The couple have been together since 2017. Photo / Instagram, Constance Hall
The couple have been together since 2017. Photo / Instagram, Constance Hall
Constance Hall has opened up about her marriage to husband Denim Cooke, revealing they have made the difficult decision to live apart so he can heal from his brain injury.
The Western Australian mummy blogger and businesswoman met Cooke in 2017, with the pair marrying and welcoming son Raja in2018.
In August 2020 Cooke was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident that left him with multiple broken bones, a crushed spine and a brain injury.
Last month, Cooke was fined after being pulled over by police for driving without a licence and with an unrestrained child in the car. An oral swab revealed he had methamphetamine in his system.
In a video posted to her Facebook and Instagram this week, Hall confirmed she had been living with her mother since July.
The blogger, who also runs successful clothing brand Queen the Label, said the stress of running her business and looking after five children amid the Covid-19 pandemic had taken its toll.
Constance Hall explained in a video how her relationship with Denim Cooke had come under strain due to his brain injury. Photo / Instagram, Constance Hall
On top of that, Cooke's brain injury had seen him "wasting away to a shell of a man" and she had "switched him off to a certain degree".
"He just completely checked out of life after the accident and he was my only, everything and my all," Hall explained.
"I think when he woke up from the accident I was very excited and there was this sort of false [hope]."
While Cooke was lucky to have survived the accident, it had damaged his frontal lobe, meaning he "doesn't have motivation any more".
"He did have it before, he could help me with driving to the shops, he could help with, you know, organising meals," Hall said.
"He could do things before and can't do them now … [the psychiatrist said], 'he's not doing this to you on purpose, he doesn't have the ability to consider other people'."
The psychiatrist has stressed Cooke isn't "a lost cause" and recommended he be "removed from the family home" so his loved ones could be motivation for him to get better.
After looking at assisted care facilities, a friend offered to take in Cooke in Esperance, while Hall moved in with her mother.
"I was behaving in ways, I was not being very nice before he left," she said. "That's what happens when you are in relationships that aren't very healthy, you become something you don't want to be."
Hall said it "broke my heart the night he left", but since living apart, Cooke has made major improvements.
The couple are still very much in love despite making the difficult decision to live apart. Photo /Instagram, Constance Hall
"I spoke to him the next day and there was just this light in his eyes … he was just his old self again," she said.
While Hall had received Cooke's consent to share this change to their relationship, his "story isn't mine to tell, there are aspects of it that I'll always leave for him to choose when or if they are shared".
