He’s the favourite to win Sophie Monk’s heart on The Bachelorette.
And ahead of Wednesday’s finale, Stu Laundy has opened up about his hard partying past fuelled by booze, women and loneliness, which consumed his life for two years following his split from wife Rachel in 2013.
‘It was this vicious cycle I was in for two years. My biggest regret was I didn’t say no. I just didn’t say no to drinking, to having a big night’,’ the 44-year-old publican told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.
‘It was this vicious cycle I was in for two years’: The Bachelorette ‘winner’ Stu Laundy (pictured) has spoken of his hard partying past, fuelled by booze, women and loneliness
The heir to the $500 million Arthur Laundy fortune also admitted he was a serial dater after splitting from his wife of 15 years.
‘I was dating like I was dating for Australia,’ Stu explained. ‘The dating world has totally changed. It’s the Tinder revolution and it was a shock! But I was also sick of that life. It was totally vacuous.’
Stu, who has previously been linked to the likes of Laura Csortan and Stephanie Rice, said his partying began to spiral out of control post-divorce.
‘It was like I was dating for Australia!’ The heir to the $500 million Arthur Laundy fortune also admitted he was a serial dater after splitting from his wife of 15 years, Rachel
Stu admitted his biggest regret was that he was unable to say ‘no’.
‘The worst was I wouldn’t say no to anyone. All my friends wanted me to hook up with someone,’ he revealed. ‘I never said no. Sometimes it was like Tinder. It was two or three dates a week.
‘And I’d end up belting myself as I wasn’t that comfortable on the dates.’
He continued: ‘The majority of the times when these two “lost souls” would meet – one being me obviously – and not see a future, we’d have a good laugh and drink and try to forget our worries.’
Stu’s turning point came one night when he realised he was being an ‘idiot’ and it was finally time to settle down again.
Dating past: Stu who has dated the likes of Laura Csortan and Stephanie Rice said his partying life began to spiral out of control as he buried his head in booze and women
‘Reason being they invariably saw I wasn’t over my ex-wife. So I took stock and had a break from everything,’ Stu confessed.
This decision led to him signing up for The Bachelorette in an attempt to woo Sophie Monk, who he had tried to date previously by inviting her onto his boat.
‘This year I found happiness again within myself and it coincided with the chance to date Sophie, a girl I’d met briefly once before who genuinely made me laugh.
‘Except that the dating we speak of was in front of millions of inquisitive viewers!’ Stu laughed.
If Stu does go on to win her heart, the father-of-four has the logistics of the relationship all worked out.
The plan would be to share his children – who are aged between 10 to 14 – with his wife on alternate weekends.
The couple would need to sort out living arrangements too, with him being based in Sydney and Sophie on the Gold Coast.
Currently Stu sees his children not as much as he would like and admits life can be extremely lonely.
Happiness: ‘This year I found happiness again within myself and it coincided with the chance to date Sophie, a girl I’d met briefly once before who genuinely made me laugh
Stu also confesses he never wanted to get divorced and loves the settled life.
‘I genuinely feel for other recently divorced fathers. Children are the best medicine for anything in life and in my situation while I was alone, essentially in a room by myself nursing a broken heart, I unfortunately didn’t have the tonic of cuddling my children when I needed it.
‘I didn’t like living alone. Turning the lights off to go to bed is hard when you’ve lived with your wife and children for the best part of 20 years.
‘Your friends and family assist you, but at those times they’re invariably with their own families,’ Stu admitted.
‘Night times and weekends without your kids are the hardest and you end up reaching out to people in the same situation. The gang basically consisted of guys and girls who were, like myself, lonely divorcees.’
Family: ‘Your friends and family assist but at those times they’re invariably with their own families,’ Stu admits