Inside the scandal and forgotten tragedy that surrounded troubled socialite Annabelle Price before her sudden death

1 week ago 5

Sydney socialite Annabelle Price had a troubled romantic history prior to her sudden death aged 34 - none more so than with her ex-husband, Fredrik 'Freddie' Blencke.

Price's body was found in a unit in Maroubra last Sunday after Eastern Beaches Police Area Command responded to reports of a welfare concern at a Wride Street property.

NSW Police previously said that while a crime scene was established, there were no suspicious circumstances and a report was being prepared for the coroner.

Since then, details of Price's past have resurfaced after it was revealed that concerns for her welfare were raised in November last year.

Her most recent confirmed relationship was with Tom Fennell, the managing director of investment group Tama Capital. After their engagement ended, it's believed Price became isolated from her friendship circle.

But years before linking up with Fennell, Price was married to 53-year-old private wealth adviser Blencke, with whom she shared two children.

Annabelle Price had a troubled romantic history prior to her sudden death aged 34. She is seen here with her former husband, private wealth advisor Fredrik 'Freddie' Blencke

The pair split in 2020 after what was said to be a tumultuous relationship which included accusations of assault.

Blencke, who had maintained his innocence, was cleared of assaulting his wife and breaching an apprehended violence order in 2022.

However, he went on to have another run-in with the law later that year when he was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, drink driving in the NSW Northern Rivers region.

Blencke blew a reading of 0.183 when police stopped his silver Mercedes-Benz on February 26, 2022, while he was on strict bail conditions not to consume alcohol.

He had already spent Christmas and New Year in jail for breaching his bail conditions that stemmed from the charge of assaulting his then-wife Price on August 16, 2021.

Blencke was subsequently disqualified from driving for nine months and a two-year interlock order was put in place to prevent him from drink driving. He was also fined $1,000.

Before calling time on their marriage, Blencke and Price had tied the knot in an intimate wedding at Maison des Polytechniciens in Paris.

Price was the financier's second wife, after he was previously married to Lucinda Rich.

Price's body was found in a unit in Maroubra last Sunday after Eastern Beaches Police Area Command responded to reports of a welfare concern at a Wride Street property

The former couple suffered a terrible and well-documented tragedy in 2011 when their three-year-old son Harry died after being run over by his mother in a freak accident.

The boy ran behind a BMW being reversed by his mother outside the family's Rushcutters Bay unit block.

Rich reportedly believed her husband and their two young sons had just walked off to go to a nearby park, but the toddler had returned chasing a loose soccer ball.

Blencke and Rich's other son, then four, had been playing ball with his brother moments before the accident occurred.

A neighbour attempted to revive the child, but he was later pronounced dead after paramedics rushed him to The Children's Hospital in Randwick.

His parents held his funeral at St Mary's Church in North Sydney, which was covered in an emotional Daily Telegraph dispatch by the journalist Paul Kent.

Rich later shared a fundraising initiative with her loved ones to help raise money for a new habitat at Taronga Zoo in honour of her late son.

'We have decided, in our healing, to contribute to a very special project, to raise funds to create a new habitat at Taronga Zoo – for the endangered Lemurs – a charismatic and playful creature whose habitat has been severely compromised in its homeland of Madagascar,' she wrote.

Price was the financier's second wife, after he was previously married to Lucinda Rich (pictured together in Sydney in May 1995)

'Harry's Lemur Forest will be a tribute to our innocent and happy little Harry, who is so greatly missed – and will bring such joy to other children and especially to his Big Brother Christo,' she added.

It's unclear when Rich and Blencke decided to separate, but the financier would later remarry Price.

A few years after Blencke and Price's 2020 split, she was romantically linked to financier Fennell, who was 14 years her senior.

Known for his lust for life, Fennell was previously married to prominent South African-born socialite Vanessa Jacobs Fennell, who was once reportedly considered for the cast of The Real Housewives of Sydney.

One tabloid previously described him as the 'Hugh Hefner of the East'.

His 'quickie' engagement to Price set eastern suburbs group chats ablaze in 2023. Reports later suggested Price and her two children had moved into Fennell's Rose Bay home.

However, their relationship is believed to have 'ended quickly' and on poor terms later that year, and Fennell's apartment has since become a bona fide bachelor pad.

Meanwhile, Fennell's ex-wife Vanessa, 54, found herself in unrelated legal trouble last year after she crashed into multiple parked cars with her Range Rover.

She was pulled from her badly-damaged SUV by concerned onlookers following her crash at Bellevue Hill in Sydney's east on March 21, 2025.

Her most recent relationship was with Tom Fennell, the MD of Tama Capital investment group. After their engagement ended, it's believed Price became isolated from her friendship circle

Vanessa had been spotted earlier that day at a lively lunch with fellow mums from an elite eastern suburbs boys' school.

After police arrived, the mother-of-two blew positive at a roadside breath test and slapped a police officer as she was led away from the scene.

Earlier this year, Vanessa convinced Judge Mark Williams at Downing Centre Court to record no conviction and slap her with 12-month conditional release orders.

Her offences are negligent driving, assaulting police, refusing to submit to a breath test and failing to give her particulars.

If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.