‘Out of nowhere’: AFL great Campbell Brown splits from wife

AFL legend turned sports pundit Campbell Brown has reportedly split from his wife just weeks after she gave birth to their third child.

It's sad news for the Brown family. Photo: Instagram and Getty Images

AFL legend Campbell Brown has reportedly broken up with his wife of 10 years, Jess Johnston, a matter of weeks after she gave birth to their third baby.

Brown, who has since become a hugely popular sports pundit, played more than 200 senior AFL games and was a premiership winner with Hawthorn in 2008.

Campbell and Johnston were childhood sweethearts and had been together for 19 years, and have three boys together.

Watch every match of The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Live with no ad breaks in play on Kayo Sports. Join Kayo now and start streaming instantly >

The AFL legend is believed to have split with his partner just three months after she gave birth. Photo: Instagram and Getty Images

The star is the son of 2004 West Australian Football League Hall of Fame inductee Mal Brown.

Their shock break up comes just weeks after the birth of their son Bailey, who was born in late August, the Herald Sun reported.

“It’s all so raw and came out of nowhere,” a friend told the publication of their sudden split.

Brown, who turned 40 days after his son’s birth, excitedly welcomed Bailey into the world with a sweet Instagram post where he shared three adorable close-ups of the newborn and wrote: “Welcome to the world Bailey Jack Brown”.

In September, Brown posed for a sweet picture on Instagram with all of his children, however his wife wasn’t in the family snapshot, and hasn’t featured prominently on his profile since March.

When questioned about why they named their son Bailey, the sports pundit revealed at the time it was actually his wife’s choice and it had take some time to “grow” on him.

“It took us a while to pick out this name but it’s grown on me,’’ Brown told News Corp, sharing his excitement for the future. “We’re excited to have our own little footy team.”

The star moved into media after his AFL career ended in 2013, and appears on the likes of SEN, Channel 7 and the popular Browny’s Podcast with former Lions champion Jonathan Brown.

His sporting career ended in controversy following an off-field incident where after a pre-season camp in Arizona, Brown was accused of breaking the jaw of then teammate Steven May outside a nightclub in Los Angeles.

Brown was suspended, then released by the Gold Coast Suns as a result of the incident.

Earlier in the year, Brown came clean on the incident on the Ausmerican Aces podcast.

“I got into that dust up with Maysy,” Brown told host Tommy Sheridan on the podcast.

“And me and him flew back the next day. I’d apologised to him and he’d apologised to me. It wasn’t my intent to hurt him. It’s like when you have a fight with your brother or something – it’s just two big, powerful brutes.

“To my knowledge me and Maysy are fine. We don’t speak too often, but we see each other around the traps and he’s gone on to be an absolute superstar of a player. All-Australian, premiership star.”

Originally published as ‘Out of nowhere’: AFL great Campbell Brown splits from wife