Jake Edwards has had a tough few months. Navigating the world of reality TV is no easy feat, and coupled with an explosive end to his stint on Married at First Sight, the charity CEO for Outside the Locker Room has experienced significant impacts to his mental health.
“It’s been the hardest three months emotionally and mentally,” Edwards told POPSUGAR Australia during an interview. “I didn’t watch probably the last four weeks and just really detached myself from the whole experience. In the end, it really impacted me quite significantly, like just feeling like I wasted my time and everything else that came with it.”
Edwards, who has been open and honest about his mental health in the past, admitted the stories that had come out about him caused severe undue stress.
“I’m very open and honest and own up to a lot of my mistakes,” he admitted. “But a lot of that has kind of come up with people’s opinions [of me]. I’ve been waking up — except for the last couple of weeks — I’ve been waking up for a good eight weeks in anxiety and fear every day.”
However, as with all black clouds, there has been a silver lining for the reality star and that has come in the form of businesswoman and The Bod founder, Sophie Guidolin.
“She’s one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Edwards said of the mum of four. “Literally as soon as we met, it’s just been in love it seems like. We’ve really connected and really hit it off. She inspires me to be better and challenges me in ways that no one ever has.”
Currently, Edwards and Guidolin are in a long-distance relationship but are “making it work” by seeing each other as often as possible.
“We both live independent lives away from our relationships,” he said. “We have businesses and lives on the go, so it’s really important that we we focus on that as well.”
Edwards is now an ambassador for OpenTable. The service has discovered that almost one in five Australians haven’t taken their mum out for dinner since 2019, so in honour of Mother’s Day, the former AFL player has opened up about his relationship with his mum, Lyn, with whom he is very close.
“I’m a mother’s boy,” Edwards admitted. “I am the youngest of three sons and so mum and I really close. We speak every couple of days so that’s why last year it was so difficult, because during the lockdown, as both families are all from Victoria, we weren’t able to go and see them.”
