Betty Who has always sung about love — her first single in 2014 was the acclaimed “Somebody Loves You” — and now she’s becoming the face of love as the host of a brand new dating reality show. The Australian singer will host a new Amazon Prime Video reality dating series The One That Got Away, premiering on Friday, June 24. While the title sounds like it could be the name of one of Who’s songs, the show will center on six people who are given the opportunity to explore missed connections from their past in the hopes of a real love connection.
Who (whose real name is Jessica Anne Newham) hasn’t needed any elaborate dating scheme to find a partner: she’s been in a happy relationship since 2014 with Zak Cassar, to whom she got married in 2020 during lockdown after a three-year engagement. Cassar, the son of 24 director and producer Jon Cassar, is an LA-based photographer that Who reportedly met when he photographed one of her tours. Cassar’s Instagram is filled with portraits of Who, meaning she’s still a muse for him all these years later.
The pair posted about their engagement in November 2021, though the posts have been since deleted from both profiles. Cassar’s post reportedly read, “Yesterday I proposed to my best friend and my soul mate @bettywho We both blacked out and don’t remember what we said to each other in the moment,” he wrote. “I was planning this for a while but nothing seemed more perfect than having family and friends together when we got engaged” while Who’s caption said, “Okay @zcassar I GUESS I’ll marry you 👰🏼💗🤵🏽Now my best friend has to work 100 times harder to get rid of me. I am the luckiest girl in the world today and every other day just because I know you. Let’s OWN this marriage thing.”
Though the posts were deleted from both profiles, it seems like the pair is still in a healthy relationship: Cassar posted about Who’s June 20 appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden on June 17, and Who commented “yesssss on our way up honey” on the Instagram celebrating both her booking and his first Late Show photograph.
But love hasn’t always come easy to Who. In a 2015 interview with Refinery29, the singer lamented about the difficulties of dating on the road: “I don’t casually date. I definitely don’t Tinder. Finding a person who’s understanding is almost impossible. I’ve had two boyfriends in the last two years, and they’ve both been wonderful,” she said. “I’m really grateful for the experiences I’ve had, but I’ll tell you what: Breaking up on tour is the worst thing in the world. I was on the floor of the House of Blues [Chicago], in the greenroom sobbing on the phone, breaking up with my boyfriend... You don’t have the time to grieve a relationship. But also, like, how many albums am I gonna write about the fucked-up relationships I had? I think that’s kind of the artist’s lot in life, to not have normal relationships, because you have to fuel the fire somehow.” Based on the timing of the interview and the omission of his name, Who and Cassar were likely only in the initial stages of their courtship.
Considered a queer icon, Who also officially came out in October 2018 when defending her status in the LGBTQ+ community. A fan asked if she felt “exploitative” by pandering towards the community while in a heterosexual relationship and Who replied saying, “Not that I should have to justify myself to you or anyone, but I have been in relationships with both men and women. I have been deeply, earth shatteringly in love with both men and women. Just because I happen to be engaged to a man doesn’t mean that I haven’t found a home within the gay community.”
The One That Got Away is Who’s first television hosting role after starring in the HBO Max film Unpregnant. She also recently released her first single in two years with “Blow Out My Candle,” committing to her life plan of working hard before settling down. The singer divulged to Refinery29 that she was most excited about the prospect of motherhood: “My business plan is to basically work really hard for the next, like, eight years, so when I go, ‘I’m gonna go have a bunch of babies with this man that I love,’ I can go do that.” Now that she’s found her life partner, perhaps a baby will be the next announcement for Betty Who.
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