Kieren and Symantha Perkins: The truth behind their split

Friends say the former golden couple’s marriage has been on the rocks a long time.

Kieren Perkins took off his wedding ring and walked out of his marriage three months ago, after years of trying to make the increasingly fractured relationship work for the sake of his children. Friends say drama has dogged the former golden couple for much of their 15-year marriage, with Kieren’s heavy work commitments and Symantha’s health problems finally taking their toll.

“Although they presented a happy face to the public, Kieren and Sam have had plenty to deal with in their relationship,” confirms one source close to the pair. “It always seemed another crisis was just around the corner, usually to do with Sam’s health. Kieren was used to soldiering on, but with problems always mounting at home, it was like living in a pressure cooker. The fairytale has been frayed around the edges for a while.”

Kieren, 38, moved out of their Brisbane home almost three months ago, but the split barely caused a ripple in the news pages, dominated as they were by the headline-grabbing antics of fellow Olympian Grant Hackett and his estranged wife, Candice Alley.

“It’s an awful thing, but you’ve got to take yourself out of it and recognise that our three children are all that matters and make them as comfortable as possible, and make sure we get through this as quickly as we can,” Kieren tells Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper. “Sam and I, right from the start, were always very committed to making sure that the kids came first.”