AFL legend Jim Stynes’ widow Sam has opened up about their marriage in an emotional TV interview.
Jim died in March after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 45 years old and widely regarded as one of the nicest men in sport.
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But Sam says life with Jim wasn’t always easy, and she isn’t sure their marriage would have lasted had Jim not been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
“We joked that if Jim didn’t get sick we could’ve ended up divorced,” Sam told A Current Affair last night.
“It was definitely a possibility, however, I think that what always kept us together and that’s why I married Jim, as well as loving him it comes back to Jim’s Catholic religion.
“Once he commits to something he sticks it out, and when times were tough he was like ‘We’ll just keep working at it, we’ll stick it out’, and that’s what we did.”
Sam says this determination was sometimes interpreted as selfishness, but insists Jim needed to be selfish to manage his busy schedule of public engagements.
“Jim’s closest friends, all in good humour, would say that Jim was a selfish prick,” Sam said. “But it was selfishness that you have to have to go out into the community and do what he did.
“He was a phenomenal man and I don’t think he was put on this earth to just not do much with his life. He was here to work with youth in the community and do good things.”
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Jim and Sam had two young children, daughter Matisse and son Tiernan. His autobiography Jim Stynes – My Journey is on sale now.
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