David Warner’s wife considered suicide after rugby star’s toilet tryst | Cricket | Sport
Candice Warner considered taking her own life following the torment she endured after her pub toilet tryst with Sonny Bill Williams. The 40-year-old, now wed to former cricketer David Warner, was pictured with the ex-New Zealand rugby icon in 2007, years before meeting her current spouse.
Candice, a former state champion Ironwoman, faced such severe “slut-shaming” remarks and mockery that she contemplated suicide. Speaking on the Mental As Anyone podcast in April, the former athlete revealed: “I definitely contemplated suicide many times. I remember driving to The Gap and pulling over and just thinking there’s no way out. I felt like there was no escape. I was ashamed.
“I was embarrassed. I was publicly humiliated. I think being the female in that situation in such a public place and it all being played out in the media, I was, I suppose, slut shamed.”
Candice revealed a telephone conversation with her brother pulled her back from the edge.
She explained: “I called my brother. He sort of talked me, not talked me out of it, but he just definitely said, ‘I’m coming to get you, don’t do anything stupid.'”
Today, the former Ironwoman is married to ex-Australian cricket skipper David Warner and has put her moment with Williams behind her.
The former rugby star has also distanced himself from the 2007 incident, recently pursuing a career in boxing. Candice, a participant on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2024, revealed more about the embarrassment she experienced at the age of 22.
On the programme, she confessed: “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.
“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. 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.”
Candice and David have been married since 2015 and are parents to three daughters. Despite both having a sporting background, the former Ironwoman confessed that she would have preferred a ‘normal life’.
Candice explained: “I love the life we’ve built. Do I wish we could live a quieter life where not everyone knew everything about us? Of course. But aside from that there isn’t much I’d change.
“In another life, if competitive sport wasn’t for me, I think I would have been a vet. But all in all, I think our life would look pretty similar to what it does now-lots of family time, staying active and enjoying friends’ company.”
