Former Married At First Sight (MAFS) star Ella Ding recently announced her pregnancy in a sponsored Instagram post, but what should have been a joyful reveal quickly sparked an online backlash.
One of the most prominent figures slamming Ella’s choice to make the announcement as a sponsored ad was her ex-bestie Domenica Calarco. Ella defended her decision to Chattr, saying that every woman should have the right to announce their pregnancy news in the way that they want to.
Now, Dom has taken aim again, dragging Ella’s brother into the mess in a bombshell Instagram comment under a post Pedestrian.TV published about the whole ordeal.
“Nah just pissed cos she needs MORE money after her and her brother stole from me. It’s okay, the story is coming,” Domenica wrote, without sharing any more insight on the allegations.
Ella defends her choice to do a sponsored pregnancy announcement
In Ella’s original pregnancy announcement, she included a photo of a Clear Blue pregnancy test, and her followers noticed that she’d used the hashtag #Ad, which is a disclosure meaning that it’s a paid partnership. Some of her followers criticised her choice to make money off the announcement, and Domenica jumped in on the pile-on (more on that below).
Ella told Chattr that she was surprised by the negative reaction she received over the post.
“I wasn’t even expecting that kind of response, because I think that every woman or mum-to-be is entitled to whatever way that they want to announce, and people announce in the craziest ways,” she said.
“I feel like doing a partnership with Clear Blue is not really like that shocking, because it’s been something in the magazines for years, but also when the opportunity did come to me, Clear Blue were the ones who genuinely told me that I was, we were having a baby. So it just felt like it really aligned for me,” she explained.
“I really hope that people can respect that, and everybody’s entitled to their own ways of announcing,” Ella added.
What else did Dom say about Ella’s sponsored pregnancy announcement?
Ella, who shared the happy news on May 20, faced trolls online for deciding to make the announcement with a sponsored post in collaboration with the pregnancy test brand.
Among the many critics was Domenica, who in a comment said: “Even has to monetise her pregnancy announcement. Some people will never change. Wow.”
When asked for the tea, Domenica responded: “Oh it’s coming don’t worry, just putting it all together”.
Other commenters were quick to criticise the post too, saying: “Doing a sponsored ad to announce a pregnancy is the most embarrassing thing I may have ever seen on Instagram.”
Domenica hasn’t held back on her feelings about Ella’s sponsored post. On her own page a follower called Domenica for “slagging off Ella”, saying that she would be supporting Ella if they were still friends.
“Before I knew what a money hungry loser she was,” Domenica responded. Ooft.
We reached out to Domenica for comment, but she did not respond.
Ella Ding shares a pregnancy post with Courtney Stubbs
Another twist in the MAFS pregnancy war between Ella Ding and Domenica Calarco is that Love Island’s Courtney Stubbs and MAFS’ Evelyn Ellis have popped out of the woodwork to support Ella. It’s even more awkward when you realise Courtney is engaged to Dom’s ex MAFS husband, Jack Millar. Messy, messy.
ICYMI, Ella announced her first pregnancy on May 20 but faced criticism for raking in some cash from pregnancy test brand Clear Blue at the same time. One of the loudest critics was her ex-best friend, Dom, who is also pregnant.
However, in a show of support (or shady move, it’s up to interpretation), Courtney and Ella posted an Instagram reel showing off their pregnant bellies paired with Clear Blue tests.
“Can’t believe we get to do this together,” Courtney wrote, alongside the video of them showing off their baby bumps.
The commenters weren’t having it, with one saying it seemed “a bit insensitive” towards Dom.
“This feels off, I’m sorry Dom,” one person wrote.
“This is weird and feels more of a dig at Dom than two ‘best friends’ celebrating,” another added.
“This one doesn’t land well… love and light to the babies but the video is a bit insensitive, you knew what you were doing here,” a third wrote.
However, Ella told Chattr that Courtney is a good friend of hers, and they were just excited to share their pregnancy journey.
“Jack and I have stayed very close since MAFS, whether it’s I’m flying to Sydney to catch up with him, or he’s coming down to Melbourne for work, and Courtney, obviously, is Jack’s partner, so we’ve all grown to become very strong,” she explained.
“We actually ended up telling each other [about the pregnancy] on the phone at the same time, it was like, Holy shit, are we is this like, really happening?” She said.
“It was just so funny, I wish we could have filmed that phone call. And then recently, I was up there for Jack’s 30th, so we got to kind of all celebrate, you know, being pregnant. And yeah, it is a really special thing to be able to share it with someone.”
MAFS’ Evelyn Ellis defends Ella’s sponsored pregnancy post
In a surprising turn of events, MAFS star Evelyn also commented on a TikTok about Ella’s sponsored pregnancy post and defended the reality TV star for making some cash off her unborn baby.
“I’m not going to lie, having a baby is expensive. Why not collect a cheque and set up your kid’s future? Life is expensive,” Evelyn wrote.
“I agree not everything is about money! But Ella is not hurting anyone with what she decides to do! We should all respect people’s decisions and not judge.”
Dom and Ella’s friendship breakdown
This isn’t the first time that Domenica has called Ella out for some questionable sponsorship behaviour. On May 18, Domenica chimed in on a TikTok conversation about Ella potentially scamming people with a new Range Rover competition.
Ella was criticised because she claimed she was giving away a 2026 Range Rover model when the car is actually a 2024 model. Domenica entered the comments section to weigh in and this is where things get spicy.
“I have to constantly block them [the ads],” Domenica commented. “Let’s just say she scammed me. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, but when I do, this will all make sense.”
This is a far cry from the once inseparable besties, who even found success with their own podcast Sit With Us.
Although, it’s that same podcast that was ultimately their undoing when the two faced backlash last year for an interview with controversial MAFS stars Jack Dunkley and Tori Adams.
“The breakdown of our friendship really started when the backlash from Sit With Us happened, I think we had very differing opinions and views on the way to handle the situation,” Domenica said on her solo podcast Mad Woman.
What a sad end to a friendship we were all rooting for.
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