Iconic swimming couple Mitch Larkin and Emily Seebohm’s July break-up was a split no-one saw coming – but it soon became embroiled in scandal when devastating claims Mitch had cheated on the Olympic swimmer arose.
Months on from their very public and rumour-ridden split, Mitch has spoken out in attempt to smooth over the messy situation – claiming the accusations he had cheated on Olympic gold medalist Emily were indeed false.
The rumours were born from a message exchange between Mitch and training partner Abbey Harkin, which Emily discovered on his phone a day before announcing their break-up on Instagram.
In an exclusive interview with Courier Mail in August, the 26-year-old said she “wanted nothing to do with” her former partner of two years.
“I just want to get on with my life, move on and want nothing to do with him and that is the best outcome,” the two-time gold medalist and Order of Australia recipient told the publication.
“I feel stronger than ever and ready to put all this behind us and move on with my life.”
Now, Mitch has stressed that he “absolutely did not cheat” on his then-girlfriend, and has spoken out about how the rumours and relentless headlines affected him.
“I can’t even comprehend that,” the 25-year-old told the Courier Mail of the allegations. “I’d go to bed positive, thinking I’d got through that day and then something else would come at me, another story saying the same thing … it was an emotional rollercoaster.”
The reason for the break-up, Mitch says, was that he had begun to feel “drained”.
“I said ‘this isn’t good, this isn’t what a relationship should be, it’s quite draining’. I came back from a training camp in Thailand and ended it. It was on June 9,” Mitch told the Courier Mail of the break-up.
He went on to say that Emily had “jumped to conclusions” on seeing the messages from Abbey.
“She was really emotional at the time and whether she had seen the conversation (on the phone) and jumped to conclusions,” he said.
“I said to her ‘I’ve never cheated on you … how do you think it’s physically possible for me to do it, we live together, you see me all the time. I don’t know where this was coming from.’”
He said the messages Emily saw were simply Abbey “checking in on him”.
“She knew me quite well and could see this whole situation was tearing me apart and it was nice to see that she cared enough to check in.”