MAFS' Rhi Disljenkovic breaks silence on pregnancy rumours as she opens up about heartbreaking health struggle with endometriosis
The 35-year-old fitness blogger says she was left feeling 'disappointed' and 'self-conscious' after seeing online chatter suggesting she might be expecting.
'Honestly, it's disappointing,' Rhi told Daily Mail Australia.
'I put on a bit of weight during and after the experiment and I was already feeling self-conscious about it. So when people start speculating or comment like that, it doesn't just roll off your back... it actually hurts.'
The brunette, known for her bubbly personality, opened up further on MAFS co-star Carina Mirabile's This Is Chaos podcast.
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'Yes I'm not pregnant, although every article says I am,' Rhi told Carina on Monday.
'And I think the weight gain contributed to the pregnancy comments. Then I saw the comments about me putting on weight,' she said with an exasperated sigh.
Rhi appeared on Carina's podcast wearing a plain grey sweatshirt and track pants from her friend's self-titled streetwear clothing line, Mirab.
The season 12 fan favourite said the pregnancy speculation cuts a little deeper for her because of her chronic health condition.
One in nine Australian women live with chronic pain caused by endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside it.
There is no cure and the average time it takes to get a diagnosis is seven years.
Rhi was diagnosed 10 years ago, at age 25.
'Jeff and I definitely would like to have kids at some stage,' she said.
'Right now, we do want to focus on creating our home. We recently moved in together.'
'As much as I am 35 and I've got endometriosis, I was told at 25 I would probably have trouble having children.
'They actually told me when I had surgery... that I should have kids that year.
'But I was like, "I'm single".'
For the estimated 830,000 women living with endometriosis in Australia, medical insensitivity such as this is common, if not the norm.
'It just sucks that women have to explain their body changes all the time,' Rhi said.
'I've always been someone really proud of my body and someone [who is] confident in my body.
'I swear, men don't have to do that as much as we do.'
Rhi said she doesn't 'blame MAFS' for the weight she gained during three months of filming in the Sydney Skye Suites hotel.
'I can't fully blame MAFS because those habits continued on outside of MAFS. It's something that happened with my eating and my lack of steps. And sometimes you don't have the mental space to do those things,' Rhi said.
'There's this weird expectation that women have to explain any changes to their body - and the second we're not shredded or photographed well, people jump to conclusions like pregnancy,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'You never know what someone's going through, and even if someone was pregnant, it's such a personal thing.'
'It's not gossip - it's hurtful, and it can affect someone's mental health,' she said. 'We've got to do better.'
It comes just days after her co-star Jamie Marinos was forced to shut down similar rumours.
Jamie, 29, was photographed at a recent event in Melbourne wearing a form-fitting outfit, which prompted online speculation about a supposed baby bump.
The images, shared by @mafsgossip, included a shot of Jamie posing with Eliot - who she has been romantically linked to in recent months - wearing a sleek all-black outfit which seemed to hint at a small bump.
'Is it me or does Jaime look like she's got a bump?' one fan commented, while another added, 'Just don't know if it's a baby bump or photoshopped to look like it. But 100% it's a bump!'
But Jamie wasted no time shutting down the speculation, jumping into the comments to address the chatter directly.
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