As Michelle flaunts her new love, “Commando”, Shari Nementzik meets the first man behind her success.
In the latest shock twist in Michelle Bridges’ relationship dramas, it’s emerged she has a secret husband she’s never spoken about in public. Ben Dombrowski reveals he was married to the Biggest Loser star for three years when she lived in Alice Springs, but despite her countless interviews detailing intimate details of her life, he has been airbrushed from history.
RELATED: Michelle reveals she is dating The Commando.
“It’s odd that she’s kept our marriage a secret,” Ben, 43, tells Woman’s Day. “I’m not anything to be ashamed of. It would have been nice to have had a mention.” Ben’s revelation comes just weeks after Michelle admitted her nine-year marriage to Bill Moore is over, amid rumours of a close relationship with her The Biggest Loser co-star Steve “Commando” Willis. Commando has also called it quits with his partner of seven years, Froso, who confirmed the affair to Woman’s Day last week.
In many ways, it was Ben who set Michelle on the path to success, with his love of fitness inspiring her to work hard in the gym. “I actually trained her for her physique competitions,” he reveals. “She won everything she entered: Miss NT, Miss Australasia, Miss Oceana, Miss Melbourne…It would have been nice for her to say, ‘At the start of my career, my husband taught me what I needed to do for developing physique’.”
RELATED: Michelle Bridges stole my husband.
But Michelle left him to chase stardom in Sydney. “I knew she was looking for it,” says Ben. “You could see that she was after much bigger, better things.” Ben first spotted Michelle at his local gym, where she worked as an aerobics instructor. “She was good-looking and crazy fun, but she was engaged to another guy, so I didn’t ask her out until that ended.” Ben, who was 22, and Michelle, then 21, hit it off straight away.
Read more about Micelle’s secret marriage in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday May 27, 2013.
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