Jesinta Campbell was her now-husband Buddy Franklin’s pillar of strength and support when he stepped down from playing in the AFL finale series last year after battling with mental health issues.
Now, in a new interview, the 25-year-old newlywed is opening up about her own private mental health struggles, revealing that she regularly seeks professional help to “download all my worries and stresses”.
“I am not ashamed to say that I see a professional regularly myself,” Campbell told OK! Magazine.
“I don’t have any fear of talking about it and being open about my mental health or helping those around me feel more comfortable talking about it.”
The model and presenter said she feels “so much better” after every session.
Campbell has previously revealed that she struggled to cope emotionally during her 29-year-old husband’s mental health crisis last year.
“When he [Buddy] was in care I was by myself for four weeks,” she said during a Women in Conversation roundtable for David Jones earlier this year.
“My family were all away, I did everything by myself. I did not drop a single one of my work commitments. I showed up. Sometimes I was a nervous wreck before showing up.”
She’s also admitted that she is “much stronger” in the public eye than she is in private.
“There have been a lot of times that I’ve had my full hair and makeup done and I’ve had to go and get it touched up because I’ve been in tears on the way to work,” she told Kate Waterhouse in an interview at the end of last year.
With the couple’s difficulties playing out so publicly, it’s no surprise they wanted to keep their nuptials a secret: Jesinta and Buddy married over the weekend in a super-secret, beautiful ceremony in the Blue Mountains.
See more photos from the couple’s big day!
Top Comments
I have so much admiration for Jesinta, who seems mature beyond her age with her wisdom and compassion. Completely agree that there is no shame in seeing a mental health professional - in fact, it's the responsible, wise thing to do. We need more down to earth women like Jesinta as role models for young women. I wish Jesinta and her husband all the best!