Brendan Fevola: How winning I’m a Celeb & reuniting with Alex brought fallen AFL star back from the brink
HE got dumped from the AFL, lost $1 million on the punt, became bankrupt and got divorced. But love put footy bad boy Brendan Fevola back on track.
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REAL life is often far more fascinating than fiction, and the redemption of fallen AFL star Brendan Fevola, along with the rekindling of his relationship with ex-wife Alex, would out-rate any fabricated tale.
The clearly happy and relaxed couple have spoken candidly for the first time about reuniting, their at-times tumultuous relationship, how Alex always stood by her man — emotionally and financially even after they divorced — and how hitting rock bottom helped transform Brendan.
The public’s first glimpse of the “new” Brendan came during his winning stint on reality TV show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! earlier this year. His honesty and knockabout nature helped shift public sentiment and endear the 35-year-old former footy bad boy to the nation.
“We didn’t go into the show thinking we were going to get anything out of it, it was just like, ‘Go in there and see how you go’. It’s opened up a whole new chapter, which is amazing,” Brendan says.
Brendan’s observations on his life and relationship with Alex and daughters Mia, 16, Leni, 9, and Lulu, 6, to fellow contestants showed a gentle, loving and funny side to the two-time Coleman medallist, which previously only those closest to him had seen.
That was despite Alex’s adamant instructions not to mention her in any way, fearful of how she would be judged for returning to the relationship last October after officially divorcing two years earlier.
“I told him, ‘Do not say a word’. I was a little bit embarrassed and a little bit scared of being judged,” she says.
Much to her horror, on the very first episode Brendan started talking about Alex, 39, and he never stopped.
“I just sat there and I looked at my mum and I said, ‘What is wrong with him?’ I was at first horrified and I wanted to kill him, but I couldn’t even get in contact with him,” she says.
More accustomed to the negative feedback Brendan has received over the years for his off-field antics, Alex was overwhelmed by the outpouring of kindness and support.
“My fear of people judging me for being back with him was totally unwarranted because I had the exact opposite. No one has condemned me for it, everyone has said, ‘How wonderful that your family is back together and how wonderful you have been able to separate, work through your issues and come back together and reunite your family’.”
As the audience grew to love ‘Fev’ on the show, Alex’s admiration for him grew, too.
“I did have moments where I was actually really proud of him and I haven’t had many of those earlier on,” she says.
“I used to be proud of him when he played football because he was such an amazing player. But I think it was really a new feeling for me to be actually proud of him as a man and as a father and as a human being. He is actually such a good person in so many ways.”
Brendan’s path to redemption began long before his reality TV appearance, with much of it spent living in Yarrawonga in country Victoria where for four years he played football for the local team.
“In the country, living up there they don’t care who you are, how high you’ve been or how low you are, they treat everyone the same and they’re really laid back,” Brendan says.
“They’re real mates, true friends. I had so much fun up there with those guys, it’s a real leveller.”
Alex says his time in Yarrawonga was important for the friendship and support but also for the experience of living on his own for the first time in his life.
“What Brendan had been around you know, it can be quite a superficial environment, and that was refreshing for him and brought him straight back down to earth. It grounded him and chilled him,” she says.
“As much as it’s not nice some of the things we have been through together as a family and unfortunately the collateral damage for us wasn’t ideal, but for him as a person he needed to go through it.”
Brendan has admitted to losing about $1 million on the punt, declaring bankruptcy in 2013 and leaving the family penniless following a footy career with Carlton and the Brisbane Lions that earned him around $6 million.
Alex was forced to take her three daughters to live with her mum until she was able to get her idea for a beauty business off the ground. Driven by desperation and an entrepreneurial spirit, she now has four Runway Room salons, a training academy and her own Australian-made make-up range.
“We wouldn’t be in this position if she hadn’t started this business. It’s amazing that she did that by herself with three kids,” Brendan says.
Alex says despite the pain and disappointment Brendan caused her, she never completely abandoned him and continued to support him even once they were divorced.
“It was fortunate for us that the business went well, because even though we were separated I did have to support Brendan financially because he wasn’t making any money and I wasn’t going to turn my back on him, he was my children’s father,” Alex says.
“Although he wasn’t great with money, and obviously made some bad choices, he was also very generous when he was the breadwinner. We have always had that bond, although we were very much not together I felt an obligation to look after him because I think he would do the same for me.”
Brendan attributes Alex with helping him through his darkest periods.
“Alex has always been there and supported me and I think the one person that has always stuck by me. That’s pretty rare to have that. I don’t think it was always love but she believed in me,” he says.
Alex says despite everything she has always loved and cared for him.
“I knew he had such a goodness in him. His immaturity and his fame got in the way, it did turn him into a person who did some not nice things,” she says.
“There’s been times in the marriage that I don’t think he’d be proud of, he wasn’t always a great husband by any stretch, but I definitely believed in him and I always knew he was a great dad.”
Alex thinks in hindsight Brendan was too young when they met.
“To be married with three kids at 29 in this day and age is quite young. Add in the mix a huge ego thanks to everyone around you telling you constantly that you’re amazing and too much money, he had no respect for where it was coming from and where it was going,” she says.
Brendan hit rock bottom in 2010. Dumped from the AFL, he lost his job, his family, his lucrative endorsements and the trappings of the high life.
“I’ve learnt some pretty harsh lessons. To be at the top and hit rock bottom, it’s pretty tough,” he says. “I’ve learnt a lot of things along the way and now just getting back to level par, what normal guys do. I’m so much more appreciative of the journey I’ve been on.”
Since his return from the jungle in March, Brendan has now officially joined the Fifi Box and Dave Thornton show weekday mornings on Fox FM, co-hosts Dead Set Legends on Triple M on Saturday mornings and is fielding offers for several other opportunities.
“I was really worried at the start obviously with Fifi and Dave having the show for a long time and then coming in as that third wheel, but Fifi has been amazing. She’s very smart, switched on and very easy to work with,” Brendan says. “And Dave is just a genius, I mean, his comedy, I literally laugh at every one of his jokes!”
Back home, the couple’s children are thrilled about their reunion.
“Obviously for the children it has been, specifically for the littlest one, it’s like a dream come true. She can’t believe it,” Alex says.
Now they are back together the issue of getting remarried has been raised. “It’s not on the cards,” Alex says.
“That’s what she thinks,” Brendan quickly responds.
Alex smiles: “Things are good. The difference is this time we’re really working together as a team.”
ALEX ON REUNITING WITH BRENDAN
“It was definitely not a conscious decision, it wasn’t like let’s get back together, it just evolved into that.
Our families knew, but we were keeping it very quiet. Obviously because I was sceptical, I wanted to see how things were going and to give ourselves a chance without the outside judgment of people saying, ‘Oh you stupid woman’. I didn’t want that.”
ALEX ON GRATITUDE
“Back when he was playing football obviously there were lots of endorsements and free stuff, I think being young you can get very complacent. But I think having lost absolutely everything and then coming back up, I can see he is a lot more appreciative and a lot more grateful and respectful of it this time around,” she says.
BRENDAN ON LEAVING FOOTBALL
“People always say, ‘Oh do you miss football?’. No, I don’t because I’m really happy where I am now, and if I had have kept playing footy who knows what would have happened. You get hit by that stick and think I need to smarten up now and become a man.”
BRENDAN ON WORKING ON FOX FM WITH FIFI AND DAVE
“It’s like we’re in a car and we’re in a seven-seater and Byron (anchor Byron Cooke) drives the car, Fifi is in the passenger seat, she’s the top dog, and then Dave’s in the back doing his thing and I’m in the very back of the seven-seater and I chime in, and that’s how the car rolls every morning.”
BRENDAN ON SHARING FAMILY SECRETS ON RADIO
“It’s tough sometimes on Alex and the kids because I bring up stuff on the family and just about their life. I text her sometimes and say, ‘Are you listening?’ and she’s like ‘Yes.’ I ask her ‘Is it OK?’, she says ‘Yeah its good’ and I’m like ‘Phew’.”
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