Jess Eva blindsided by fiance’s secret marriage

The Block star was head over heels in love with a man – before discovering his “bossy” nature hid a jaw-dropping double life.

Jess Eva has opened up about her ill-fated engagement to a man she later found out had not one, but four secret wives.

The Block star and radio host, who has been with current fiance Norm Hogan for 10 years, opened up to news.com.au podcast Kinda Sorta Dating about her romantic past.

“Look, I’ve got father issues so a lot of my relationships were quite quick,” Eva joked to host Jana Hocking. 

“I had three guys that were gay that were long term partners. One guy had sex with me with his eyes closed, I thought he was enjoying himself but he was thinking of men.

Jess Eva and her now fiance Norm Hogan, who she has been with for 10 years.

“The other one I went to sleep with and he couldn’t get an erection and he said everything happens for reason, and I thought it was because I wasn’t beautiful but it turns out it was because I wasn’t a man.”

One of Eva’s other long-term relationships was with a man she met while working in a resort in one of the most idyllic destinations in the world.

“I was engaged to a guy over in the Maldives. He had four wives and I was in line to be his fifth and I had no idea,” she said

“I was a snorkel guide and he was a surf guide … we were going to live the rest of our life on an island and have little Maldivian babies.”

Eva said she became engaged to the Maldivian man after meeting at a resort they both worked at Picture: Instagram/Jess Eva.

Eva says she was “in love with the idea more than the guy”, who became “more and more controlling” as their relationship progressed.

His behaviour became extremely toxic after he told Eva she was “not allowed” to go for a drink with her cousin and she defied him.

“One of his friends came to me, which was a really big thing in the Maldivian community for someone to speak out against someone in the community,” Eva said.

But as his behaviour became more toxic, one of his friends confessed he secretly had four wives. Picture: Instagram/Jess Eva.

“(They said), that you just need to know that he’s got four other wives and you’re in line to be his fifth.”

While uncommon, the Maldives is one of a handful of countries which allows men to have more than one wife.

Eva was eventually able to leave the relationship but admits it “took me years to regain my confidence”.

“Thank goodness it happened to me when I was young, I feel that with youth comes a little more resilience and a little bit more naivety of what the world is like,” she said.

Originally published as Jess Eva blindsided by fiance’s secret marriage