Mats Hummels’ ex-wife opens up on why she ‘couldn’t love him’, after he went public with his new Victoria’s Secret model girlfriend 11 years her junior

Mats Hummels’ ex-wife Cathy Fischer has opened up on her battle with depression and how the mental illness impacted her marriage to the former Borussia Dortmund star just weeks after Hummels went public with his new girlfriend. 

Fischer and Hummels married in 2015 after meeting at the age of 19, and share a son born three years later, but the couple separated in 2022. 

Their divorce was finalised in December of that year, and Hummels has since gone public with his girlfriend of over 10 months, Nicola Cavanis. 

Fischer was keen to share her experience with mental health issues at BILD’s Women’s Health Summit, as well as detail the impact depression had on her marriage. 

The television presenter and influencer stressed that even though she understood that people in the public eye were often ‘envied’ and that she has always been attractive and ‘super extroverted’, when she was alone it was a different story. 

‘Who knows what it looks like inside me?’ Fischer said during her talk at the summit in Berlin. ‘A mental illness has no face, it hides behind the most beautiful curtain.’

Fischer and Hummels were married for seven years after meeting at the age of just 19 (pictured in 2014)

The Roma defender is now dating Victoria’s Secret model Nicola Cavanis (pictured in October)

Fischer shared that at times during her struggle with depression, she had felt entirely disconnected from Hummels, who featured at Dortmund and Bayern Munich during their marriage. 

The 36-year-old added: ‘I had conversations with my ex-husband at the time, of course, and I often said: “I’m sorry that I’m acting so strangely at the moment, but I’m just not feeling well. I can’t show you love right now. You feel numb.”

‘It does something to you when you realise you are powerless against these emotions.’

Fischer also confessed that in a bid to hide her feeling of disconnection, she often appeared ‘artificial’ as she sought to ‘cover up’ her real feelings. 

But after engaging with her mental health, Fischer told the summit that she no longer receives treatment or takes medication after ‘learning to deal with (her) nature’. 

Hummels and new girlfriend Cavanis – who is 11 years his junior – publicly announced their relationship at this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris, posing for pictures outside of the Theatre du Chatelet. 

Cavanis, who is a decade younger than Hummels, has enjoyed success as a model for several brands.

Fischer revealed that at times her depression made it difficult for her to love her ex-husband

Hummels and Cavanis took their relationship public on the red carpet before the Ballon d’Or

Cavanis is 11 years Hummels’ junior and they are believed to have started dating in 2023

The model has modelled for brands including Nivea, Victoria’s Secret, Puma, MCM and Tchibo

She earned fame after becoming the face of a Nivea brand campaign in February 2021.

Cavanis previously revealed she had started modelling at the age of 15, before joining an agency two years later after leaving school.

As well as Nivea, Cavanis has represented brands including Puma, Victoria’s Secret, MCM, New Yorker and Tchibo.

Cavanis is represented by both Munich Models and Wilhelmina, while she boasts 1.9 million followers on Instagram and 500,000 on TikTok.