Nadia Bartel opens up to Stellar on split with former AFL star Jimmy Bartel

She never thought she'd break up with ex-AFL star Jimmy Bartel - and Nadia has taken a "pounding" on social media since the split.

Fashionista and mother-of-two Nadia Bartel has revealed the personal toll of her public split from ex-Geelong star Jimmy.

Opening up to discuss the split for the first time, the business owner and social media influencer told Stellar: "This is never what I thought would happen."

Asked for any particular reason for the breakdown of their five-year marriage, Bartel demurred before admitting: "Every day is tough."

The days and weeks after the split went public included Nadia having to endure Australia discovering Jimmy had moved on with another woman, Lauren Mand.

Jimmy Bartel has moved on from Nadia with new flame Lauren Mand. Picture: Instagram

The Brownlow Medallist and his new flame are now open about their relationship, while Nadia was left hearing from social media trolls who told her Jimmy had upgraded.

It took a toll. "Being from Melbourne, football is so big here," she explained. "I was used to the negative attention I get in my situation. I do put things on social media, so I've put myself out there ...

"(But) I was at the hardest point in my life and then to have articles written that weren't true, and to have hundreds of hate (comments) on Instagram and the continual pounding ... it was difficult.

"Just because (you) date or are married to a sportsperson, people think you're fair game; you can say whatever you want. If you look at any other industry, do you critique their partner like that?"

But according to close friend and fellow football WAG Rebecca Judd, Nadia has got better at navigating the medium.

"I think over time she's learnt to block and delete the trolls and focus her energy on the people who matter in her life," Judd told Stellar. "She's resilient and does a great job of getting on with it."

Bartel, who has been brought on as an ambassador by fashion brand Witchery for its annual White Shirt campaign, which donates all proceeds of sales of its white shirts during May to ovarian cancer research, is focusing her energy on raising sons Aston, four, and Henley, one.

"I want to continue to be the best mum and role model for my sons," Bartel said. "They are amazing and such a gift, and I want them to have a really happy childhood. I plan to do everything I can to make that happen for them."

And even after the wrenching past few months she still believes in love. "It's incredible and amazing - and nothing beats it," she said.

Nadia Bartel copped an ugly backlash on social media after her break-up. Source: Duncan Killick, Stellar Magazine.

Read the full interview with Nadia Bartel in the latest issue of Stellar, available in today’s Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun.