After days of anticipation, the woman at the centre of the explosive Lachie Neale affair scandal has shared her side of the story with the public for the first time.
Tess Crosley has broken her silence in an eagerly awaited sit-down interview with the Daily Mail, offering her account of the saga that has attracted widespread attention and public scrutiny.
The full episode comes after a teaser video was shared in a joint Instagram post on Tuesday, with the words “and this is where things get interesting” appearing in text overlay as Tess walks into a studio and sits down in front of a microphone.
Speaking to Debrief podcast host Savanna Young, Tess reflected on the past year as a “chaotic” time in her life.
“I am doing well now, but the last 12 months was really, really chaotic and hard. I think that is sort of why I decided to come and speak today, because I think unless I actually verbalise it and talk about it, people don’t really know what I went through and how challenging is really was,” she said.
“I feel like I have done a lot of therapy and self work to sort of heal and I definitely made some decisions I deeply regret.”
When asked what the biggest misconception was in the wake of the fallout, Tess admitted she had made mistakes but it did not define her as a person.
“There’s a few, first of all I have made some bad decisions I deeply regret but I believe that I am not a bad person,” she added.
“I also think it is important for people to understand that I was a nobody and I was in a high-profile scandal without all the high-profile help.
“When you’re a high-profile person you get the PR team, you get the management, you get, you know, all the social help to go through those situations, where I didn’t. I had to do it on my own.
“That was really challenging and confronting for not only myself, but my family and friends as well.”
Just one day earlier Lachie’s ex-wife, Jules, shared her side of the story on the Pretty Sure podcast, claiming her ex-husband and best friend were involved in a four-month affair.
“I guess it was an ongoing, four-month affair with my best friend, behind my back,” Jules told host Adelle Petropoulos.
“I actually didn’t find out about that until I moved back to Perth.
“I was told it was a kiss and that’s all it was.
“I actually packed up and left because of that and then when I got to Perth, it all came out and I found out that it was a lot more than that, and it had been going on for a lot longer.”
Jules and Lachie’s marriage breakdown made headlines in December after Jules rejected reports the pair were “working through” issues in their relationship and declared she had been “betrayed in the most unimaginable way”.
Her former best friend, Tess Crosley, was subsequently linked to the scandal after a screenshot surfaced of Jules demanding she remove social media pictures featuring Lachie.
“Take these down, you idiot. You’re embarrassing yourself,” Jules wrote at the time.
In January, Lachie confirmed the separation and stepped down as Brisbane Lions co-captain, admitting he had “let my family down”.
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