Tammy Hembrow: Broken and Humiliated – The Truth About Her Husband

It’s honestly painful to watch.

Eight months ago, Tammy Hembrow, with her American-inflected Queensland accent, looking and sounding like a Bratz doll, lectured us all on the importance of not being haters (boo!) in the lead-up to her wedding to Matt Zukowski.

‘Some of the stuff, I just wanna say, is literally not true! Don’t believe everything you read or hear because, like, we know the facts and it’s just, like, ridiculous at this point.

‘Like some of the stuff, we’re like… it’s blatant lies. Anyway, that’s pretty much all I’m going to say on that. We’re getting married, like, so soon!’

For those who weren’t following the saga of these two mismatched influencers, Tammy was responding to headlines and fan speculation that her relationship with Matt, a former Love Island contestant, was on the rocks.

You see, they’d unfollowed each other weeks before tying the knot – something happy couples rarely do – and they weren’t pleased that their followers had noticed.

Eight months ago, Tammy Hembrow lectured us all on the importance of not being haters in the lead-up to her wedding to Matt Zukowski

Pretty much since the day Tammy began dating Matt, her fans had been screaming: NO! NO! ANYONE BUT HIM! She had looked upset at their joint hens and bucks party back in October

Now, I’m not one to pry in other people’s business, nor do I like to side with anonymous internet gossips, but the problem here is… they were absolutely right.

Pretty much since the day Tammy – Australia’s most famous influencer and a mum of three – began dating Matt, her fans had been screaming: NO! NO! ANYONE BUT HIM!

And now, after their marriage of 200-ish days has imploded, I have found myself thinking something I really shouldn’t… Tammy, we told you so.

For a woman so beautiful and successful, it pains me to see you looking like a prize turnip, crying to your 17 million Instagram followers that you’re getting divorced and feel ‘humiliated’.

It really seems like you were the last person to realise the himbo-slash-reality-TV-star-slash-podcaster you were marrying perhaps wasn’t Mr Right.

We were worried about you, Tammy, but we weren’t allowed to say anything. Any time we spoke up about the rumours, you brushed us off as ‘haters‘. Block and delete.

And now, honestly, we just feel sad.

From day dot, there were whispers Matt wasn’t ready to settle down. When we saw you two repeatedly unfollow and refollow each other, we knew something was amiss.

A ‘humiliated’ Tammy broke down in tears as she confirmed she has split from Matt just seven months after they tied the knot

Now, after their marriage of 200-ish days imploded, I have found myself thinking something I really shouldn’t… Tammy, we told you so

It’s easy to adopt a bunker mentality when stuck in a tempestuous on-again-off-again relationship, but that video of you dismissing your fans’ concerns as ‘ridiculous’ must really sting today.

Now, as you lick your wounds and focus on your three children who – briefly – saw Matt as a stepfather, it must be slowly dawning on you that the ‘haters’ whose opinions you so readily dismissed perhaps had a better idea of the man you were marrying than you did.

We did the social media sleuthing, we scoured the darker corners of TikTok, Tattle and Reddit for clues as to his real priorities, we saw you block him and delete his photos like we wouldn’t notice.

Yes, some of the ‘concern’ was just snark, but ultimately most of us just wanted you to listen before you made a big – potentially expensive – mistake.

I once fell hard for a man like Matt. He too was handsome, charming and professed his undying love for me. It ended in heartbreak, writes DailyMail+ columnist Amanda Goff

Personally, I feel for you, Tammy. Despite your $50million fitness empire, your gorgeous looks, sculpted abs, and seemingly perfectly life, I know how utterly humiliated you must be feeling. 

I’ve been there.

We’ve all fallen hard for the ‘soulmate’, the white knight, the man who seems too good to be true. He’s handsome, he’s charismatic, he promises you the world.

Yours slid into your DMs and probably said all the right things about wanting to build a life together and helping to raise your kids.

And you believed him; you really wanted to believe him. Who can blame you for that?

It was a showbiz fairytale for the ages – the sexy fitness influencer and the tall, handsome Love Islander who got down on one knee in the Maldives, and didn’t think twice about stepping in to raise three little rugrats from two different dads.

When you finally made it down the aisle – against all odds – you even became a Vogue bride. How many influencers from the Gold Coast can say that?

Then, snap. The tearful video we saw at the weekend where you told us it was over.

You probably still have leftover wedding cake in the freezer, poor thing. Had you even got round to sending your ‘thank you’ cards yet? No need to bother now.

I don’t wish to revel in another woman’s pain, but Tammy… how did you not see this coming? 

If I really wanted to twist the knife, I’d list all the red flags your fans begged you to see, but I’m not that cruel.

I’ll just gently remind you of a few…

Let’s rewind to October. Matt was spotted in a bar without his engagement ring, surrounded by ‘random girls’. They said nothing happened – they were simply managed by the same talent agency. I don’t suggest otherwise, but still, it wasn’t a good look, was it?

Your fans certainly picked up on it. Perhaps you did too? But there was a lot riding on this relationship and the world was watching, so you kept smiling and carried on.

Fast forward to March. You’ve been married a few months when a fan overhears your husband bad-mouthing you in a gym in South Melbourne and swiftly reports back.

Trouble in paradise already?! No, no. The trouble had been brewing from day one, only you wouldn’t hear a bar of it.

The aftermath of the gym incident unfolded on social media like a Netflix thriller. He unfollowed you, you unfollowed him, posts were deleted. Rings were taken off, put back on, taken off again.

Hardly befitting of the honeymoon phase. 

Matt was pictured at the weekend with Tayla Little (left), a blonde sports journalist who bears a striking resemblance to Tammy (right)

The former Love Island star was seen with Tayla at the London Tavern in Richmond on Saturday

Now I present exhibit three: the disappearance.

Matt vanished from your 31st birthday celebrations. While you posted of how much your friends spoiled you that day, your husband was nowhere in sight.

No absurdly expensive gift to brag about? A photo of a new handbag just begging for a cringe-worthy ‘boy done good’ caption? 

Nope, nothing.

I guess he might have had somewhere more important to be, but in that moment we all knew your days as Mrs Zukowski were numbered.

Oh yes, speaking of which, you deleted that fancy new moniker from your Instagram bio not long after you unfollowed him. Again.

And now, post-break-up, the immature social media mind games continue. 

After Matt was pictured at the weekend with Tayla Little – a pretty, blonde sports journalist who bears a striking resemblance to Tammy – he was spied liking a comment from a fan declaring ‘he’s freeeeee!!!’

How juvenile.

Matt, why not put the phone down and unpack it all on your podcast, Where’s Your Head At – a fitting name because we are all wondering the same thing.

I once fell hard for a man I now label ‘a rat with a gold tooth’. Like Matt, he was handsome, charming and professed his undying love for me. He was emotionally available, self-aware, attentive.

And we looked good together.

Within weeks, I cancelled my private health insurance to jump onto his (still to this day I have no idea why). Even the woman on the phone asked me a few times whether I was absolutely sure I wanted to do this. God, even she knew.

Within a few months, he was talking about marriage.

Yet not long after, he dumped me out of the blue. Cue the texts and calls from well-meaning friends that flooded in saying: ‘We all saw it coming.’ 

I wish they’d told me sooner. Unlike you, Tammy, I would have listened.

While I’m not worth $50million and I don’t have Vogue chasing me for my wedding photos, I recognise the pain and humiliation, and my heart goes out to you.

My favourite saying is from Maya Angelou. ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.’

Tammy, Matt showed us who he was from day one; you turned the other way. Now do you believe us?