Despite the many tabloid reports to the contrary, Australia’s answer to the Beckhams say they are most definitely not getting hitched.
“We’ve never set a date and there’s been no invites sent out, none of that,” confirms Jesinta, 24.
“We just want to wait for the time in our lives when we both feel settled with where we are and are ready to take that next step, because a wedding is obviously a big moment in your life.
“And right now, Bud being happy and me being happy is enough.”
The stunning David Jones ambassador says when the wedding does happen it won’t be the grand, glamorous affair the tabloids are also speculating about.
“It’s going to be incredibly intimate and about celebrating our love, our happiness and our families – and that’s what it should be all about.”
Until then, Jesinta says she’s focusing on helping Buddy get back to full health.
On September 8, the $10 million Sydney Swan signing revealed a previously undisclosed battle with epilepsy and depression.
“People don’t realise what Bud has been going through; he’s been going through it for a long time.
“So, for a long time, I’ve had to have this inner strength to draw upon, which people have only seen in the past 12 months.”
Jesinta says it’s her love for Buddy, 28, that’s given her the drive to finally shake off her beauty queen bimbo tag and be taken seriously.
There’s always been a brain lurking behind the drop-dead gorgeous looks: after being bullied from one school to the next she fought back to become school captain and straight-A student.
But inspired by Rachael Finch, who won the 2009 Miss Universe Australia sash, she followed her onto the pageant circuit for the chance to do “amazing charity work” and polish her public speaking skills.
Today, the 2010 Miss Universe Australia is not afraid to put her voice behind any cause she feels strongly about, including lending her support to Buddy’s beleaguered team-mate and good friend Adam Goodes.
When the former Swan and Australian of the Year came under fire for his stand against racial vilification and fight for Indigenous rights earlier, Jesinta was right there beside him.
“I’ve never had to face [racism] before, and that made it real for me,” she says.
“It really hurt me and then I started to think, ‘If we ever get to the point where we want to have children, is this what they’re going to have to face?’.
“It was so sad and it made me feel really yuck.”
Meanwhile, a defiant Jesinta takes comfort and pride in the difference Buddy’s story is making in other people’s lives.
“If he can be that one person at his football club that one of the men come up to and say, ‘I’m not OK today,’ and he can sit down and have a chat to them…well, job done, you know?”
