Matt Zukowski Breaks Down in Jewelry Store on What Would Have Been His Anniversary with Tammy Hembrow

Matt Zukowski has revealed he still gets emotional over his split from fitness influencer Tammy Hembrow,

Matt, 30, and Tammy, 31, were married in November last year after a whirlwind romance. Their union was short-lived however, with the couple calling it quits six months later.

Speaking with co-host Anna McEvoy on his Where’s Your Head At podcast this week, Matt admitted to having ‘mixed emotions’ about what would have been his one-year wedding anniversary passing over the weekend.

He said that while he is in a better place emotionally since leaving the relationship, he still has some unexpected emotional triggers.

‘I know that since leaving that I have felt so much better, so that made me feel not okay but a lot more comfortable in it and not as upset.’

‘It’s funny. On Spotify, there’s a DJ and it actually said this time last year, let’s listen to that, and it put on our wedding song and I was like: ‘oh, f*** me. But I sat there and listened to the whole song.’

Anna asked Matt: ‘Did you cry?’ to which he replied: ‘Yeah, I got emotional, I had tears in my eyes.’

Matt also admitted to breaking down in a Melbourne jeweller’s when he attempted to get an anniversary gift altered.

‘For our one year of meeting each other, we got matching bracelets from Sarah Sebastian,’ he said.

‘Ever since we separated, everyone’s been asking me: ‘When are you going to get that removed,’ because it had a T initial on it.’

Matt added that he was reluctant to remove the initial as the gift was essentially his last material connection to his former bride. 

‘My answer to everyone was: “When it comes off it comes off.” It didn’t sit well with me,’ he said.  

Matt said the bracelet was damaged after it was caught on a door hinge, which prompted him to head into the jeweller’s to finally change the initial. However, he did not anticipate his reaction.

‘I went into the shop at Chadstone and I was like: “I’ve got this bracelet and it’s sort of loose. I want to change the letter on it because it’s my ex-wife,”‘ he said.

‘I started choking up as I was talking to her [shop assistant]. I was like: ‘F***,’ I didn’t think I was going to get that emotional over it.’

He continued: ‘As she was changing it I was actually holding back tears in the middle of Chadstone while she was doing it.  

‘I got to the car and cried and drove the whole way home crying.’

 Matt also opened up about the effects of the split to Anna back in September.

He admitted to his co-host that he was in a much better place mentally than he was a year ago.

The revelation came after Anna asked Matt the simple question: ‘Are you okay?’ ahead of R U OK? Day.

Responding, Matt admitted to being a completely different person.

‘Yes, I would like to say that I actually am okay,’ he said. 

‘A lot of people around me have noticed how much I have changed. We were listening to old episodes from a year ago and, listening to myself… I was dead inside.

‘I’m completely different now. I can be myself again.’

He then recalled a story that helped illustrate his point.

‘I drove past a shop the other day and I was like, “When was the last time I went in there?”” he said.

‘I recalled it in my head because I remember making a phone call in there and I remember what I was talking to my mate about.’

He continued: ‘I was like f*** that was a year ago to the date. How polar opposite – who I was on that phone call to who I was driving past that shop are two different people.’

He also revealed that putting himself in the shoes of ‘old Matt’ had caused him to break down in tears. 

‘I even put myself in the shoes of me standing in the shop. I could feel myself closing up again,’ he said.

‘I actually got emotional, I started crying in the car. I cried for him and how helpless he felt in that moment.

‘It got so bad at some points. I hit rock bottom. I struggled some days to get out of bed. It’s funny how you go from that to where I am now.’

Matt was quick to reassure anyone in a similar situation that it ‘does get better.’

‘I’m not going to go too much into it but if you’re in a space where you feel like you are not able to be yourself, or you are upset or sad, it does get better,’ he said.