Jesinta and Buddy wedding: Columnist who advised them to ‘slow down’ wishes couple all the best

THE surprise news of the A-listers’ nuptials brought a smile even to Annette Sharp’s face and made what some last year called her poisoned heart leap with joy.

Buddy Franklin and Jesinta Campbell: They do.

AND they lived happily ever after.

The wedding news for Swans star Lance “Buddy” Franklin and model Jesinta Campbell will be celebrated across the nation by hundreds of thousands of AFL fans and a legion of Campbell’s young female followers who aspire to be as beautiful, famous and loved-up as the one-time Miss Universe aspirant.

The wedding news even brought a smile to this opinion columnist’s face and made what some last year called my poisoned heart leap with joy.

The happy couple share the moment with guests. Picture: Instagram

OK, that’s an exaggeration. My heart didn’t leap so much as warm at the news.

Some of you may recall that 13 months ago I wrote a column headlined “13 Reasons Jesinta and Buddy Should Postpone Their Summer Wedding”.

To say it provoked a negative response in the wake of Franklin’s health crisis is an understatement.

I was branded heartless, callous, insensitive, vile, careless and a long list of shorter, more primitive terms across social media and by commentators in the traditional press.

The celebrity couple managed to keep the hitching a big secret.

I was verbally pummelled for cautioning the couple to slow down and evaluate Franklin’s recent mental health diagnosis — and other talk that plagued the footballer — before being pressured into a marriage that could prove lucrative for the celebrity couple and their minders if they accepted the huge six-figure sums being offered for exclusive rights to cover their wedding.

Campbell and her then manager, with whom she split this year, had stated previously the wedding was planned for last summer, just weeks after Franklin was ruled out of the AFL season finals and into rehab by his Swans bosses.

Annette Sharp wishes them well. Honest.

While it would be arrogant to imagine my column influenced the couple’s decision to postpone their wedding, they did indeed delay, giving them a chance to evaluate their hopes and dreams for a positive future.

It’s a future they now face legally bound to one another, yet hopefully with greater maturity for having taken an extra year to cool their heels, evaluate Franklin’s health needs and work on his recovery, and without eager supporters with vested interests elevating his anxieties.

It would seem, in the end, Mr and Mrs Franklin chose not to sell their wedding to the highest bidder and kept the intimate details of their romantic day private — privacy being something they have learnt to cherish.

Buddy and Jesinta’s relationship is the idealised celebrity union. Their beauty, fame and popularity make our celebrity economy tick.

As a result, as media, we too are invested in it. We should want their relationship to be a success. I know I do.

Congratulations, Buddy and Jesinta. I wish you many years of happiness together.