Married At First Sight star Rhi Disljenkovic has revealed the reasons behind her decision to leave her relationship with Jeff Gobbels, admitting she had initially believed they would marry. Disljenkovic, 36, became emotional discussing the romance on the Life Uncut podcast, sharing that she felt "really unhappy" toward the end of their time together.
She expressed frustration over being the one to consistently initiate conversations about significant life steps such as marriage and children. "I felt like I was the one bringing up the conversations on the future quite a lot," she explained to podcast hosts Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne.
Disljenkovic noted that as individuals age, the approach to relationships shifts from the more casual, go-with-the-flow attitude of one's 20s. "When you do get older, as you know, you don't just ride the wave like you would in your 20s, where you're like, 'Let's just see how things go,'" she said. She added that after their televised wedding on the show, she desired to progress towards becoming a wife and mother.
Initially, Disljenkovic described the relationship as a fairytale, especially after leaving the dating experiment with Gobbels. She recalled feeling "lucky" and pinching herself, believing she had found the love story everyone desires. However, this perception changed as fan messages praising their seemingly portraying their romance as perfect contrasted with her private reality.
"I started to feel like - I don't know if fraud is the right word - but fake," she confessed. Disljenkovic stated that she did not want to feel the need to ask a partner to act a certain way to feel loved or secure, emphasizing the desire for a "genuine want to build a future."
Despite the difficult conclusion, she characterized the relationship as "not right" rather than entirely negative. "I wouldn't say a bad relationship," she stated, acknowledging that while breakups can reveal the worst in people, she felt they did not bring out the best in each other. She clarified that she would not have stayed in a "terrible" relationship but admitted to being "really unhappy" as the relationship progressed. Disljenkovic acknowledged that genuine happiness had existed between them before their future plans diverged.