Bachelor star Tara Pavlovic breaks silence on shock marriage breakdown: ‘Last resort’

A former star of The Bachelor Australia and Bachelor in Paradise has shed more details on her recent split from her husband of five years.

Tara Pavlovic, a former nanny who became a fan favourite on the dating shows from 2017, has opened up about her separation just weeks after announcing the shock news on Instagram.

Speaking candidly to 9Honey Celebrity, the 36-year-old said her split with husband Nick Shepherdson was her “last resort” after struggling in the relationship for the past year.

“It gets to a time where your body will tell you that it’s time to make a change,” Pavlovic, who shares two young children aged five and three with Shepherdson, told the site.

“Having a mother who is not coping mentally is not in the kids’ best interests. I left to put myself first, but I also left to put them first, because I wasn’t coping at all with the way things were.”

The TV personality said she did not reach the decision to split easily, but she had “been struggling for almost a year” and it was time to pull the plug.

“I know that, probably, most women I know struggle in their marriages … obviously, I don’t want to normalise everyone getting a divorce. It was a last resort, and I don’t want to ever glamorise it or anything like that,” she said.

“When I announced it, people were just so supportive and kind and just like, ‘It’s OK, you’ll get through it.’”

The popular star first shared the break-up news on Instagram last month on Easter Monday.

“Nick and I have separated,” she began in a lengthy post. “This hasn’t been a quick or easy decision. It’s something we’ve been trying to work through for a long time.”

“The last eight months have been incredibly challenging, and I know many of you have probably felt that through my content as I have been an absolute mess.

“There’s been a lot happening behind the scenes and a lot I’ve been processing privately.”

While Pavlovic said she would not be divulging details of the separation to protect her children and her future co-parenting relationship, she reassured followers that she is OK.

“For the first time in a long time I feel a sense of peace and I know this is the right path forward for me and for our family.”

“I’m finally feeling back in alignment with myself, and for the first time in a long time, I feel excited for what’s ahead. Do I believe in love anymore? Absolutely not. But I hope one day I will again.”

Pavlovic and Shepherdson were friends for more than a decade before they started dating in 2018, two months after she split from her Bachelor In Paradise fianceSam Cochrane.

The pair were later married two years later at Sol Gardens in the Currumbin Valley, Queensland.

“25th of September, 2020. The day I married my best friend,” Pavlovic captioned a video from their wedding at the time.