that appeared on YourTango in 2015. It now appears the piece Tracey wrote for Kidspot has been taken down.

The publication also stated there were distinct similarities between an article Tracey wrote for 9Honey in May 2018 and extracts from a 2015 blog authored by Emma [last named retracted] called Kisses in Chaos, which belongs to her ex-partner’s wife.

Mamamia found the two articles. These are the last three paragraphs of each:

The many faces of a mother – Emma, 2015

And those of you who are mothers know that you worry about your children the second they leave your sight – so there is NOTHING part time about mothering, even if they do leave your care for two nights.

Whether you’re a biological mother,a foster mother, a step mother or an adopted mother, you work damn hard for your children. And that’s all it should be about. At the end of the day, the word MOTHER is the predominant word in any of those titles.

You rock my world girls, and I love ALL three of you more than the sun, the moon and the stars.

There is nothing part-time about being a mum – Tracey Jewel, 2018

And those of you who are mothers know that you worry about your children the second they leave your sight – so there is NOTHING part time about mothering – even if they do leave your care.

Whether you’re a biological mother, a foster mother, a stepmother or an adopted mother, you work damn hard for your children. And that’s all it should be about. At the end of the day, the word MOTHER is the predominant word in any of those titles.

You rock my world Grace, and I love you more than the sun, the moon and the stars.

Speaking to Woman’s Day, Tracey said, “What I wrote was written before Emma’s blog date, and I have the document time-stamped on my laptop at home, but I’m travelling at the moment.”

Emma told Mamamia her side of the story.

“On 26 October 2015 I wrote a blog post which discussed the blending of my biological children and my step daughter and my role as their mother – and that whether they were with me in the house, at school or somewhere else, that the role I undertook for them was unconditional and all-consuming,” she said.

“I mostly forgot about it, until, on Monday 7th May a link came up in my web browser on the Channel 9 Honey website, apparently written by Tracey Jewel called ‘There’s nothing part-time about being a mum’. As I read through it I realised it sounded somewhat familiar. When I kept reading I felt it sounded VERY familiar. I referred back to my own online blog post and realised that she had copied entire paragraphs – word for word.

“The fact that she claims to have written it first is insulting and hurtful.”

When Mamamia contacted Tracey and asked whether she believed Emma had plagiarised her, Tracey said, “As Kisses in Chaos is a blog written by my daughter’s stepmother this is a private family matter but no [plagiarism] has occurred from either side.”

University qualification

On her LinkedIn profile, Tracey Jewel lists Curtin University (2001-2004) under ‘education’, and according to Woman’s Day, she told Kyle and Jackie O in June she “took four years to complete a three-year uni degree”.

The Curtin University graduations database, however, does not return any results for Tracey's maiden or married name.

When Mamamia asked Tracey whether she did graduate from this degree, she said, "I have a university degree".

These controversies raise a number of questions - perhaps ones that will eventually be answered. But currently, they're issues that refuse to go away for Tracey Jewel.

And you have to ask: why?