AFL news: Jimmy Bartel breaks silence on divorce to Nadia Bartel
AFL great Jimmy Bartel has spoken out about his divorce with Nadia Bartel with a rare comment.
The pair called time on their relationship in 2019 with both remaining tight-lipped on their divorce and marriage breakdown.
Now the former Geelong superstar has opened up and revealed why he stayed silent after the break up.
'There's nothing that I can do and say. And other people's opinions of me are none of my business. And so they'll form their own narrative, their own thinking or their own thought,' Bartel said on the A Life of Greatness with Sarah Grynberg podcast.
'The only thing that matters to me is the people that I care about and I just foster those relationships and it can be tough at times. You do want to bite back and you do want to respond … but people don't care, deep down they don't.
'The only people who care, are the people that actually care about you. And so that's all I worried and focused about.'
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Jimmy and Nadia on the Brownlow Medal red carpet in 2018. Pic: Michael Klein
The pair's marriage came to an end after five years in 2019. Pic: Instagram
The 41-year-old stated he would never speak publicly about the end of his marriage and what caused the pair to drift apart.
'I've never commented on anything to do about my separation. I never will because I just don't think it's needed. And so I just go about my business,' he added.
The former couple tied the knot in 2014 and were married for five years before separating, they share two sons, Henley and Aston.
'It's been a very difficult month for me and the boys,' Nadia said shortly after the separation.
'My single focus now is to continue to protect, care for, and provide for my two beautiful boys as this is a personal matter. I am so thankful for my very supportive family and friends.'
The pair have both since moved on with their love lives with Jimmy welcoming a baby girl into the world with his girlfriend Amelia Shepperd in April, 2023.
Nadia on the other hand went public with former footballer Peter Dugmore early last year with the pair said to still be going strong.
While Jimmy has remain tight-lipped about the divorce, Nadia opened up on the dark period last year to her Instagram followers.
'I felt like my life had ended, which is silly to think now,' the 39-year-old said in a video.
'You do think you'll never be able to date again – I know I did feel like that … having two small children and not having time for anything else.
'It was really hard for me as well because I'd been with my ex since I was 22 or 23, so to even think about dating again felt like the most foreign thing to me, and I didn't even know how I'd handle any of that.'
Nadia admitted she'd got to a point where she 'didn't even want to meet anyone'.
'I thought, 'I'm so happy with my two boys',' she said.
After a longtime of being closed off, Nadia opened up and said that for anyone who is struggling 'I really do believe it always works out.
'If you're going through something horrible (and) you can't imagine ever being happy again, and you feel like there's no future … things really do work out, it just takes time,' she said.
'It's nice to know you can have children, you can have blended families, and you can be happy.'
Bartel opens up on family troubles
The 2007 Brownlow medallist also detailed harrowing incidents from his childhood in the wide-ranging podcast interview, revealing his mother had been given a life or death ultimatum from his father.
Bartel in 2016 courageously went public with details of alleged domestic abuse he and his two sisters witnessed during their childhood.
The three-time premiership winner has been a brave advocate for mental health and domestic abuse issues and in 2016 wore a beard throughout the entire AFL season to raise awareness and funds for the 'Face Up To DV' campaign.
His father Terry died in 2010.
He said his parents separated when he was just one, but it was his father's alleged violence towards his mother and others in the family that opened his eyes.
Jimmy Bartel. Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.
According to Bartel, his father had problems with alcohol and gambling addictions.
Bartel shared traumatic details of one alleged incident when he was aged 14.
'Even though my parents had separated, he'd come around home and my mum had placed an (apprehended violence order) AVO on him, he came around and told her to lift the AVO or else he was going to take mum,' Bartel said.
'And he did. He took my mum out of the house and took her. I remember looking out the lounge room window and he was taking my mum and I only found out until I was older, he was taking mum out to the back of Geelong and pretty much gave her the ultimatum, either remove the AVO or this is the end for you.
'And so it was a tough decision for my mum, do you leave three kids with no mum or you come back home and you remove the AVO and you try and manage things a different way.
'So it was, it wasn't until I was older, you know, in your teenage years where you start to work out, hang on, this is not the hero that you want as a dad.'
The terrifying incident resulted in Bartel striving to become a better father to his two sons, and now daughter, in the wake of what he and his family went through.
Despite what his mother endured, the AFL icon said she never said a negative word about his father.
Another lesson he took on board and why he continues to keep details on his relationships close to the chest.
Originally published as AFL great Jimmy Bartel breaks silence on divorce to Nadia Bartel
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