It was a love story that started later in life; before she found fame as a relationship and dating expert on the TV show Married at First Sight.
For 15 years, the love story of Mel Schilling was the stuff of fairytales.
Now, as the world mourns the loss of the beloved star, 54, following her brave battle with colon cancer, we celebrate the beautiful life and legacy she built alongside Gareth Brisbane and their daughter, Maddie.
Melanie Schilling was born in Melbourne on April 20, 1972.
After finishing school, she studied psychology at Deakin University, and then human resources, which allowed her work in behavioural assessment, leadership and talent, before she founded her own consultancy firm.
She later became an accredited dating coach, and a dating and relationship expert for the dating website eHarmony.
Despite being a successful relationships coach, Mel told podcast Kinda Sorta Dating in 2021 she was “not interested in dating at all”.
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“I was single throughout my 30s,” she said.
“I was all about my career and travel and living overseas and my friends, and just basically being fabulous.
“I had no interest in boys whatsoever.”
On the rare occasion she would dip her toe “in the dating pool”, she said she would “attract all the commitment phobes, the Peter Pans, the losers”.
Then at 39, something changed.
Schilling told OK! in 2021 that after realising she “forgot to get married” while building her career, she decided to try her luck on eHarmony, and was matched with Gareth Brisbane.
“We were both nearly 40 when we met, and he just turned my world upside down,” she said, adding “I was not expecting that!”
Schilling said their relationship started off long distance, which allowed them to build a “solid foundation”.
“He’s from Whitehead in Northern Ireland, but he was living in Adelaide, and I was in Melbourne,” she said.
“We did long distance for six weeks, which was really pivotal in the success of our relationship, because we didn’t physically meet for those six weeks, but we were communicating every day.
“And it was mostly email and next – I couldn’t talk to him on the phone at first, because I couldn’t understand his accent!”
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Schilling said this “throwback to that retro style of dating” helped their relationship form.
“I felt like that was a great way to build a solid foundation for a relationship before you complicate it with chemistry and sex.
“Once we got together, it was very quick.”
Even though she had found her person, she said she “still didn’t know if I wanted to have a baby or not”.
“We started doing this dance where he was ready and I wasn’t, and then I was ready and he wasn’t. And eventually we met at that same point at the age of 40, when it was, ‘OK, let’s do it’. So I just – bang! – got pregnant, like within 10 minutes.”
Sadly, Schilling suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks.
“It was difficult and we both experienced a lot of grief with that, and I still think about it. It’s certainly a very, very tough experience,” she told OK!.
“But what it did for us is make us absolutely rock solid, so clear, that this was what we wanted. It gave us clarity.”
For 12 months they tried to get pregnant naturally, before going down “the IVF path”.
Daughter Maddie was born in November 2015, when Schilling was 42.
Months later, the producers of Married at First Sight came calling.
The show had launched in Australia in 2015 and they were looking to add another relationship expert to the mix.
Schilling flew back and forth to Sydney for filming of the second season, and became a huge hit with audiences.
Around 2018, the couple went on holiday to Bali and loved it so much they decided to live there for the next two-and-a-half years.
It was during this period they held an unofficial wedding ceremony.
Then on Christmas Eve 2020, while back in Australia, they married during an intimate ceremony in Melbourne.
Schilling continued to work on MAFS, remaining on the show for 12 seasons, before announcing on February 17 this year she was stepping down.
In 2021, she also joined the UK version of the show.
That year, the family decided to relocate full-time to Brighton in England, but would jet back to Australia to film MAFS.
She told OK! in 2021, her grandmother was born in the UK and it was close to Gareth’s family in Northern Ireland.
“We’re looking at setting up a kind of a bi-continental lifestyle for the next five years or so,” she said.
But just two years later, Schilling shocked MAFS fans worldwide when she announced on Instagram in December 2023 she had been diagnosed with colon cancer.
She revealed doctors discovered a 5cm tumour she had nicknamed ‘Terry’ and she would be spending Christmas 2023 in hospital while she underwent surgery.
Schilling later revealed the surgery was a success and she was given the all-clear.
She spent the start of 2024 undergoing chemotherapy, which she juggled with work. She was soon back on our screens in both the UK and Australian versions of the show.
She even revealed to Nine in January 2025, the cancer was “in remission, which is bloody good news”.
However, behind the scenes and unknown to the public until just this month, routine scans in February 2024 had revealed nodules in her lungs, signalling the cancer had spread.
She underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and was accepted into a groundbreaking clinical trial for her type of cancer that was due to begin in March 2026 when she started experiencing “blinding headaches and numbness” down her right side over Christmas 2025.
“After many tests, I was told the cancer had spread to the left side of my brain and, despite subsequent radiotherapy sessions, my oncology team have now told me there is nothing further they can do,” she wrote on Instagram on March 13.
“My light is starting to fade – and quickly. But I am still here, still fighting, and surrounded by the most incredible love.”
She included a photo of herself with Brisbane and Maddie in front of a Christmas tree, writing, “These two beside me are my everything”.
Then came the announcement overnight (AEST) that Schilling had died, with Brisbane taking to Instagram to share the news.
“Melanie Jane Brisbane-Schilling passed away peacefully today, surrounded by love,” he wrote.
“In her final moments, when I thought cancer had taken away her ability to speak, she ushered me closer and whispered a message for Maddie and me that will sustain me for the rest of my life.
“It took all of her remaining strength, and that gesture summed up our wee Melsie perfectly.
“Even then, her only thought was for Maddie and me.
“This is a woman who became a new mum and a TV star at 42 – and nailed both.
“This is a woman who, through two years of chemotherapy, when she could barely lift her head from the pillow, never complained and never stopped showing courage, grace, compassion and empathy, and never missed a day of filming.
“To most of you, she was Mel Schilling – matriarch of MAFS and queen of reality TV.
“To Maddie and me, she was our wee Melsie: an incredible mum, role model, and soulmate.”
“On behalf of our family and her incredible friendship group, thank you for the support from around the world.”
He ended the post by saying, “I had 15 wonderful years with my soulmate, and it was the privilege of my life to be by her side.
“For that, I will be forever thankful.
“Goodbye, my love. My one. Until we meet again.”