James Hird’s wife Tania has revealed how she celebrated her birthday just days after her split from the football legend emerged.
The end of the couple’s 27-year marriage shocked the football world when it emerged last week, and sources said they remain on good terms.
It has been claimed their split has been kept out of the public eye for over a year and James is believed to have already moved out of the family home.
Just a few days after the news broke, Tania took to Instagram to give some insight into how she celebrated her birthday.
The founder of hair accessory company HairFlare revealed that her son Tom invited her to dinner at Melbourne’s exclusive Maison Bâtard restaurant.
She shared a variety of photos from the occasion while gushing about being able to celebrate her birthday with “one of my favorite people.”
James Hird’s wife Tania has revealed how she celebrated her birthday just days after her split from the football legend emerged.
The end of the couple’s 27-year marriage shocked the football world when it emerged last week, and sources said they remain on good terms (pictured in 2006).
For the evening, former lawyer Tania cut a glamorous figure in a strapless black dress, which she paired with thick gold earrings.
She seemed to be in a good mood as she flashed a big smile while sitting across from her son, who looked dapper in a black polo shirt.
Tania shared a glimpse of her top-notch food as she munched on a delicious plate of pasta while Tom munched on sandwiches at the prestigious restaurant.
In one caption, she gushed: ‘A delicious belated birthday dinner and musical evening, hosted by the very special @tomhird.
‘It was an incredibly fun and engaging night with one of my favorite people.
‘I paired my elegant black linen dress with @taniahirddesigns’ vibrant Hibiscus collection for an instant pop of vibrancy and color!’ (sic)
In addition to Tom, Tania also shares two other sons, Alex and William, and a daughter, Stephanie, with her now ex-husband James.
Last week, it emerged that Tania and the Essendon legend had split after 27 years of marriage.
Just days after the news emerged, Tania took to Instagram to reveal how she celebrated her birthday by dining with her son Tom at Melbourne’s exclusive Maison Bâtard restaurant.
The pair were together through the ups and downs of James’ on-field career, from being lauded as the game’s best player to the 2013 Bombers drug scandal.
They are believed to have kept their split a secret for more than a year and James is believed to have moved out of their family home in the exclusive suburb of Toorak.
Four weeks before the news became public, Tania shared an Instagram post on her design company’s account, and her eagle-eyed fans noticed that she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring.
There was also no sign of James when she shared photos from her trip to Vietnam with her three children last October.
However, she wore her wedding ring in another capacity for her fashion business in September, and she and James maintain a friendly relationship, according to News Corp.
James has previously spoken about how his wife Tania was a huge support to him after the famous Bombers scandal of 2013, which saw him hit rock bottom.
After retiring as an AFL player, he began working at a leading sports management company before becoming head coach of Essendon in 2011.
However, the initial success came to a halt in February 2013, when allegations of illegal drug and supplement use by its players were revealed.
In addition to Tom, Tania also shares two other sons, Alex and William (all pictured) and a daughter, Stephanie, with her now ex-husband James.
James and Tania (pictured in 2014) are believed to have kept their split secret for more than a year and James is understood to have moved out of their family home in the suburb of Toorak.
With James at the helm, Essendon was at the center of one of the biggest scandals in Australian sporting history, with 34 players found guilty on appeal of taking performance-enhancing drugs during the 2012 AFL season.
James was suspended from Essendon in August 2013 for 12 months, and then resigned as Bombers coach in August 2015.
He has since spoken out about the devastating effects of the scandal, revealed that he considered taking his own life and praised Tania for keeping her family together.
“I remember sitting on my kitchen floor and everyone has gone to bed, my wife is upstairs, the kids are in bed and I’m sitting there crying on the floor,” he said in 2020.
‘You’re just grieving this life you had. As much as I was glad to retire because I’m sick of being in pain…there was a grieving process.
‘I really felt for my wife because she was trying to keep our family together.
“She’s a very proud person and also very defensive of me because she’s obviously seen me go through a lot.”
James first admitted he needed help when he called the Beyond Blue helpline in 2015, but it wasn’t until two years later that he realized he couldn’t “get out on his own.”
The pair stayed together through the devastating effects of the Essendon drugs scandal, which broke in 2013. James is pictured coaching the Bombers in 2015.
James was He was rushed to the hospital in January 2017 after overdosing on prescription drugs. at his Toorak family home, before being transferred to a specialized mental health facility.
“For the past four years I have been short-tempered, distant, difficult to get along with, sometimes rude and sick,” he admitted at the time.
He left the Bombers in 2015, but re-applied for the club’s head coaching position when Ben Rutten was moved in 2022, however he ultimately lost the job to Brad Scott.
He was also set to take up a coaching role at VFL club Port Melbourne but decided to become coaching director due to business commitments.
But in a major professional coup this year, James will return to television on Channel Nine’s Sunday night show Footy Furnace alongside AFL great mate Jimmy Bartel.
James is considered one of the greatest Australian Rules players of all time, winning almost every title and accolade the game has to offer in a 15-year career in which he played 253 games for the Dons.
A member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, he jointly won the Brownlow Medal as the game’s best and fairest player, and was named in the club’s team of the century in 1997.