Three-time AFL premiership player Jimmy Bartel has broken his silence on the very public marriage breakdown between he and ex-wife Nadia Bartel in 2019.

While the Brownlow medallist has taken up media jobs since his playing career ended in 2016, Bartel admits he’s been largely “guarded and reserved” about his private life, and even more so about his short-lived marriage.

“I’ve never commented on anything to do about my separation. I never will because I just don’t think it’s needed. And so just go about my business,” he told the A Life of Greatness podcast with Sarah Grynberg.

Addressing the public fallout from his high-profile split, the former Geelong star said he simply can’t fathom “what’s so fascinating about myself”.

“Like there’s nothing that I can do and say. And other people’s opinion on me is none of my business. And so they’ll form their own narrative, their own thinking or their own thought,” the 41-year-old said.

“The only thing that matters to me is the people that I care about and I just foster those relationships, and it can be tough at times.”

The 305-gamer shares two sons, Aston and Henley, with ex-wife Nadia Bartel, and two-year-old daughter Paloma with girlfriend Amelia Shepperd.

Shortly after the couple’s separation following five years of marriage, Nadia, 40, said that it had been “a very difficult month for my boys”.

“My single focus now is to continue to protect, care for, and provide for my two beautiful boys as this is a personal matter. I am so thankful for my very supportive family and friends,” she said.

Speaking more recently on the challenging period to friends Bec Judd and Jess Roberts on the Vain-ish podcast, Nadia revealed, “I was in a bad place”.

“When you’re going through something, you’re willing to do anything,” she added, reflecting on her decision to take up intense breathwork therapy.

The former footy star said he’s been reluctant to open up on the matter because he feels there’s little to gain from his personal life being put under the microscope.

Thrust into the spotlight of professional sport at just 17, Bartel suggested he has always been calculated around navigating the highs and lows of his public life.

“You do want to bite back and you do want to respond or you want to go, well, ‘I’ll say my bit’, but people don’t care, deep down they don’t,” he said.

“The only one people who care are the people that actually care about you. And so that’s all I worried and focused about.”