A Channel Seven TV reporter whose Special Forces soldier brother was killed in a parachuting accident has fallen for a pallbearer at his funeral – after a highly publicised break-up with her boyfriend.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Grace Fitzgibbon, 31, has found love in the most unlikely of places following the tragic death of her brother, Jack, during a training exercise in March.
Ms Fitzgibbon on Tuesday afternoon shared loved up photos of herself with a strapping young man, Az, with the simple caption: ‘Silver linings’.
A friend confirmed the relationship and told Daily Mail Australia: ‘(Grace and Az) have known each other forever – he was a good friend of Jack’s and one of the pallbearers at his funeral.
‘They’ve bonded in grief but he makes her really, really happy and it’s nice to see Grace smile again.’
The new relationship follows Ms Fitzgibbon’s highly publicised split with Fox Sports ‘golden boy’ Jake Duke in February.
The split was prompted by a call Duke received in the middle of the night from glamorous Kiwi rugby league reporter Tiffany Salmond.
At the time, Salmond, 26, told friends she was unaware Duke had a girlfriend when she called him, claiming that Fitzgibbon rarely featured on the Fox rising star’s personal Instagram page.
Grace Fitzgibbon has ‘hard launched’ 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 New Zealand-based colleague
Tiffany Salmond called Jake Duke ‘in the wee hours’ prompting his girlfriend to end their three-year-long relationship
Weeks later, tragedy struck when Ms Fitzgibbon’s brother Jack, 33, died when his parachute failed to deploy during a ‘routine’ military training drill at the RAAF base in Richmond, 50km northwest of Sydney.
Lance Corporal Fitzgibbon suffered critical head injuries and was taken to Westmead Hospital in Sydney’s west, where he died.
Ms Fitzgibbon paid tribute to her brother in a prerecorded eulogy at a funeral service at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Cessnock in March.
Ms Fitzgibbon – daughter of former Labor minister Joel Fitzgibobn – told mourners that she was shattered 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 through anything life may throw at us,’ she said.
Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon died after a parachuting incident during special forces training on March 6
The Fitzgibbon family at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Cessnock with his family for the funeral of son and brother Jack
Soldiers lined the streets to farewell Lance Corporal Fitzgibbon in March
‘Whenever there are questions to be answered or decisions to make I’ll simply ask myself: ‘What would Jack do?’ I love you more than you will 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 service.
Soldiers also lined the streets of Cessnock to pay tribute to the Lance Corporal.
Ms Fitzgibbon declined to comment on her new relationship.
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