EXCLUSIVE: Australia’s first Golden Bachelor, Bear, may be ready to open his heart but his heart has certainly faced some wounds in his lifetime.

After losing his wife Audrey to cancer 14 years ago, the 61-year-old experienced a heartbreaking double loss when his mother passed away in the same year.

In the video above, Bear opened up about his loss and the moment that changed the course of fatherhood forever.

Bear is the father of three boys with his late wife Audrey, whose life was sadly cut short by an aggressive brain cancer.

She had four major surgeries.

“After her fourth surgery, she never came home,” Bear remembered.
Bear opens up about the tragedy of his past. (Nine)
“My mother unfortunately passed away the same year as my wife,” he revealed to 9Entertainment.

The boys were quite young and so Bear took on the “dual role of parenting” alone.
Bear has loved and lost. (Nine)
“We became very, very close and we still are to this day,” Bear reflected. “I love boys, they’re my pride and joy.”

As for a second chance at love? In the video, Bear revealed the truth about past relationships and his “unwillingness to compromise”.

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He also shared the hilariously sweet tale of how he and his late wife Audrey ended up in Australia.

“I woke up one morning, it was minus 40, and my car wouldn’t start and I kind of thought, ‘Yeah, let’s forget this, let’s go back to Australia’,” Bear smiled.