Being married to a football player has its glamorous moments, but the sacrifices that need to be made to support their career aren’t discussed as often.
With Lance “Buddy” Franklin returning to full-time training, he’s had to part from his young family.
Buddy’s wife Jesinta faces taking care of their two children Tullulah, who turns two in February, and Rocky, nine months, on her own after the past few months with her husband.
To mark their final goodbye, for now, the model posted an emotional black and white photo of Buddy giving their son a big kiss before he left.
However, she remained positive in her message accompanying the Instagram Story by choosing to look back fondly on the time they had together.
“Goodbye Kisses,” she wrote with a white heart alongside.
“18th pre-season for Bud, so he’s no back to training full time. We have had the best few months together as a family.”
There is no doubt that Jesinta will ace taking care of her house alone as she previously spent seven weeks without Buddy earlier in the year because of his commitments with the Sydney Swans in Victoria.
The mother of two spoke to the Herald Sun about the situation, and revealed it had been rough.
“It’s day by day, and the whole thing has changed so many times, but we’re hoping to get out.
“It’s been tough, but it’s just the reality of the world we’re living in at the moment.
“Not only me and what all the other Swans and GWS players’ partners have to do, but thousands of Australians,” said Jesinta regarding the tough COVID rules, which kept families apart.
Speaking with Now To Love in late June, Buddy opened up about admiring his wife’s resilience as she had to run their household while he was locked down in the AFL bubble.
“Jesinta has been amazing, she’s an inspiration. There are challenging days for sure, I’m not going to lie, but she takes it all in her stride. If the washing doesn’t get done, she doesn’t stress,” he said.
He also revealed how they stayed in contact and that although the situation wasn’t ideal, he is grateful for his healthy children.
“I’m separated from Jes and the kids at the moment, and it’s really hard to be away… so there are lots of FaceTime calls between us, but we feel incredibly lucky to have two happy and healthy kids.”