‘YOU ALWAYS KEEP A LOVE IN YOUR HEART’

Joost van der Westhuizen’s first wife Marléne opens up about her happy new life and her feelings for her ex

SHE was just 16 years old when she started to date a man who’d become a South African rugby icon. Rugged and handsome, he was the object of many a fan’s affection but he was smitten with his petite blonde girlfriend and when they wed he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.

Yet sadly the fairytale didn’t have a happy ending – six years after tying the knot, Joost and Marléne van der Westhuizen divorced.

For years many people blamed the former Bok captain for their marriage breakdown but Marléne – now Duvenage – stayed in touch with the man she’d once loved. In fact, she recently visited her frail ex-husband, whose body has been ravaged by motor neurone disease (MND), from which he’s been suffering for five years.

Although their split made headlines the gym instructor has lived mostly out of the public eye since then. But she’s moved on and talks about her new life in an exclusive interview with us.

“It’s going well,” Marléne (44) says. “But I’ve got a few rough years behind me. I was alone for a long time and I struggled. It just goes to show that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”

She’s been happily married to Jaap Duvenage (51) for six years and they have two adorable children, Janie (4) and Daniël (2), who keep her on her toes.

We’re visiting them at her and Jaap’s beach house in Kleinmond in the Western Cape, where they’re spending the December holidays. The kids clearly have the run of the place – outside, a small umbrella stands over a children’s table and chair set and the living room is strewn with toys.

After her divorce from Joost she remained on the Pretoria smallholding where the couple had lived when they were married. For many years she had to do everything she could to make ends

MMarléne Duvenage says her life is as close to perfect as possible. FAR LEFT: How YOU reported on the day in 1995 when she tied the knot with Joost van der Westhuizen. BELOW FAR LEFT: She recently visited the ailing former rugby Springbok. meet and at one point was teaching 10 aerobics classes a week.

“A smallholding is really a lot of work. The lightning is constantly knocking things out, you have to look after a pool, and electric fences must be kept in working order. I needed to see to everything. It was hell.” ARLÉNE and Jaap crossed paths for the first time 10 years ago at the KKNK arts festival in Oudtshoorn. At that stage Jaap, a director of a large financial services company, was living in Cape Town but he later moved to Pretoria to be closer to Marléne.

She laughs and admits that just before she turned 40 she gave him an ultimatum. “It wasn’t all moonlight and roses. At one stage I had to tell him that he needed to make a move. I wanted to get married and have children and if that