Candice is happily married with cricket star David Warner. Photo / Instagram
Candice is happily married with cricket star David Warner. Photo / Instagram
Candice Warner has been compelled to address her regrettable night with Sonny Bill Williams at the Clovelly Hotel on new reality series SAS Australia.
In a harrowing interrogation scene on the Channel 7 programme that will be aired this series, the Daily Mail reports Warner, 35, confesses: "In my early 20s I made a very big mistake."
Now married to cricket star David Warner and a mother of three daughters, Warner continues to be haunted by a drunken moment that happened 13 years ago.
"It is something I am not proud of but something I can never take back," she says.
"I put myself in a situation where I shouldn't have and because of that I brought embarrassment [and] shame to my family."
A member of the public used a mobile phone to capture the hook-up between Warner and Williams at the Clovelly Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs on a Saturday night in April, 2007.
At the time Warner, 22, and known as Candice Falzon, was an ironwoman and Williams, 21, was playing for the Canterbury Bulldogs in the NRL. Bulldogs players were celebrating their win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs the night before.
The pair met at the establishment where they started dancing and kissing.
A friend of Warner's, Llara Rope, told the ABC the pair were "drunk" and "messy".
Williams' manager at the time, Gavin Orr, said his client was extremely drunk that night.
"He had been there since 2pm and I know he was really blind,'' Orr said. "I don't know anything about Candice Falzon — all I was told was that Sonny Bill was taken home in a taxi by [teammate] Willie Mason's girlfriend just before midnight.''
According to reports, Williams — who had a girlfriend at the time — allegedly went so far as to buy as many newspapers as he could in his local area so his partner wouldn't find out about his public displays with another woman. He said he was so drunk he couldn't remember the encounter.
"I know it sounds so stupid saying I can't remember," Williams said. "But I can honestly say I don't remember anything."
Sonny Bill Williams and Candice Warner. Photo / Getty Images
Shortly after the incident was made public Falzon said: "Nothing happened — it was blown out of proportion." Her then-manager Max Markson said she was "terribly embarrassed" and she later revealed her regret about what transpired.
"I've made a mistake and I'm very, very sorry about it," Falzon said. "I'm conscious of my image as a sportswoman and I've got a responsibility to young people. Young girls look up to me."
Speaking to ABC programme Australian Story in 2008, Warner said she wasn't thinking about what impact her actions would later have.
"I wasn't in a state where I didn't know what happened, but you don't think of how your actions, when you're drunk, can have an affect on your life," she said.
"You really don't. You are in your own little zone. Although you are conscious of what you're doing, you're not really."
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph in 2012, she revealed how the constant scrutiny and public pressure drove her to thinking about taking her own life.
"I did get a lot of media attention at a young age and I hadn't had a lot of results," she said. "I think people felt like I didn't deserve the attention. I can understand that — all my intentions ever were to try to promote the sport and try to get ironwoman racing in everyone's mind.
"At a young age, I had this profile and I think people forgot how young I was and they felt they could say whatever they wanted."
Warner had to deal with "repulsive" slurs made by people passing her in the street in her own country, which "really cut" her.
But years after the encounter with Williams, she was able to put the storm behind her.
"I have come out the other end. It's not part of my thinking. It's something that happened, that got really out of control in the media," she said in 2012.
"I have come out of it a different and a better person."
The incident also contributed to Sonny Bill Williams' life heading in a different direction. Photo / Instagram
That hasn't stopped others bringing it up.
Candice and David Warner were the subject of ugly taunts during the Australian cricket team's Test tour of South Africa in 2018.
During the first Test, Warner confronted South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock in a stairwell in Durban after he allegedly made a comment about Candice.
Both players were charged with breaching the code of conduct.
The taunts continued during the second Test in Port Elizabeth when some spectators wore masks of Williams to the ground.
Warner opened up about why he had to be physically retrained by teammates after hearing the "vile" comment de Kock made about his wife.
"I cop it left, right and centre, especially off the field from spectators and I'm used to that and it doesn't bother me," Warner said.
"But in a proximity of my personal space and from behind me, a comment that was vile and disgusting about my wife, and in general about a lady, was quite poor, I felt.
"My emotional response was just something that I don't believe should have been said and I'll always stick up for my family and in that case my teammates as well."
Candice and David Warner were the subject of ugly taunts during the Australian cricket team’s tour of South Africa in 2018. Photo / Instagram
SAS Australia sees Aussie celebrities take on a series of physical and psychological tests from the real special forces selection process.
An elite team of ex-Special Forces soldiers is subjecting them to extreme physical endurance, sleep deprivation, interrogation and psychological testing, pushing the stars beyond their limits every step of the way.
Unfortunately for Candice Warner that has meant dredging up the past, even after she attempted to put the matter to bed for good after the South Africa tour.
"I finally received a weak apology from Cricket South Africa [for the fan taunts]. I realised they're the ones to feel ashamed, not me," she said after returning home.
"I'd like to extend that apology to Sonny Bill. He's a husband and father, so imagine how his wife would feel and his kids.
"It's time to put it to rest and get on with things that matter."
