‘I’m in a really happy place’: Nadia Bartel on fashion, finding herself and her ‘risky’ next step
Just over a year after she broke her silence about a scandal that made headlines, Nadia Bartel reveals new details about her personal life – and her unexpected next move.
Stellar
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Wearing a blazer with power shoulders and a miniskirt on the set of her Stellar cover shoot, Nadia Bartel speaks volumes with her wardrobe. After all, the fashion designer and businesswoman has a habit of making a statement through what she wears.
But this time, that statement is a very personal one – and brimming with as much confidence as the sharply cut piece of outerwear implies.
Just over a year ago, Bartel sat down with Stellar for her first – and, to date, only – interview about the white powder incident that took place during the 2021 lockdown, clearing the air about the leaked four-second video that changed everything for her.
Reflecting on the 13 months that have passed since that interview – which was, by her own admission, a turning point for the 39-year-old – it’s evident the Bartel of today is in a very different place.
This Bartel is much lighter and more self-assured. “It’s about taking the power back,” she says, speaking from her home in Melbourne.
“I just feel like I’m aligning to my true self and focusing on my future – who I want to be and who I am, and getting more confidence in myself. I guess I’m spending less time online and more time focusing on where I want to be.
“I just focus on what’s around me instead of what’s written about me or said about me, the negative comments and all that. I focus my energy on the people I’m with – the people who know me, my boys, the people who love me.”
Bartel’s new-found confidence extends to all aspects of her life, both at home and professionally. She is a mother of two sons – Aston, 8, and Henley, 5, whom she shares with ex-husband Jimmy Bartel (she and the former AFL star split in 2019 after five years of marriage, divorcing in 2021).
She co-owns Henne, a fashion label she runs with her sister Michelle Ring, which will expand outside of its Melbourne base with a new store opening in Sydney’s fashion mecca of Paddington next month.
That confidence has also prompted her to say “yes” to appearing as a contestant on the upcoming series of the Seven Network’s Dancing With The Stars. And on a personal level, it has led her to be more open about her private life – including her relationship with Melbourne-based businessman Peter Dugmore, 39.
While the pair have been together for two-and-a-half years, it was in Stellar last April that Bartel confirmed the romance publicly for the first time.
“It took me a while to share him on my socials,” Bartel admits. “It was nice to have that time, just him and me, and not have to worry about other opinions. I’m really private with that part of my life.”
Today she’s more forthcoming about their relationship. “I find in so many ways that we’re similar in the way we look at life, and the way we want to live our lives,” she tells Stellar. “He supports me. We’re good. He’s a kind person, which is what I look for in someone.”
But most important for Bartel is how Dugmore’s bond with her sons has grown in that time. “He’s great with the boys,” she explains. “It’s been really nice to watch that relationship form between them.”
Bartel celebrated her 39th birthday a few weeks ago, and she is already looking ahead to a new decade. “I feel like I’m in a really happy place and I’m excited about the next 10 years and what the future holds,” she says.
“The 40s are honestly the new 30s. I feel like you’ve got this whole new vibe going on – you’re not stressing about the stuff you used to stress about in your early 30s. You’re like, ‘OK, no, this is how it is, and I’m OK.’
“Looking back to when I was turning 30, I almost thought that was really old. Next year I’m turning 40! I don’t know if it’s because energetically I’m in a different place now, but I remember feeling so much stress back then. I was pregnant at the time, I wasn’t where I wanted to be in my career, and I didn’t have the house.
“All these things, I remember feeling crappy about it,” she adds. “At 30, I thought I’d have X, Y and Z. And in my early 30s I felt a lot of pressure.”
“Now as I approach 40, I feel like I’m in such a good place and so happy with where I am. And knowing that everything does happen for a reason, and it might take you a few years to realise that. I’m being true to myself instead of doing things I think I should be doing, or what makes other people happy. I’ll always do anything I can to make the boys happy, and be the best boss at work – but I need to look after myself.”
The need for perfection is something Bartel says she’s rightfully shed. “A year ago, when we were speaking, I was so focused on doing everything I could to have the perfect day: ‘I’ve got to meditate, go for a walk, do this, do that,’” she confesses.
“Realistically, being a mum, no day is ever perfect. We have challenging things that happen, and we need to have the resilience to come back and say, ‘It’s OK; I can be better tomorrow.’
“I think, probably, that’s what I’ve learnt in the past year and from everything that’s happened – that I have strength and resilience, and I can get through anything, even when I’ve had some pretty crappy things happen.”
As for life at home with her boys, she says, “They’re growing up so fast. Aston is eight going on 14. We have these deep conversations and he’s like my little bestie. Even in a year, he’s changed a lot. I can really see a difference in what he’s interested in. Henley started Prep this year; it’s been a big step for him. He’s got his own friends and he started Auskick [junior AFL] … It’s so cute. He was really excited for it. Every night there’s something on – they play four or five different sports between them.”
So are Bartel’s sons aware of her fame? “I don’t think so, to be honest,” she says. “They’re not exposed to it, really. They’re in their own little kind of world. They know about Henne. Aston is always asking me questions about it – they come into the office with me a lot. But I don’t think there’s an awareness about anything else. They know their dad played football, but with me they say, ‘People say they know you online.’ If they see something that looks like Henne, they’ll ask if it’s Henne.”
The label’s showing at Australian Fashion Week in 2022 and 2023 heralded it as a legitimate player on the fashion scene, and the brand received international attention when model and influencer Emily Ratajkowski was photographed wearing the label last August – a moment Bartel describes as “very surreal”.
“You put so much effort into making these pieces, there’s always that feeling that you’re putting all of your creative juices into making something and you don’t know if everyone is going to like it,” she adds.
“It’s only when it comes out that you see if people are liking it, buying it. And you don’t always get it right. But when you see someone on that level, where they have so many choices on what they could wear and they’re wearing your designs – it’s such an incredible feeling.
“We saw the results even before we posted about it on social media,” she says of Ratajkowski’s outfit choice of Henne’s Aurora shirt and Nico pants.
“Those items sold out instantly. You can really see the pull of those celebrities.”
With Dancing With The Stars set to air in the coming months, Bartel is preparing to show herself in a new light. “I was asked to join the cast in previous years but it didn’t align – the boys were much younger,” she reveals.
“I love music and dance, but I didn’t have any experience in it at all. I was always sporty at school but I’d never done anything like that. The show was out of my comfort zone. It was definitely harder than I thought it would be, and I definitely worked hard.”
The show’s rehearsal schedule pushed Bartel physically. “I did find it difficult at first – like wow, this is so many hours on your feet,” she says.
“It was really hard for me to learn the steps initially. It’s not like you’re just dancing – it’s more about your stance and if you’re in ballroom pose, the balls of your feet leading first, all this technical stuff. It was really tough getting my head around all those aspects and remembering the steps. It was full on.”
Bartel says she’s turned down other such roles “on so many shows, like so many over the years”, though she doesn’t name names.
“I’m very careful and I think it has to align,” she adds. “I wouldn’t do anything just for the sake of it.
“I’ve been asked to join quite a lot of reality shows, but I’m too scared. I can be quite shy. Even though some people might see me as outgoing, I need my alone time – particularly as I’m getting older and more connected to myself and what makes me happy. I can be quite shy in new settings, a bit more reserved.”
In any event, a move into television isn’t the endgame for Bartel.
“For what I want to achieve in my life, what I want to focus on is helping people,” she muses to Stellar.
“I don’t know how that’s going to look, but really helping women and building their confidence. I’m not sure if TV is the way to achieve that – maybe something else. I don’t know yet.”
See the full shoot and interview with Nadia Bartel inside Stellar on Sunday.
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