When Chloe married AFL star Toby Pink, it was the best day of their lives. No one could have anticipated what happened next

EXCLUSIVE: A wedding day is meant to be the happiest day of your life, and of course it was for AFL star Toby Pink and his wife Chloe.

The pair have known each other almost their whole lives, growing up in a small town in South Australia, being family friends and then dating for seven years since 2017.

But their special day in March was ''overshadowed" by the vile comments and unfair criticism Chloe received online by vicious and cruel trolls over her appearance.

Chloe posted their special wedding photographs online, and vile troll comments criticising her appearance soon appeared underneath it.

"No one can take away the day, but at the same time, we feel as though it has been overshadowed by the negative commentary around the wedding day and also the way that I look," Chloe tells nine.com.au.

"Now that I look at our photos... all I think about them is 'Oh, that one was used in that news article and that's what this person said about this one'."

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"To me they're just photos now... when I look at them, all I can think about is the negative things attached to it.

"When you get married, post-wedding everyone is congratulating you, and you're in a honeymoon love bubble. Whereas ours was, 'Oh my God, I'm so, so sorry,'" she adds.

"It's not a bad thing, it's people being kind, but it's almost like a grievance, like a negative thing, because of the negative comments.

"It's taken away to conversations you'd normally have about your wedding."

Chloe, who is seeing a psychologist to help her through this time, says about the trolls: "These people can't stand seeing women happy or confident or even just loved.

"They can't stand that Toby could love me because I have a bigger body shape, they can't grasp that, and it's easy for them to pick me apart rather than deal with their own insecurities."

She tells nine.com.au that after a recent appearance on Steph Claire Smith's podcast, the KIC POD, the fitness influencer and businesswoman has sweetly arranged for the newlyweds to get their professional wedding photographs retaken.

More recently, Chloe has hit back at the trolls on her social media and has become a body positvity advocate, standing up for women everywhere.

''Originally I was embarrased I was being bullied and then I was like, wait a minute, silence isn't permission. Now, the confidence comes naturally," she says about speaking out at the critics and bodyshamers.

"I hate how we just excuse the behaviour and I don't think it's acceptable, no matter who you are.

"Women deserve to exist online without being reduced to our appearances.

"There's so much more to us, it's a big issue and I think it's draining and exhausting."

Chloe says that some footy fans "think they're looking out for Toby" with their comments, but in reality, the North Melbourne Football Club star is disgusted by the comments.

''When they say, 'Oh sorry man, I feel for you'. You've got it all wrong... if you said that to him in person, he wouldn't accept it," Chloe asserts.

"He chose to love me. No one is going to want anyone speaking like that to their loved ones. He doesn't want anything to do with you speaking to his wife like that."

The pair grew up together in Millicent, South Australia. They grew up together, before things turned romantic in 2017 when he moved away for his sporting career.

"We grew up in a small country town and so we have known each other for our whole lives. All we've known is just knowing each other," Chloe sweetly says.

Speaking about their relationship, she says the pair are of course, going strong.

"It's very healthy, it's mutual and very nurturing actually. We are best friends and I think that comes before anything."

Their recent honeymoon "allowed me to be in that love bubble and allowed us to reflect on our wedding again".

Despite the trying times of late and making headlines for the body shaming comments, Chloe says she knows she's strong enough to handle it – and help other women in the process.

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"I feel like this is where I'm meant to be, everything happens for a reason and it happened to me because I am the right person to advocate for it [body positivity]," she says.

"Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations and younger me would be so proud."

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