Australian model Ellidy Pullin has said she is finally open to new love, four years after the shocking death of her partner Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin.
The Olympic snowboarder was 32 when he drowned while spearfishing off the Gold Coast in July 2020, but through an incredible process of IVF and sperm recovery, Ellidy was able to have his baby, a girl called Minnie.
Now 31, she has opened up to life without Chumpy, her daughter and her beloved Kelpie cross dog Rummi.
Pullin said there is still some of his late partner’s sperm available if he wanted “another Chumpy bubba,” but he is considering other options.
“I see myself having a baby someday with someone else, maybe in five years, but I don’t really see myself getting married,” she told Gold Coast Newsletter.
Australian model Ellidy Pullin (pictured) has said she is finally open to new love, four years after the shocking death of her partner Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin.
The late Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin is pictured with Ellidy and their Kelpie cross dog Rummi.
Ms Pullin revealed that while she is not yet at the point where she wants to date someone long-term, she has had a few flings while on holiday.
‘What happens in Bali can stay in Bali. But I couldn’t imagine bringing anyone home,” he told the publication.
“Right now I’m very happy with the three of us: Minnie, Rummi and me.”
He said Rummi gave him reasons to get up in the morning after Chumpy’s sudden death in the winter of 2020.
The kelpie needed her walks, so they would get up at 5am and walk on the beach for an hour, which Pullin said was “therapy and meditation” for her and kept her grounded.
Rummi was Chumpy’s dog, who loved him so much that the model sometimes felt like a ‘third wheel’, but now the kelpie never leaves his side.
She said that part of Rummi, and part of her, is still waiting for Chumpy to come back through the door and that she even has a recurring dream in which that happens.
He recently started a podcast called Darling, Shine! with her friend Chloe Fisher and has signed deals with Covergirl makeup, the LIV golf tournament and even Schmackos dog treats.
Pullin said Chumpy would be very proud of Minnie, the daughter he never met and who looks a lot like him.
Just hours after her death, Ellidy’s quick-thinking brother and friends mentioned the sperm retrieval process, which It can take place up to 36 hours after death.
Under Queensland law, sperm can be removed posthumously when a designated official states that they believe the deceased would not object.
Immediate family consent is also required before sperm can be recovered, then an IVF specialist helps with the process.
Ms Pullin’s recovery process was carried out through the use of ICSI IVF, where a single sperm is injected directly into an egg for fertilization.
She said she “would love to hear Chump talk about (Minnie), he used to be so in love with Rummi…he would have been the best father.”
His own father, Peter Vlug, died in 2022 from aggressive brain cancer, which was diagnosed shortly after Chumpy’s death.
Through an incredible process of IVF and sperm retrieval, Ellidy was able to have Chumpy’s baby, Minnie. Ellidy and Minnie in the photo.
Ellidy and Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin are pictured with their dog Rummi, who is a kelpie cross.
Ellidy Pullin said Rummi (left) gave her reason to get up in the morning after Chumpy’s (right) sudden death in the winter of 2020.
Chumpy and Mr Vlug were very close and Mrs Pullin said her partner’s death affected her father physically: “I really think it did,” she said.
Pullin said after some dark times, he now likes to think about what the future holds.
“I love imagining our lives in 10 years, when Minnie is 12 and Rummi is 15, and they have grown up very close together,” she said.
“I love that she has her protector with her.”
Model Ellidy and her late partner, Olympic athlete Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin, appear in a field.
Ellidy Pullin appears in the photo when she was pregnant with her daughter Minnie, who was conceived through sperm taken from her deceased partner ‘Chumpy’.
Snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin, who died four years ago, is pictured with his beloved dog
Ellidy Pullin (left) said she would love to hear Chumpy (right) talk about the daughter he never got to know. ‘He would have been the best father’
