MAFS’ Michael Brunelli and Martha Kalifatidis’ raw update: ‘Things have been heavy’

“The truth”: MAFS golden couple Michael and Martha have publicly shared their recent struggles after finding fame on the hit show.

Michael Brunelli and Martha Kalifatidis. Picture: Instagram

Michael Brunelli has shared a raw and honest update about his personal life with Martha Kalifatidis, admitting “things have been heavy lately”.

The pair, who first met on Nine’s Married At First Sight and have been together ever since, regularly post about their life to their hundreds of thousands of followers – but in honour of Kalifatidis’ 37th birthday recently, Brunelli got even more candid.

“Martha carries a lot, for me, for Looch, for everyone around her. She doesn’t complain, she just keeps going even when she probably shouldn’t have to,” Michael said.

“The truth is things have been heavy lately. We’ve been juggling work, parenting, pressure like everyone else.

“Some days feel like we’re running in opposite directions. Snapping more, laughing less. So for her birthday we decided to stop, not run away, just step out of the noise.”

Their TV wedding aired in 2019. Picture: Instagram

They’ve built a huge fanbase in the years since. Picture: Instagram

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“We cooked, we swam, we talked about everything and nothing at all,” Brunelli said in a voiceover, which accompanied a video of the family’s holiday.

“It didn’t fix all the stress but it reminded us of what matters. We made a memory that will outlast any present. So happy birthday babe, I love you always and thank you for everything.”

The couple have been engaged since late 2021 and are parents to two-year-old Lucius, born in February 2023.

They are parents to a son, born in 2023. Picture: Instagram

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Brunelli’s emotional confession comes just a couple of weeks after he took to Instagram with similarly honest update about his life.

Sharing a sweet, smiling picture of himself with his son, the fitness trainer admitted that he’d “barely recognised” himself in the mirror recently, and had realised that he was “not where [he] should be … physically and mentally.”

“My gym bag has dust on it, the veggies in the fridge are untouched, and the steps haven’t cracked 10,000 in months. It’s like I’m physically here, but in a thousand other places mentally,” Brunelli wrote, adding that while being a dad was a “massive part” of his purpose, he’d “stopped being much else” – and that he missed the younger version of himself.

“I’m posting this as a wakeup call to myself. To get back into it. To start living healthier again. To find my passion again. To keep moving forward again.”

He finished up the post by acknowledging that his son and Martha “deserves the best” version of him and reminding others that “it’s never too late to make a change”.

Brunelli and Kalifatidis are among the most popular couples to emerge from the controversial dating show – and one of the few who have stayed together – earning themselves legions of fans over the years.



Originally published as MAFS’ Michael Brunelli and Martha Kalifatidis’ raw update: ‘Things have been heavy’