In 2018, Simone and Brendon ended their eight-year relationship. They still work together.

For most of their eight-year relationship, Simone Milasa and Brendon Watt worked alongside each other.

The couple, who met almost nine years ago, first met through the company that they now both work for.

At the time of their first meeting, Brendon was just a client – but within six months of starting a relationship, the pair began working together.

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“It was nine years ago and we just hit it off,” Brendon told Mamamia.

“We’re both very creative so we had that in common and we just started creating stuff together,” he added.

“It was always very easy to be in a relationship with her.”

In the years that followed, the pair worked together on a number of projects as they launched their own businesses.

But while working together is often a source of conflict for many couples, it was largely a positive experience for the pair.

“It was always positive,” Brendon said of their experience. “We did not have one argument in eight years together.”

Simone agreed: “It never felt like we had to separate the two [work life and home life].”

“You could be in the shower and start talking about work – it didn’t matter to us,” she added.

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Most recently, in early 2019, the couple released a book about relationships together, titled Relationship, Are You Sure You Want One?

Interestingly, however, Simone and Brendon actually ended their relationship while they were in the process of releasing the book.

“I think we got to that place that a lot of people do in relationships where we started just maintaining it,” Brendon recalled.

“It started to get boring and it didn’t have that excitement anymore. It felt a little too normal.”

“As we were releasing the book, we broke up the relationship. It wasn’t intentional,” Simone added.

“Brendon broke up the relationship with me and I was shocked at first but when I looked at it, I realised he was right,” she said.

“Our relationship in the six months or so [before the break-up] was more about maintaining it than creating it.”

Now, over a year on from their split, Brendon and Simone continue to work together.

But although they now consider themselves close friends, it hasn’t always been easy.

 

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A post shared by Simone Milasas Business Mentor (@simonemilasas) on Jun 14, 2019 at 4:18pm PDT

“It wasn’t the easiest thing – there were some moments that were pretty tough and the fact that we do work together made it even tougher because there were moments where I just thought, ‘I wish you weren’t here,'” Simone said.

“I thought that it would be easier to deal with [if we were apart] and yet we had to deal with it because we work together,” she added.

“We had to spend a lot of time talking to each other to figure out what works for both of us.”

Speaking to Mamamia, Brendon agreed that working with an ex hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

“We’ve had to be very vulnerable and honest with each other because there have been bumps that have come up in the road with things like finances,” he said.

“But we’ve talked a lot about it and we’re great friends so that has made it a lot easier to deal with. It’s been easy in ways but it has also had it’s moments.”

As well as continuing their working relationship, the pair still maintain a financial relationship, despite their split.

And while Simone is based in Australia and Brendon has relocated overseas, they still talk almost every single day.

"In January, we'll see each other in Europe and we'll be doing classes together," Simone said.

"I speak to him almost every day at some point. It's been over a year now so it's way easier," she added.

According to Brendon, the pair still own a number of investments together – and they don't plan on changing that any time soon.

"We've kept a lot of the stuff that we own together, that we bought at the start of the relationship," he shared.

"I don't want to give that away just for the sake of not having a relationship."

Although both Simone and Brendon are now dating other people, their working relationship – and their friendship – has strengthened.

"I’m in another relationship and that was, you know, not the easiest thing for people to deal with," Brendon said.

"Like I said, we’ve had our bumps in the road but we’ve both pretty much dealt with it head on and I think that’s what has made our friendship even stronger," he added.

"I would say we’re probably closer now than we were in a relationship."

Feature Image: Instagram/@simonemilasas

For more on this topic:

• "He thought I made him redundant." 7 women share their worst colleague dating stories.
• 'I went on a work trip with my colleague Simon. Three days later, my marriage was over.'

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