Ellyse Perry and Matt To’omua end their marriage after four years
Australian cricket star Ellyse Perry and her rugby playing husband Matt To’omua have confirmed they have split up after their four-year marriage came to an end.
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Exclusive: Power sporting couple Ellyse Perry and Matt To’omua yesterday confirmed they had called time on their four-year marriage.
After months of speculation, Perry and To'omua released a joint statement confirming the split and also went to great lengths to point out the decision was mutual.
The statement read: “It’s with the greatest of respect for one another that we decided to separate earlier this year.
“We felt this was the right course of action and is in the best interests of each other and our current lives. This is something that has evolved and is a mutual decision.
Throughout our relationship we have remained private and we ask that our space and privacy continue to be respected during this difficult time for both of us.”
Perry’s appearance at the Australian Cricket Awards in Melbourne in February – where she won the Belinda Clark award for the third year running – without her wedding ring triggered speculation of the split.
The weight of two international playing schedules — Perry’s as a key member of the Australian Women’s Cricket Team and To’omua’s playing rugby for the Wallabies and Melbourne Rebels — was a difficult juggle for the couple.
The highly private Perry, who rarely discusses her inner circle, credits To’omua for helping her settle into public life as a “role model” and also as a key reason behind her emergence as the best all rounder in the women’s game.
“Sometimes I need people around me to remind me to keep enjoying the small things,” Perry said late last year.
“No one has done this for me more than my husband Matt. It’s no coincidence that I’ve become more successful in sport since I met him.”
She had followed him to Melbourne from her Sydney base last year when To’omua signed with the Melbourne Rebels.
The move to Victoria followed To’omua’s three-year stint in Leicester while Perry stayed in Sydney.
While Perry remains in lockdown in Melbourne, To’omua last night put on a masterclass to steer the Rebels to a 29-10 win at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday night.
Perry, 29, yesterday added: ”Throughout our marriage, we have had some very fortunate experiences that have spanned many parts of the globe because of our respective careers.”
“Some of those we’ve been able to share and others we haven’t.
“A lot of those experiences have been in particularly formative and influential parts of our lives and … the current circumstances of our lives have made our marriage unsustainable.”
The couple, who own a couple of coffee shops together, went public in October 2013, by appearing together at the John Eales Medal ceremony.
They were engaged less than a year later and then married in December 2015.
Originally published as Ellyse Perry and Matt To’omua end their marriage after four years