Courtney Thorpe details why she went public with her marriage breakdown

Gold Coast radio presenter Courtney Thorpe has detailed why she decided to go public about the breakdown of her marriage to NRL player Jarrod Wallace.

Courtney Thorpe has detailed the ongoing circumstances behind her decision to speak publicly about her separation from NRL player Jarrod Wallace.

After confirming the end of their two-year marriage in April, the presenter and former Miss World Australia spoke openly in June – first on her new podcast, More Than Just A Mum – about the difficulties of her life within the NRL amid claims Wallace had been unfaithful in their marriage.

She revealed how her life unravelled behind closed doors, including a long battle with post-partum depression and anxiety since the birth of their daughter in late 2019.

The pair first separated last September and had attempted to reconcile their marriage for many months until it became unsalvageable early this year.

Wallace declined to comment at the time.

Former Miss World Australia and presenter Courtney Thorpe said it was a difficult decision to share her marriage breakdown publicly. Photo: David Kelly

Speaking on her podcast on Tuesday, Thorpe said she had received many comments since June from people both questioning why she would share private details and also wanting her to explain her marriage breakdown in more detail.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be fully ready to share everything,” Thorpe, 32, said.

“As much as both of our lives have been public and our relationship and marriage was very public, there are some things that need to be private. It’s not to protect anyone other than the children involved.”

She clarified that there were a number of circumstances that led to her decision to announce the end of their marriage, with her podcast set to be released in May and rumours circulating on the Gold Coast about their separation.

“It was a really difficult decision to make,” she said.

“Jarrod and I always had our relationship out in the public. It was all over our Instagrams, it was in the media it was on TV – it was always a very public relationship and marriage.

“We’d been separated for quite some time, and I’d deleted him off my Instagram, which … for me was very cathartic and necessary.

“And I knew I was doing this podcast. That was what was the biggest push.”

Jarrod Wallace and Courtney Thorpe at the Moet Magic Millions Lunch in January, 2021. Photo: Andrew Meadowcroft.

“I had done a lot of soul searching as to what my role or what I felt my responsibility was going to be doing this podcast … and I wanted to be as real and authentic and honest as possible because that’s what I’m asking of other people, so if I don’t offer the same I felt like I was a bit of a fraud.”

At that point the pair had been separated for months and she said Wallace was “living a very single life very publicly” and while that was rightfully his choice “there was a lot of talk”.

“I thought, OK look, this is going to have to be addressed one way or the other and I’ve always been a big believer in being involved in the story because then you have a bit more of a say as to how it’s released,” she said.

“I also knew at that time there was a lot of talk that had started around the (Gold) Coast that was coming back to me, and I won’t have the ability to help make sure this is a respectful story.”

She added that “given the ins and outs of our whole relationship, and so much I haven’t spoken about, what I have shared I think was respectful. I know a lot of people don’t agree with that.”

“I have since gone through highs and lows,” she said of coping with the public response.

“It was a big sense of accomplishment, just putting my reality into the world and taking a bit of myself back.”

Thorpe, who works on radio on Hot Tomato on the Gold Coast, has now released 11 episodes of More Than Just A Mum, in which she interviews high profile mums about various topics on motherhood, to conclude the first season.