AFL champ Jimmy Bartel breaks silence after new love match, shock split revealed
AFL champ Jimmy Bartel has broken his silence after the breakdown of his marriage to social media influencer Nadia. It comes after his new love interest was revealed, days after the couple’s shock split was made public.
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AFL champ Jimmy Bartel has spoken out after the public airing of his marriage breakdown.
On 3AW’s pre-match coverage today, Bartel broke his silence and called for “a bit of respect and privacy” for himself and his family.
“It’s not great, but I am probably not going to provide any commentary on it,” Bartel said.
“I know I am in the public eye and people are interested, but it is a private matter and I ask for a bit of respect because obviously Nadia and the boys (are) involved.”
The Brownlow medallist also vowed to continue his high-profile work in the AFL for the remainder of the season, despite the breakdown of his personal life.
“I still enjoy coming to work and I love working with everybody in football. I love the game so I can’t see why I wouldn’t keep showing up for work,” he said.
It comes after the new woman in Bartel’s life was revealed yesterday.
The Brownlow medallist is understood to have started seeing Melbourne socialite Lauren Mand recently.
Sources close to the triple premiership player and his social media influencer wife Nadia say they separated in early July.
It’s understood the split was acrimonious, with Jimmy and Nadia still not communicating.
Mother of two Nadia is believed to be indignant over Jimmy’s new relationship with statuesque blonde Lauren.
“They’re not talking,” a friend of the estranged couple said on Friday. “It’s definitely over. She (Nadia) is completely blindsided.”
It comes as a heartbroken Bartel hit back at an online troll who mocked her split with husband Jimmy and taunted her about his new lover.
She took aim at a man late Friday after he said former AFL star Jimmy had “upgraded to somebody who has a real job and an actual personality”.
”Will you be catching Jetstar anytime soon or too concerned you will run into one of Jimmy’s new flames,” the comment said, with laughing emojis.
It added nastily that his new love interest had “ a real job and an actual personality, two things you may have to obtain now rather than living off being a WAG and blogging”.
Nadia dismissed the cruel gibe and accused the person who left it of being fake.
“And it’s a fake account,” she wrote to her 550,000 followers, after a supporter slammed it for being a “cold-hearted, unnecessary and insensitive thing to say”.
Nadia is now on the Gold Coast on a pre-organised work trip, while her husband of five years is at their Melbourne home with their two sons, Aston and Henley.
Jimmy is believed to have moved out of the marital home several weeks ago. Friends say Nadia has gone to ground as she focuses on the welfare of her sons moving forward.
Cracks began to appear in the relationship when Jimmy returned from a trip to Wimbledon last month, sources say.
VEILED SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
The split emerged earlier this week after Nadia posted a cryptic quote on Instagram, which she has since deleted.
“People who resonate with your energy will always be there. Y’all are on the same frequency you are aligned together. It’s a soul family. Know your members. You know who you are,” she wrote with a kiss.
Nadia has this week been filming on the Gold Coast, posting a picture of a sunny canal on Thursday.
She said she was “shooting at this gorgeous location” but the post was quickly removed when news of her shock split broke.
Nadia and Jimmy have unfollowed each other on social media. They have also recently been spotted without their wedding rings.
AFL GLAMOUR COUPLE’S HISTORY
The two met in at the Australian Grand Prix in 2008 and wed in a lavish ceremony on the Bellarine Peninsula in February 2014, after he popped the question on a private Mexican beach.
Their first son Aston was born in November 2015, while Henley was born in October last year.
Nadia posted the last picture of her and Jimmy together, at a wedding, in June.
Jimmy’s final post of Nadia was in May, on her birthday, which was also Mother’s Day.
MORE: INSIDE THE LIVES OF GLAMOROUS BARTELS
BARTELS DITCH RINGS AS SPLIT CONFIRMED
Now a radio commentator, Jimmy, 35, played 305 games for Geelong in a stellar career spanning 14 years, during which he won the Brownlow Medal in 2007 and the Norm Smith Medal in 2011.
Nadia, who is close friends with Rebecca Judd, started the popular lifestyle blog The Chronicles Of Nadia and also runs a successful online fashion business called The Connection. Neither party has addressed the split publicly.
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