Just five months after they posed in their dream wedding gear for an exclusive Woman’s Day photoshoot, Jarrod Woodgate and Keira Maguire’s romance has gone up in flames.
A source revealed that Jarrod blindsided Keira when he broke up with her by text and told her to pack her bags and leave his family’s Melbourne home.
“She’s completely heartbroken and doesn’t understand what’s happened,” says the source.
“Jarrod has completely shut her out and won’t even give her an explanation as to why he’s broken it off with her.”
We take you back to the moment everyone discovered Keira and Jarrod were a couple
Now a friend of the vineyard manager has told Woman’s Day he couldn’t ever move past his relationship with Sophie Monk, after she dumped him at the Bachelorette finale for love rival Stu Laundy.
“There’s a huge part of Jarrod that didn’t recover from the finale with Sophie, and [going on] Bachelor In Paradise was more therapy for him and a need for acceptance,” reveals his friend.
“He was absolutely infatuated with Sophie and she was always ‘the one that got away’ for him. Everyone thought he only got together with Keira due to her resemblance to Sophie. It’s no coincidence they not only look the same but are both straight- talking, down-to-earth girls,” the friend adds.
Trouble in Paradise
Another source close to the pair says it didn’t go unnoticed on Paradise that Jarrod was on a mission to recreate what he had with Sophie “with any blonde going”.
“First he tried to pursue a relationship with Ali, then he kissed Simone and finally he hooked up with Keira,” tells the source.
“When Keira and Jarrod watched the show back after they’d finished filming, it caused huge tensions because Keira felt Jarrod was just jumping onto whoever was available.
“Keira might come across as very confident but that really made her feel insecure.”
Sophie even hinted in the wake of her split from Stu that she found it really hard to watch Keira and Jarrod, both 31, together on Paradise.
And just weeks before Jarrod flew to Fiji to start filming the show, he admitted he still had feelings for Sophie, saying, “I will for a long time, she’ll always have a place in my heart.”
Bachelor In Paradise’s Keira & Jarrod’s best moments
Trust Issues
Our source reveals the comments fuelled Keira’s insecurities and made her fearful Jarrod would ditch her for his former flame.
“Keira was always terrified he was going to leave her and go running back to Sophie, especially after Sophie became single earlier this year,” the source says.
“Even though Jarrod was besotted with Keira, there were real trust issues – it was part of the reason she moved from Sydney to Melbourne. She really didn’t want anything to come between them and wanted to put her all into their romance.
“Added to which, she always felt Jarrod was obsessed with fame and thought that maybe he saw Sophie as more of a chance to live that lifestyle, like Sophie was a meal ticket to becoming famous and landing a TV gig.”
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Listen to the latest episode of the Woman’s Day Uncensored podcast, where the panel discuss the shock separation announcement of The Block judge Shaynna Blaze and husband Steve after 18 years of marriage.
Plus, details about the bizarre breakup between Aussie model and TV Star Deborah Hutton and her partner Robert Dulhunty.
Now sources say Jarrod and Sophie have secretly been in touch since his split – and it could be a start of something more.
“They’ve always stayed in touch via text and phone, and Sophie was one of the first people to get in contact with him after Keira posted their break-up message,” says his friend.
“No one would be surprised if, now that they’re both single, they didn’t give their love a second chance.”