Matty J says he once looked up to Bachelor Sam Wood as he breaks silence on domestic violence charges

Former Bachelor star Matty Johnson has spoken out about the domestic violence allegations against fellow reality TV personality Sam Wood, admitting that he once looked up to the fitness entrepreneur as a role model.

Wood, 46, has been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm and strangulation in a domestic setting following an alleged incident at Noosa on Saturday involving his wife, Snezana.

A court heard allegations that Wood pushed his wife into a wardrobe, grabbed her by the throat, threw her against a wall and allegedly strangled her until she stopped breathing.

The prosecution told the court Snezana allegedly feared for her life during the alleged incident.

Wood was refused bail on Thursday, with his lawyers indicating he intends to defend the charges.

Now Johnson, better known as Matty J, has broken his silence in a lengthy and deeply personal statement about the allegations, revealing he once saw Wood as the definition of success.

The former Bachelor shared a Instagram carousel titled “A good reputation doesn’t make you a good man”, alongside a photograph of himself with his family.

In the caption, Johnson admitted he had struggled to find the right words.

“It’s taken me a little while to put my thoughts about the allegations against Sam Wood into words,” he wrote.

“Writing isn’t a space I feel particularly comfortable in, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to approach this in a way that does justice to the seriousness of the situation.”

Johnson began by recalling the first time he saw Wood, who starred as Australia’s Bachelor in 2015.

“He was stepping out of a flashy European car, dressed sharply, when someone stopped him to ask for a photo,” he wrote.

“It was a snapshot of the kind of public profile he had built. It looked to me, at the time, like real success.”

Johnson said the encounter shaped his perception of Wood, who appeared to have everything figured out.

“It’s a funny thing, the way we form impressions of people. Sometimes it takes only a few seconds to decide who someone is and what their life represents.”

Johnson later followed in Wood’s footsteps, becoming Australia’s fifth Bachelor and meeting the fitness entrepreneur through their connection to the reality dating franchise.

He revealed Wood reached out after his season aired, offering to catch up if he was ever in Melbourne.

At the time, Johnson was in his late 20s and searching for someone to look up to.

“Someone who seemed to have figured it all out. Someone whose life I could look at and think, That’s the kind of man I want to be,” he wrote.

However, Johnson was careful to clarify that he and Wood were never close friends.

“I am not and never have been a close friend of Sam’s. We both went on the same TV show, and as a byproduct of that our paths crossed a handful of times.”

Johnson said he was stunned when the allegations against Wood first emerged.

“When I first heard the allegations against Sam, I was shocked,” he wrote.

He then questioned why his initial reaction had been one of disbelief, despite knowing how widespread domestic violence is in Australia.

“I know that domestic violence doesn’t discriminate. But I think I’d naively, like so many of us, allowed myself to believe that I could recognise the type of person who might commit such acts of violence.”

Johnson said the allegations had forced him to reconsider how easily people can be influenced by wealth, success and a carefully cultivated public image.

“What makes this so confronting isn’t just the gravity of the allegations. It’s how they contradict the image many of us had mistakenly formed of him,” he wrote.

“The man I once saw as a benchmark for success has now been charged for a crime that represents the very worst in what men are capable of.”

He went on to reflect on the prevalence of domestic violence across all levels of Australian society.

“Domestic Violence doesn’t care if you look like a stand up guy, it doesn’t care about how much money you have, how successful you are in business, what suburb you live in or what house you own,” he wrote.

“There are men, all across Australia at all levels of society perpetrating violence in their homes against the people they are supposed to love the most.”

He added that his thoughts were also with women across Australia who had been reminded of their own experiences of violence.

“More than anything, I feel for the women who have once again been reminded of the daily fear they’re forced to live in.”

The father-of-three then turned his attention to the responsibility men have to confront domestic violence.

“As men, we have to do more than simply say we’re against domestic violence. We have to look at ourselves,” he wrote.

“If we want a world where women are safer, we need to understand our own internal world – learning to recognise and manage our emotions, questioning what we believe it means to be a man, and challenging the version of masculinity we inherited rather than blindly passing it on.”

He also argued that men needed to speak up when their friends behaved inappropriately.

“It also means being willing to challenge our mates when their behaviour or attitudes cross a line. Not laughing off degrading comments about women. Not excusing controlling behaviour as a relationship issue.”

Johnson said boys needed to be taught that respect was not simply about how they treated women they wanted to impress.

“It’s about how they treat women when they’re angry, when they’re rejected, and when they feel powerless.”

He ended the statement with a powerful reflection on what he believes truly defines a good man.

“The measure of a man has never been the car he drives, the money he makes or the image he projects to the world,” he wrote.

“It is how he treats people, and even more so – how he treats people when no one is watching.”

The Nightly does not suggest Wood is guilty of the alleged offences, which remain before the courts.

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.