Gina Rinehart Calls ‘House of Hancock’ TV Film ‘Tacky’ And False, Finds Ally in Estranged Son John Hancock

Gina Rinehart has called out Nine Network CEO David Gyngell over the “tacky” and “grossly distorted” telemovie “House of Hancock,” which told the story of the Hancock dynasty on Saturday. The iron ore magnate has also found an unlikely ally against the TV film in the form of her estranged son John Hancock.

On Saturday, the highly anticipated “House of Hancock” has aired on Nine, starring Mandy McElhinney as Rinehart, Sam Neill as Lang Hancock, and Peta Sergeant as Rose. The two-part miniseries follows the drama that unfolded within the Hancock family when Rinehart married an older man against her father’s wishes, and when the patriarch married their Filipino maid Rose, who was decades younger than him.

But for Australia’s richest woman, the telemovie was a “disgraceful grab for ratings” that did not carry the truth about her life. There was a scene when Lang told a young Rinehart that no one would love her for who she is, but her father never told her anything of the sort in real life. Rinehart also blasted the show for claiming she was on her honeymoon in Las Vegas when her mother died, and she allegedly did not come back even after hearing the news. That never happened, according to Rinehart.

The network didn’t even bother checking up with Rinehart with the facts, Hancock Prospecting’s executive director Tad Watroba told the Diary. According to Watroba, he sent three letters to Gyngell, the CEO of Nine Entertainment Co., but the telemovie still aired.

“I have repeatedly written to Nine’s CEO David Gyngell and told him this miniseries is full of untruths and falsehoods and yet no one has ever bothered to check anything with people who were there prior to broadcast,” he said, adding that the network produced a “tacky” project that contains scenes that are “false, grossly distorted or never occurred.”

In “House of Hancock,” Neil portrayed Lang as a difficult to please father who cruelly taunted Rinehart about her weight. He called his own daughter various names, most memorably a “devious baby elephant” in the show. These were the scenes that hoped to provoke sympathy for Rinehart, and judging by the reactions on social media, the show succeeded in that regard.

John Hancock, Rinehart’s son from her first marriage to Greg Milton, also disproved the events depicted in the show. Together with her sister Bianca, John, who changed his name from Hayward (Milton’s new name) to Hancock, is engaged in a legal battle against their mother over a $5 billion family trust. But despite their estrangement, John insisted Rinehart is “not unlovable,” as she was called in the TV film.

“Yes, she can be too stubborn at times for her own good and, yes, of course my grandfather loved her and I love her,” John told Perth Now of his mother. “Greg and Frank [Rinehart] did too. My grandfather and mother were extremely close for many years and especially so at the end. There was a relatively short chapter when Rose entered his life, but despite disagreements during this period he would sign even heated letters, ‘Love Dad.’ I never heard and can’t see my grandfather saying ‘unlovable’ towards my mother.”

Rose, who now goes by her husband’s surname of Porteous, previously said she would not be watching the show. “Why would I want to see such a thing? I don’t know these actors.”