Zoe Hendrix and Alex Garner met on MAFS in 2015. This is what their lives look like now.

Five years ago, we watched Zoe Hendrix and Alex Garner get hitched on the very first season of  Married at First Sight.

Although they’re no longer together, their three year relationship is still one of the show’s more successful pairings and they continue to co-parent their three-year-old daughter, Harper-Rose.

From Zoe’s public struggles with postnatal anxiety, to their split in 2018, this is what Zoe and Alex’s lives look like now.

Watch the latest promo for the 2020 season of Married at First Sight. Post continues below.

Why did Zoe and Alex separate?

After welcoming their first daughter, Harper-Rose on November 14, 2016, the couple announced their separation two years later.

Zoe, 30, broke the news on Instagram on April 17, 2018.

“It is with sadness that Alex and I would like to state that we will be separating for now,” she wrote. “We are determined to ensure our beautiful daughter Harper-Rose continues to receive the unconditional love and nurturing she deserves from the both of us.”

 

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???? @alex_garner_

A post shared by Zoe Hendrix (@zoehendrix) on Apr 17, 2018 at 1:16am PDT

Alex, 34, shared his own message on Instagram, stating that their separation was “civil”.

“Zoe and I both went into this experiment with open minds and really hoping to find a partner to share our lives with,” he wrote. “We share the most important thing in both of our lives Harper Rose and will continue to love her and be the best parents possible.

“Although Zoe and I have separated our relationship is Civil.”

Reflecting on their split two months later, Zoe gave more context behind their breakup, stating that it perhaps wasn't a mutual decision.

“I never thought that the man I love so much would one day walk away,” wrote Zoe in 2018. “But he did.”

"I never thought I would find myself single in a queen size bed. But I do."

While the pair have successfully co-parented their now-three-year-old daughter, Zoe has spoken about the challenges of their situation.

Appearing on the Single Mother Survival Guide podcast in October 2018, she said: “Last night, I picked her up, and I just thought, ‘This is not healthy’, as in, this system.

"When you break up with someone, you’re meant to go your separate ways.

“You’re meant to just be out of each other’s lives. Like, fully gone. It’s really almost like a cruel system to have to see that person so regularly. It’s not right, but it has to happen like that.”

Zoe on meeting her biological family after 22 years:

After being abandoned at an Ethiopian orphanage along with her twin brother, Micael, at the age of five, in 2018 Zoe had the chance to meet her biological family.

In May, Zoe announced she would be flying to Ethiopia to meet her uncle, writing: “After 22 years of wondering about our biological family, I recently have been advised that my twin brother and I have a living uncle (a priest) who has come forward and is willing to talk."

“A living family member who will (finally) be able to provide us some answers. Answers to questions like, who was our mother? What is her story? Is she alive? Who is our father?” Zoe wrote in an Instagram post (below.)

 

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A post shared by Zoe Hendrix (@zoehendrix) on May 18, 2018 at 1:24am PDT

Tragically, months later, Zoe would learn that her mum had died before they could reunite.

"The longing for my mother sits like a heavy rock at the pit of my stomach," she shared. "I flew almost 22 hours to hear she is dead."

"I want those mundane, glorious simple things I’ve forever dreamt of from my mother. All of it laced with glorious unconditional love."

Zoe on her struggles with post-natal anxiety and mental health:

Writing for Mamamia in February 2018, Zoe spoke of her struggle with post-natal anxiety, which for her manifested in "anger" issues.

"I want to talk about the rage that refuses to “relax” and demands you shut the f*ck up and listen to it.

"[It's] that other face of anxiety that we don’t hear much about, but is alive and well. Anger," she wrote.

"The anger that overcame me when (after holding my newborn baby in my arms and on my breast from sunset to sunrise) only to have her scream murder when I tried to put her in her cot and take a 10 minute break.

 

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A post shared by Zoe Hendrix (@zoehendrix) on Dec 11, 2018 at 10:27pm PST

While Zoe saw a therapist to help her "understand" her anger, the marketing executive called for the removal of the "strong social stigma" around anger in women.

"Just like sadness, anger is a psychological response and doesn’t deserve to be stigmatised," she wrote.

"I continue to speak with a therapist who has guided me in understanding how my anger is yet another element of my anxiety and depression, yielded by the trauma in my early childhood and that it can be understood and managed."

The mum-of-one continues to share her experiences of adjusting to co-parenting and her struggles with depression and grief with her 81,000 Instagram followers.

 

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A post shared by Zoe Hendrix (@zoehendrix) on Feb 10, 2019 at 12:00am PST

What are Zoe and Alex doing now?

Alex.

Unlike some reality TV contestants, Alex has chosen to stay away from the 'public figure' career route. He currently works as the Director of the GEM group, which offers plumbing, drainage and heating services, and regularly posts snaps of him and Harper.

Neither Alex nor Zoe have publicly disclosed whether they're dating or who've they've dated since their split.

Most recently, the dad-of-one shared photos celebrating Christmas with his daughter, and they're currently on a camping trip in Yarrawonga in Melbourne.

 

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Merry Christmas all #harper???? #christmas

A post shared by Alex Garner (@alex_garner_) on Dec 24, 2019 at 4:58pm PST

Zoe.

Although the 30-year-old is now a lot less active on Instagram - her last post was in July 2019 - her Instagram bio states she is studying law.

During the 2019 season of MAFS, Zoe also co-hosted Channel 9's social media series, Unfiltered with Zoe and Erin with former MAFS contestant, Erin Bryce.

"For me taking ownership and control of my life, being the one accountable for my happiness and purpose has been a revolutionary act of compassion to myself," she wrote in an Instagram post from June 2019.

"I’m loving my studies, the experiences and work opportunities that lay ahead, the fact that I’m providing for my child and she is thriving. The fact that I’m leading by example for her.

"I feel centred and driven. Content, yet ambitious and excited for the future."

 

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A post shared by Zoe Hendrix (@zoehendrix) on Jun 28, 2019 at 2:05am PDT

Featured image: Instagram @zoehendrix.

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