It was the second time the Sydney Swans forward had played his former club but the first time he'd faced off with the Hawks' home crowd at the MCG.
He was met with a chilly reaction from the fans who booed and jeered him following his shock defection to the Swans in October last year.
Campbell, a Sydney-based model, said the treatment was uncalled for and the two-time premiership Hawk couldn't help but be affected by it.
"He was a massive part of that club for nine years and he was playing against his best friends he's grown up with, and he still has a great admiration and respect for that football club," Campbell told Sydney's Triple M on Tuesday.
"I think it's really difficult for him when he goes [to Melbourne].
"I find it a little bit disrespectful. All of a sudden the supporters have forgotten the nine years.
"You see him getting heckled and you see the crowd yelling things to him and as a sportsman it's part of it and you get used to dealing with it.
"But I’d be lying if I said I didn't think it affected him."
Franklin's move to the Swans caused shockwaves through the AFL last year when he signed an unprecedented nine-year deal worth $10million.
It came in the days following the Hawks' premiership win over Fremantle, the second Franklin had been involved in since 2008.
Campbell said Hawthorn supporters needed to respect the fact her boyfriend of 12 months was merely human.
"He says it doesn't get to him and I suppose there's a part of him that has to learn to shut it off, but as his partner I do see that he's affected by it," she said.
"He's a human at the end of the day, he feels everything that everyone else feels.
"Just because he's on a football field and can kick goals and he's this sporting legend doesn't mean he's invincible.
"I think people just have to be really conscious of the fact that he's just like you and I, and he feels exactly the same way we feel."
