The ex-husband who later married Poh Ling Yeow’s best friend Sarah Rich was Matt Phipps, not Jono Bennett. The distinction matters: Bennett was Yeow’s second husband, and the two separated in 2021. Yeow has described needing space when Phipps and Rich began dating, but later accounts portray the relationships as complicated rather than a simple tale of instant acceptance.
Who was the ex-husband who married Yeow’s best friend?
It was Matt Phipps, Yeow’s first husband. A 2017 feature by The Australian Women’s Weekly reported that Yeow and Phipps had been married for nine years and that Phipps was then married to Sarah Rich, whom the feature described as Yeow’s best friend.
The confusion comes from a 2024 PerthNow headline that names Jono Bennett. Its article body identifies the ex who began dating Yeow’s friend as Phipps. Bennett is a different person in the chronology.
How did Yeow respond when Phipps and Rich began dating?
PerthNow’s 2024 account of Yeow’s appearance on The Imperfects podcast says she wanted about three weeks of space after learning that Phipps and her friend were dating. The report quotes Yeow saying, “Just leave me alone for like three weeks.” It also attributes to her the view that turning the situation into a major issue would feel like going backward.
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That response should not be mistaken for proof that the breakup was painless. In a 2025 retrospective, Mamamia described the first-marriage breakup as painful and reported that Yeow eventually let go of resentment. The profile also said she invited Phipps to live across the street; those details are part of Mamamia’s later account.
Where does Jono Bennett fit in?
Bennett met Yeow through MasterChef and later became her second husband. Accounts of their relationship say they separated in 2021, but continued working together and remained friends. That is separate from Phipps’s later marriage to Rich.
The 2017 Australian Women’s Weekly feature also makes clear that the situation involved more than a simple “love triangle.” Bennett said he initially felt jealousy and insecurity about Yeow’s friendship with Phipps, and that the group had to work through those feelings. He described it as “my own personal issues of confidence in myself and jealousy.” Phipps, meanwhile, questioned the expectation that former partners should hate each other.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the story does—and does not—establish
The reported chronology is clear: Phipps was Yeow’s first husband, Rich was her close friend, and Phipps and Rich later married. Bennett was her second husband, and their separation came in 2021. The available accounts also describe strain, jealousy and a need for space alongside later amicability and friendship.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThose accounts do not support treating Yeow’s reaction as an uncomplicated endorsement from the outset. Nor do they justify assigning Bennett the role of the ex who married Rich. The headline error is resolved by separating the two relationships and keeping each person in the right part of the timeline.
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