A Channel Seven television reporter whose brother, a Special Forces soldier, died in a skydiving accident has fallen in love with a pallbearer at his funeral, following a highly publicised split with her boyfriend.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal that Grace Fitzgibbon, 31, found love in the most unexpected place following the tragic death of her brother, Jack, during a training exercise in March.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ms Fitzgibbon shared loving photographs of herself with a handsome young man, Az, with the simple caption: “A silver lining.”
A friend confirmed the relationship, telling Daily Mail Australia: ‘(Grace and Az) have known each other forever – he was good friends with Jack and one of the pallbearers at his funeral.
‘They have bonded in grief, but he makes her very, very happy and it’s nice to see Grace smiling again.’
The new relationship follows Fitzgibbon’s highly publicized split from Fox Sports “golden boy” Jake Duke in February.
The split came about following a call Duke received in the middle of the night from glamorous New Zealand rugby league reporter Tiffany Salmond.
At the time, Salmond, 26, told friends he didn’t know Duke had a girlfriend when he called him, claiming Fitzgibbon rarely appeared on the rising Fox star’s personal Instagram page.
Grace Fitzgibbon has “kicked the plug” on her relationship with “Az” (pictured together above), who was a pallbearer at her brother’s funeral.
Jake Duke and Grace Fitzgibbon’s relationship imploded after he received a late-night phone call from a colleague based in New Zealand.
Tiffany Salmond called Jake Duke ‘in the wee hours’, prompting his girlfriend to end their three-year relationship
Weeks later, tragedy struck when Fitzgibbon’s brother Jack, 33, died when his parachute failed to deploy during a “routine” military training exercise at the RAAF base in Richmond, 50 kilometres northwest of Sydney.
Lance Corporal Fitzgibbon suffered serious head injuries and was taken to Westmead Hospital in Sydney’s west, where he died.
Ms Fitzgibbon paid tribute to her brother in a pre-recorded eulogy at a funeral at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Cessnock in March.
Ms Fitzgibbon, daughter of former Labor minister Joel Fitzgibbon, told mourners she was devastated by the loss but knew her brother “would be in my bones”.
“As your little sister, I promise to step up and protect our family no matter what life throws at us,” she said.
Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon died after a skydiving incident during special forces training on March 6.
The Fitzgibbon family at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Cessnock with their family for the funeral of their son and brother Jack
Soldiers lined the streets to bid farewell to Lance Corporal Fitzgibbon in March.
“Whenever there are questions to be answered or decisions to be made, I’ll simply ask myself, ‘What would Jack do?’ I love you more than you’ll ever know.”
Hundreds of people, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Defence Minister Richard Marles, attended Lance Corporal Fitzgibbon’s funeral.
Soldiers also lined the streets of Cessnock to pay tribute to the lance corporal.
Ms Fitzgibbon declined to comment on her new relationship.
