When Australian swimming great Emily Seebohm’s relationship with Mitch Larkin ended in a flurry of cheating allegations in 2018, the athlete remained stoic, choosing to focus on her goal of Olympic glory.
But after a tumultuous couple of years, and a tear-inducing turn on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! the 29-year-old gold medallist is ready to open up about it for the first time.
“We were really deep in it – well, I thought we were deep. I had such a hard time getting over that break-up.
“It really took a lot of my confidence and that’s where, I think, my eating disorder came from,” she tells Woman’s Day.
After a bitter, and very public break-up, Australian swimming champion and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! star Emily Seebohm reveals she’s happier, and healthier, than ever!
(Credit: Tertius Pickard/Are Media)
Rumours Mitch, 28, had cheated first emerged weeks after the couple of two years, who’d owned a property together, announced their shock split, with reports focusing on supposed messages Emily had found from another woman on their swimming squad on his phone.
“Oh, I found messages, yes,” Emily reiterates. “He may look like Clark Kent, but he’s no Superman.”
“We had some really great times together, but he’s never apologised and that’s where my anger comes from.
“An apology goes a long way, it mends the bridges, but they were never mended – they were burned.”
After their break-up, Mitch vehemently denied cheating on Emily, telling The Courier-Mail in 2018 that he was “blindsided” by the accusations.
“I absolutely did not cheat. Breaking up with her was one of the hardest things I could do,” he said.
Emily says the pair are still not on speaking terms, despite having to work together.
“Oh, we still have to see each other because we’re on the same [swimming] team, but it’s just silence whenever we’re around each other,” she says.
Emily and Mitch Larkin (pictured) caused headlines in 2018 when their shock split was shrouded in cheating allegations.
(Credit: Getty)“We have a mutual agreement never to talk to each other again. Never talk, and never look at each other. It works out pretty well to be honest.”
Emily is now in a new relationship, and while she wants to keep this one out of the headlines, she sees big things for them.
“He’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met,” she gushes. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I can’t imagine my life without him.”
Emily says that motherhood has even crossed her mind, saying she’s ready to have kids “sooner rather than later” due to her battle with endometriosis.
“I would love to have kids, but I’m not sure how hard my endometriosis is going to make it for me,” she tells.
The backstroke master tells Woman’s Day that she’s the happiest she’s ever been with her new man – but she’s intent on keeping this one of out the spotlight.
(Credit: Instagram)“Some people have to do IVF or can’t have them at all, so it’s just a matter for me of finding the right time and giving it a go.
“I would love to, I don’t think it’s up to me, it’s up to my body.”
With a new life, new love and perhaps motherhood on the horizon, Emily says she’s entered a different realm emotionally, which she credits largely to I’m A Celebrity.
“My partner watched the first episode with me and I think he’s seen me cry twice, and once was in a movie, and after he asked, ‘Who are you?’ And I told him, ‘I don’t know, I’m a different person,'” she reveals.
“Athletes have this tough persona that when you break down and cry, a lot of people say, ‘Toughen up, this is your job’, so it’s almost like you can’t be a normal person, but I wanted to be as open as I could be.
The gifted swimmer says her experience on I’m a Celeb was so profound that it may lead her away from swimming altogether, saying she’s waiting to see where the show takes her before she jumps back into the pool.
(Credit: Tertius Pickard/Are Media)“I’m more vulnerable than I ever have been on this show,” she says.
The gifted swimmer, who’s already opened up to the camp about her struggles with an eating disorder and the pressures of being a young Olympic athlete, says her experience was so profound that it may lead her away from sport altogether.
“I was going to retire, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, so it’ll be interesting to see where this show will take me, whether it takes me back to the pool or if it takes me into a different direction,” says Emily.
“I’m just excited for the future!”
