Megan Pustetto, the brains behind So Dramatic!, has responded to Domenica Calarco calling her out on Instagram after the gossip site leaked the identity of her Italian fling.
WATCH: MAFS’ Domenica reacts to mystery beau’s identity being leaked
Speaking exclusively to WHO, Megan threw the Married At First Sight star’s accusations that So Dramatic! had breached his privacy back at her.
“I think it’s absurd that Domenica is complaining about having her boyfriend’s privacy invaded when she is the one who shared private information about him to her 500k+ followers in the first place, and had him as a guest on her podcast,” she says.
“That’s not the behaviour of someone who wants to protect someone’s privacy, in my opinion.”
From the first time Domenica spoke about the man, later identified as Andre Zitt, on her podcast she was clear that she wanted to keep his identity and some details of their relationship private. The pair have since split.
But Megan claims if she really wanted to keep her romance out of the public eye, Domenica never should have spoken about it to her massive following in the first place.
“It would have been very easy for Domenica to not share details about her new boyfriend with the public if she was truly seeking anonymity. Especially given they were overseas, it was only a casual fling,” she adds.
“If she didn’t choose to mention him, we would have had no idea who she was dating or that she was even dating anyone. You can’t divulge so much private information about someone or a topic whilst also requesting privacy, it makes no sense.”
Megan adds that she’s “shocked” Domenica didn’t expect the man’s identity to be uncovered given how much public interest there is in her and her relationships after her stint on MAFS.
She also suggests Domenica intended for the relationship to become public, claiming: “Domenica values attention … In my opinion, Domenica wanted this relationship to be public and her actions are to blame for it becoming public, and I am just her scapegoat.”
The Married At First Sight star lashed out at So Dramatic! on her Instagram stories this week after the site shared photos from Andre’s private Instagram account showing them together.
But Megan has no regrets about it, insisting any journalist would have done the same thing as the information and photos were “already out there in the public arena”.
Andre had been publicly commenting on Domenica’s posts and joined one of her Instagram Lives, details Megan says made it very easy for “internet sleuths” to track down online.
“Thinking that not one of 500k+ people [who follow Domenica] are going to see those comments and investigate further is extremely naïve,” she adds.
WATCH: Ella Ding and Domenica Calarco hit out at Olivia Frazer
Though she concedes that reality stars deserve to maintain a certain level of privacy in their personal lives, Megan notes that stars “can’t pick and choose” when they want media attention”.
“If you want to have longevity in this industry, you need to accept that you do not have complete control over how the media and the public report on and portray you,” she says.
“If Domenica had been actively trying to protect the privacy of her relationship i.e. not posting about him, talking about him, podcasting with him, etc, then the situation would have been very different and I would have respected her efforts at keeping the relationship out of the public arena, but her behaviour did not reflect that of someone wishing to be private.
“Put simply: you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
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