Iva Ristic is the wife of Elton Jantjies, the Rugby star. Iva, who is a model and digital creator, was born on June 19th, 1989, and is currently 35 years old. Iva and Elton met in 2011 and reportedly exchanged marital vows in 2019.
The lovely couple have three sons named Elton Junior, Noah, and Leandro Lee. Following the cheating scandal that marred their marriage in late 2022, the two are said to be heading for divorce. Nonetheless, they are still together at the moment, co-parenting their children.
Iva Ristic’s Biography Summary
- Full name: Iva Ristic
- Gender: Female
- Date of birth: June 19th, 1989
- Iva Ristic’s Age: 35 years old
- Ethnicity: White
- Nationality: South African
- Zodiac Sign: Gemini
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Religion: Christian
- Marital Status: Married
- Iva Ristic’s Husband: Elton Jantjies
- Iva Ristic’s Children: 3 sons; Elton Junior, Noah, and Leandro Lee
- Iva Ristic’s Height in Inches: 5 feet 7 inches
- Iva Ristic’s Height in Centimetres: 170 cm
- Iva Ristic’s Weight: 56 kg (123 lbs)
- Famous for: Being the wife of Rugby star, Elton Jantjies
- Iva Ristic’s Instagram: @ivaristic
- Facebook: @IvaRistic
How Old is Iva Ristic?
Elton Jantjies’s wife, Iva Ristic, is 35 years old. She was born on June 19th, 1989, and that makes her zodiac sign Gemini. Despite being in the limelight for a long time as the significant other of a famous rugby player, there’s little to no information regarding Iva’s childhood experiences, as well as her educational background.
What Nationality is Iva Ristic?
Iva Ristic was born in South Africa. Thus, she is a South African national but reportedly has Greek ancestry. Even though she was born and raised in the rainbow nation, Iva’s parents are said to have been residing in Greece for some years now. After giving birth to her first child in 2015, she spent a month and a half with her parents in Greece.
When did Iva Ristic Become Elton Jantjies’s Wife?
Elton Jantjies and his sweetheart, Iva Ristic, reportedly tied the knot in a private wedding ceremony six days after their engagement in 2019. The low-key event was said to have taken place before Springbox won the World Cup in Japan.
Iva first got acquainted with her now husband online in the year 2011. They felt an immediate connection and decided to have a romantic relationship.
Due to the lovebird’s tight traveling schedule, they were unable to meet in person until 2014 at a magazine photo shoot. Five years later, Iva and Elton announced their engagement, and the eminent rugby player allegedly proposed to his longtime girlfriend by putting the ring in her Cosmopolitan cocktail at a fancy restaurant.
How Many Children Does Iva Ristic Have?
Iva Ristic shares three sons – Elton Junior, Noah, and Leandro Lee with her husband, Elton Jantjies. Shortly after the cute couple met in person in 2014, they started meeting frequently and then decided to have children together. Their first son, Elton Junior, was born on September 25th, 2015, and he is presently 9 years old.
Noah, the couple’s second son, is 7 years old as he was born in March 2017. Then their youngest son, Leandro Lee, arrived into the world in May 2019 and is 5 years old. Due to the nature of her husband’s career, Iva Ristic and her children travel a lot to show him support.
They have been to countries like Japan, Italy, Turkey, and France. Elton Jantjies’s family narrowly escaped the earthquake that struck Turkey in February 2023. The devastating earthquake, which took the lives of thousands of people, occurred a few days after Iva and her children left Alanya, a city in Turkey, to meet up with Elton in France.
She took to Instagram to express her heartbreak over the terrifying disaster. A proud mother of three, Iva Ristic regularly gets her social media followers swooning with posts on her family life, travel adventures around the globe, and her fascinating flair for fashion.
What does Elton Jantjies’s Wife do?
On her Instagram bio, Iva Ristic describes herself as a digital creator. She is also said to be a model and social media influencer who has a passion for art and fashion design. She has reportedly appeared in several magazines and fashion shows.
In order to help her husband achieve his goals, Iva said that she sacrificed so many things, including her career and her dreams.
Hence, it’s uncertain whether she still works as a model. Nevertheless, she is currently pursuing a DJing career. Before her husband was sidelined by Springbox due to his disgraceful behaviors off the pitch, Iva Ristic was part of the Springbox WAGs club. She is good friends with Siya Kolisi‘s wife, Rachel Kolisi, and Layla Kolbe – the better half of Cheslin Kolbe.
Elton Jantjies and Simjee’s Cheating Scandal
In September 2022, Iva Ristic made headlines after her husband’s extramarital affair with Springbox dietitian Zeenat Simjee came to light. The two were reported to have spent time together at two different guesthouses, away from the hotel the Springbox team lodged in the week leading up to the Test against the All Blacks in Nelspruit in August.
According to the Afrikaans publication, Rapport, the pair had candle night dinners and spa treatments, and the rugby player left the guesthouses without fully settling the bills. While owning the first guest house R4,000, the two checked into another guesthouse where the bill amounted to R26,000, and Elton allegedly paid R5,000.
He was said to have settled the bills after the owners of the guesthouses contacted SA Rugby Union. Elton and Simjee’s affair was exposed to the publication by eyewitnesses – a father and son from Pretoria who lodged next door to the room where the two stayed at one of the guesthouses. When the news about the duo being romantically involved hit the media, Elton Jantjies and Zeenat Simjee denied the allegations.
However, the Rugby star eventually admitted that he had an extramarital affair with the dietitian for some time and that the two spent time together in Nelspruit in August. In spite of Elton Jantjies’s confession, Simjee, through her lawyer, Frikkie Erasmus, continued to deny the cheating allegations. She claimed it was a mistaken identity and that she had a family engagement at the time the rumored romantic getaway happened.
Not finding Simjee’s denial funny, Elton Jantjies slammed her for living in denial and asserted that she knows the truth.
How Iva Ristic Responded to the Scandal
Following the news of Elton Jantjies and Zeenat Simjee’s affair, SA Rugby released a statement. They said that the two did not breach the team’s protocol. However, to eliminate distractions and also settle personal issues, Elton and Zeenat were sent home from Argentina, where the Springboks were preparing for the Test against Los Pumas in Buenos Aires.
With SA Rugby saying that Elton and Zeenat didn’t breach the team’s protocol despite staying away from the team’s hotel, Iva Ristic called them out for taking the scandal lightly. She also showed concern for the wives of the players and blamed Springbox for allowing such situations to arise inside the team environment.
Furthermore, Elton Jantjies’s wife called the Springboks dietitian a clown for denying having an affair with her husband. She sent proof of her husband’s affair with Zeenat Simjee to Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus. These included screenshots of the messages between both, where Zeenat was asking the rugby player to divorce his wife and why he was still posting her on social media.
Iva also disclosed hotel and flight bookings made by the two as well as Simjee’s reservation for a romantic meal with Elton Jantjies on a boat in Sydney Harbour. Despite her efforts to see that the dietitian faces the music together with her husband, who was sidelined by the team, Iva Ristic was disappointed when Zeenat was included in the team’s end-of-the-year tour, and no disciplinary action was taken against her.
Even though her husband apologized to her, the digital creator disclosed to News24 that she doesn’t think she would ever be romantically involved with the Springbox flyhalf again. Nevertheless, she pledged to always support him in his career as they have come a long way together and would remain friends in the meantime.
Are Elton Jantjies and Iva Ristic Still Together?
Though Elton Jantjies’s better half said that she’s planning to divorce her husband after her family gets settled following the cheating scandal, the pair are still together. In November 2022, she traveled to Cyprus with her kids to get away from the media attention they were getting at the time.
However, after a while, Elton Jantjies joined his family in Cyprus, and they had beautiful family moments, which the couple posted on their individual IG accounts. Additionally, in February 2023, the family reunited in France, where Jantjies plays in a second-division club, and they appeared to be having a good time together.
As it stands now, it’s still uncertain whether Iva Ristic will file for divorce, as she said. However, she still maintains her maiden name on her social media accounts, having changed her name from Iva Jantjies Ristic to Iva Ristic after her husband cheated on her with Zeenat Simjee.