Married At First Sight star Rhi Disljenkovic has revealed why she ended her relationship with Jeff Gobbels, saying she once believed their on-screen romance would lead to a real marriage but eventually felt as though she was living a “fake” love story.
Disljenkovic and Gobbels, who had previously dated before being matched on the Australian version of the reality show, remained together for almost two years after filming. They announced their separation in June through separate statements online.
Speaking on the Life Uncut podcast, Disljenkovic said she wanted marriage, children and a clear plan for the future, but had grown frustrated at repeatedly raising those subjects in the relationship.
“Obviously we had our fake wedding on TV, and I wanted to be someone’s wife. I wanted to be a mum, I wanted my life to progress,” she said.
“And I found myself having the same conversations on repeat about the future. Getting married, having children, planning holidays. Just planning anything together, really.”
Disljenkovic said she initially felt fortunate to have found what appeared to be a lasting relationship after the programme, particularly as viewers regularly told the couple how lucky they were.
But she said those messages eventually made her question whether the relationship reflected what was happening privately.
“I started not to feel lucky. I started to feel like… I don’t know if fraud is the right word, but fake,” she said. “You want to feel that love and that genuine want to build a future.”
Disljenkovic said she ultimately decided to leave after feeling that Gobbels’ words and actions did not match, despite her attempts to explain how unhappy she had become.
“I would say, there’s no right or wrong answer. If you don’t want this, just let me know,” she said. “But I found that the actions and the words were so different.”
She added: “At the end of the day, sometimes loving someone is just not enough to stay. I just didn’t recognise our relationship anymore. I didn’t recognise him, I didn’t recognise me. And I just had to choose myself because I was too unhappy to stay.”
Disljenkovic acknowledged that the split was not amicable and said she believed “a lot of boundaries” had been crossed during the relationship.
She also rejected online claims that she had been unfaithful, calling the allegation “the biggest lie”. Disljenkovic said she had heard rumours of infidelity concerning Gobbels but stressed that she had never established whether they were true.
