Bronson may be all smiles on his Married At First Sight wedding day, but those smiles mask a tragic family history.
In 2003, the then-teenager lost his brother Sasha in a shocking murder. Just a year later, his mother Sancha died unexpectedly after an operation went wrong.
Then, three years later, Bronson received the tragic news that his eldest brother Brodie had died in mysterious circumstances.
Bronson has faced three tragic losses in his family (Image: Nine Network).
So how has the stripper-turned-entrepreneur managed to cope with so much grief?
“Don’t get me wrong, when my first brother died, I hit the bottle,” Bronson, 34, tells TV WEEK. “And when Mum died, I went off the rails pretty hard. I disappeared for about a year and buried myself out in the bush, working on a cattle farm.
“But after two years, I pulled my head out of it and remembered Mum had wanted me to either be a singer or a stripper. So on Mother’s Day, two years after she died, I went to a strip club, applied for a job and got it.”
From left: Bronson, sister Nateisha, dad Neil, Brodie and his wife Sancha, and Sasha (Image: Supplied).
Bronson’s new career path not only gave him a sense of purpose, but helped him deal with his grief.
“Stripping has helped me out – it’s given me purpose,” he says. “When I found out about my eldest brother, I went to work, did five shows, and bawled my eyes out in the car park afterwards. I just buried myself in work.”
Bronson says stripping gave him a sense of purpouse (Image: Instagram).
Nobody has ever been charged with Sasha’s murder. But despite this injustice, Bronson still maintains a positive attitude.
“You can’t hold a grudge,” he says. “I wake up every day and strive to be happy. I hang around with happy people. If you surround yourself with sorrow and anger, it will eat away at you.
“When I get a phone call unexpectedly I feel sick, because I think someone has died. But you just have to get on with it.”
Married At First Sight airs Monday to Wednesday, 7:30pm, and Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network.
