Edwina Bartholomew breaks silence on 'devastating' tweet

Edwina Bartholomew has broken her social media silence on what she described as an ‘errant’ tweet about Nine reporter Seb Costello in September.

The since-deleted tweet sparked an uproar prompting Nine and Seven to issue public statements, but now the woman behind the tweet has spoken from her own social media.

On Friday night, the pregnant TV star ‘unreservedly apologised’ to Seb Costello and his family.

“On 14/9 I made a statement on Twitter about (Seb Costello),” she wrote.

“While I won’t repeat it, what I said about him was false, hurtful and completely inappropriate.”

The original tweet has not been republished over fears of legal proceedings being undertaken by either Seb or his network Nine.

The Sunrise reporter, who is expecting her first child, finished off with a thorough apology.

“I unreservedly apologise to Seb and his family for the hurt and offence my words caused,” she wrote.

Seb Costello has not yet responded to the most recent tweet.

The tweet that started the scandal

The scandal kicked off after Edwina posted the offending tweet in response to a Nine News Melbourne story reported by Seb, the son of former Australian Treasurer Peter Costello.

Edwina, who was on assignment in London, tweeted, “Surprisingly articulate for a (censored)”.

It is believed the tweet was deleted after just 50 minutes, and the words have been censored in screenshots for legal reasons.

Edwina’s responses so far

It’s not the first apology from Edwina, who expressed her regret to the Herald Sun at the time, however, it is the first public statement posted to her social media.

“I was half asleep and on the other side of the world,” she told the Herald Sun.

“My apologies to Seb and all involved. No offence was intended and hopefully none was taken.

“It was clearly a mistake and the errant tweet has been deleted.”

It was also reported that the presenter personally apologised via voicemail to Seb Costello, according to Peter Ford, who told 6PR he spoke with the journalist in the wake of the scandal and convinced her to give her peer a call.

“I spoke to her last night in London,” he told the station. “She’s panicking about it and she’s distraught about it.”

He added that the TV and radio presenter has not responded.

Limited word from Seb Costello

Since then Seb, has kept extremely tight-lipped over the incident, speaking publicly about it just once.

Following the tweet, Seb revealed on radio that he heard of the tweet while away with family, and would be in talks with his lawyers in the immediate future.

“Well, and that’s probably why I can’t say too much... I’ll be talking to lawyers today and that’s all I’ve got to say,” he told Eddy McGuire on Triple M’s Hot Breakfast Show, where he presents the news.

“I’ll move on and do my job.”

‘Legal action’ being considered

Though the exact words are unclear, the tweet prompted enormous backlash online, with reports Channel Nine was considering legal action against the Sunrise reporter.

TV Blackbox reported the news that Nine was holding legal meetings about the Tweet, though neither Nine nor Seven have made any public statements about any legal action going forward.

Nine did acknowledge the Tweet in a statement to The Australian, labelling it ‘devastating’.

“Seb and Nine are devastated and shocked at the damaging and false nature of this personal attack on a public platform,” they said in a statement.

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