Matt Zukowski has candidly opened up about his marriage to Tammy Hembrow on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Australia 2026.
While he rose to fame on Love Island, he is now arguably best-known to Aussies as the ex-husband of the fitness influencer.
They got engaged just three months after meeting in 2023 and tied the knot in November 2024, before they separated just three months later.
Now, Matt has told New Idea that he did did not want to share too many details about it.
“I didn’t really want to talk much more about it,” he said after his elimination on February 4. “Like, that is in the past.”
However, he “had a feeling that people would bring it up”.
“Like I said, I thought I’d just be open about it and honest,” he shared.
Watching it back, he said he was a “bit nervous” about how viewers would perceive his comments.
“I think that going through what I went through, people had got not the wrong perspective, but people definitely jumped to conclusions on a lot of things and I think that that was going to sway a lot of what they thought but I think that slowly but surely people are understanding,” he explained.
As for if he’s taken Deni Hines’ advice on board to not meet a partner on social media?
“I don’t see that Instagram’s any different from a dating app. I mean I do like meeting people out. Don’t get me wrong,” he began.
“I’ve met a lot of people out. But yeah, I’m not going to not meet people on Instagram. I think that is a tool there that is perfect for that.”
He also revealed that he hasn’t had any contact with Tammy since they announced their divorce in June 2025, four months after they actually separated.
“I haven’t spoken to her since we announced we were divorced. So, no contact at all,” he also shared on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on January 22.
He also revealed how he really felt when romance rumours began circulating about Tammy and AFL star Bailey Smith in August 2025, around eight weeks after their split was made public.
When asked if he felt “jealous”, he replied, “I don’t think jealousy is the right word. I mean, I openly said that I was a bit like, oh, wow. Because it was quite soon after. And I was doing my own healing process, and I saw that and I was like, oh, okay.
“No one likes to see the person they used to love and married hooking up with someone else. Like, that’s a knife to anyone’s chest, man.”
Pictures showed Tammy and Bailey kissing and holding hands on the Gold Coast, though they later confirmed that they are not dating.
Bailey revealed that sparks did initially fly between the pair, before they decided they were better off as friends, telling Today, “She’s a really close mate at the minute, and is honestly helping me with a bit of advice.”
What has Matt Zukowski said about his split from Tammy Hembrow?
Matt has shared intimate details about his marriage to Tammy on I’m A Celebrity, which is currently airing on Channel 10.
He shocked his campmates by revealing they were actually married for just three months before they quietly split.
“It was pear-shaped before. I was very much convinced things would get better once we were married and things would change, but it actually got a lot worse,” he told his co-stars on Tuesday, January 20.
“I did love my ex-wife, and I did do it out of hope that we could work on things and make it work. I gave it my all to try and make it work.”
He candidly admitted he “lost a lot of himself” in their relationship as he broke his silence on their split.
How did Matt Zukowski get famous?
Matt rose to fame on the second series of Love Island Australia in 2019, where he came as a runner-up.
The model and wrestler was coupled with Cartier Surjan on the show, but had his fair share of drama in the villa.
He was first coupled up with Vanessa Sierra on day one, but cracks began to show in their relationship and she was dumped from the villa, leaving Matt upset.
Matt went on to couple up with lifeguard Cartier late in the season, and they made it all the way to the final.
However, their relationship ended just weeks later, after Cartier decided they were better off as friends.
Since leaving the show, Matt joined Love Island star Anna McEvoy in hosting the Where’s Your Head At? podcast.
He also had a high-profile relationship and marriage with Australian YouTuber Tammy Hembrow.
How did Tammy Hembrow and Matt Zukowski meet?
The couple first met in 2023 when Matt was believed to have slid into Tammy’s Instagram DMs.
After exchanging a few messages, they quickly started dating, with details of their relationship first emerging publicly in September 2023.
They were together for just three months before they got engaged, with Matt proposing during a holiday to the Maldives.
The couple got married in a lavish ceremony in Byron Bay on November 23, 2024.
They said “I do” surrounded by their loved ones at the Chateau Du Soleil, with the pair sharing photographs from the picture-perfect day on Instagram.
Tammy’s three children, Wolf, 10, Saskia, eight, and Posy, three, all attended the wedding, though it was otherwise a child-free ceremony.
Tammy shares Wolf and Saskia with her ex, Reece Hawkins, and her youngest child, Posy, with her former fiancé, Matt Poole.
What happened with Tammy Hembrow and Matt Zukowski?
Things were not meant to be between the couple, who announced their separation in June 2025, just seven months after tying the knot.
“It’s with a heavy heart I share that Tammy and I have decided to separate,” he shared on Instagram at the time.
“Both of us have struggled with making this decision; however, we need to do what is right for ourselves and her three children.”
“This wasn’t a decision we took lightly. Our time together will always be cherished and never forgotten.
“We appreciate everyone’s support and space at this time as we navigate the split.”
The announcement came after months of speculation, after fans noticed Matt had been absent from Tammy’s birthday celebrations in April of that year.
Tammy has since opened up about their separation in a tearful TikTok video, sharing her devastation for her three children that the relationship didn’t work out.
“I wanted to finally tell you guys that I am getting a divorce,” she said.
“Did I think this was going to happen? No. Did I want this? No. Obviously, when you marry someone, you do it thinking that it is going to be forever.”
Tammy also admitted she had put on “rose-coloured glasses” and got “swept up” in the relationship, vowing to be “more cautious” going forward in a cryptic comment.
“Hopefully, I finally learn from these mistakes. Super embarrassing, super heartbreaking, super just a s*** situation,” she added.
