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7 months ago
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Candice Warner has spoken about the shocking impact of her infamous pub toilet tryst with football star Sonny Bill Williams, admitting the scandal was the 'hardest part of her life' and left her contemplating ending it all.
Warner's name was in headlines for weeks when she was photographed in a bathroom hook-up with ex-Bulldogs star Williams during a night out at Sydney's beachside Clovelly Hotel back in 2007.
Aged just 22 when the incident occurred, Warner opened up on Sunday night's episode of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' about the toll the public humiliation took on her family and herself.
'I think the hardest part of my life would have been 17 years ago,' Warner said.
Candice Warner has spoken about the pain she and her family had to endure as a result of the infamous off-field scandal
The shocking incident, in which Warner was photographed in a compromising position with Sonny Bill Williams (pictured) in a pub toilet, stirred up a huge media storm
'I make one silly mistake as a young girl and that was it.
'I remember just the hurt and pain that I caused my family because of comments that were made about me in the media.
'That was probably the hardest period of my life in just how relentless it was. It was just constant.'
In a direct piece to camera, Warner spoke about how serious the bullying became.
'When I was a lot younger, there was a lot of, I guess, scrutiny on me and name calling and online bullying towards me over a mistake that I made,' she said.
'Then I moved to Perth. My family needed a break from people approaching them and saying, "What's your daughter up to? I've read this, I've heard that".
'I wasn't perfect but I definitely wasn't the person that I was made out to be.'
The 39-year-old admitted that she contemplated suicide as a result of the fallout from the scandal.
Warner said the upside of the incident was that it prepared her to help her cricket star husband David through the Sandpapergate ball-tampering scandal.
'I try to look at everything in a positive light and I feel like in 2018 when my husband went through what he went through with cricket, I knew I had the tools for us as a family to get through it,' she said.
Candice married David in 2015 and they share daughters Ivy Mae, Indi Rae and Isla Rose
Candice says the infamous incident helped her guide David through his own media scandal, when he was caught up in the Sandpapergate ball-tampering saga in 2018
'I knew I was able to guide him because I had been through it.'
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at her book launch last year, Warner said she hasn't heard a thing from Sonny Bill Williams, 38, as they've both 'moved on with their lives'.
'No, I haven't heard from him and I didn't expect to, he's moved on with his life and I've moved on with mine,' she said.
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