Stormy romances, toxic texts, the pressure of living up to a famous mother – and now a positive drugs test.
Life has rarely been straightforward for athlete Jessica Peris, the eldest daughter of Olympic legend and Aboriginal icon Nova Peris.
Ms Peris, 27, was forced to pull out from the Commonwealth Games selection trials on Tuesday after it was revealed she had tested positive to a banned substance.
The sprinter strenuously denied taking any performing enhancing substance, blaming a ‘substantially flawed’ urine sample.
But the allegation is a crushing blow for the Ms Peris – who has fought to get past a series of personal scandals in recent years.
Pulled out: Jessica Peris, 27, has withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games selection trials after a positive drug test
Stormy romances: Jessica Peris, left, with former lover Shaun Kenny-Dowall. Another previous partner, Jah Coe, is on right
Lurid messages: About 40,000 texts between Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Jessica Peris were tendered in court
Her tumultuous romances with Roosters fullback Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Darwin rugby union player Jah Coe both ended with claims of domestic violence, smashed mobile phones and dirty laundry aired in court.
Two years ago, Kenny-Dowall was cleared of violence charges after a court found Ms Peris was an ‘unreliable’ witness – and up to 40,000 lurid text messages were tendered to a magistrate.
In the sordid messages the footballer verbally abused her – calling her a ‘dumb c***’ and a ‘f*** head’.
Their bitter arguments were laid bare with Kenny-Dowall becoming infuriated when she went out partying – rather than return home to romp as she had suggested.
As Daily Mail Australia reported at the time, the Roosters star fumed: ‘Have fun at Hugo’s d***head’ and blasted her as being ‘f***ing off ur head’.
The same night, he texted: ‘Good on ya have a good night f***wit’, ‘selfish f***wit mate wouldn’t expect any less from u’ and then tells her to ‘f**k off’ and ‘get ducked’.
Ms Peris pleaded with him to be courteous but copped a barrage of abuse including ‘F*** off then Jess. Selfish piece of s**t mate. What a sick c**t Jess.
Abusive texts: About 40,000 messages between the pair were tendered to a Sydney court during the Shaun Kenny-Dowall trial
‘Selfish piece of s**t don’t bother coming home. Doors locked’.
Many of the messages exchanged by the pair and shown to the court were extremely explicit, reports said, including references to pulling her hair and ‘making sweet love’.
Kenny-Dowall wept as the charges against him were dismissed about two years ago.
Ms Peris’s prior relationship with Coe also ended in acrimony.
In 2012, he pleaded guilty to smashing Ms Peris’s mobile phone during a confrontation and to two charges of breaching an apprehended violence order. He was convicted of one of the breaches and fined.
Their court stoush came in the same year as a tragedy, with the tragic car crash death of Nova Peris’ second husband, the Australian sprinter Daniel Batman. Both knew him.
Nova Peris (left) supporting her daughter Jessica during court hearings in February 2016
Moving on: Shaun Kenny-Dowall – who has since left the Sydney Roosters for the Newcastle Knights
‘I deserve this’: Athlete Jessica Peris’s motivational creed – as posted to Twitter recently
Since the Kenny-Dowall trial, Ms Peris has worked to put the scandals behind her.
Her mother, former Labor Senator Peris, regularly shares video of her daughter dominating the track.
Jessica, following in her mother’s footsteps, had set personal bests this summer over both 100 and 200m sprints.
Only recently she shared the motivational messages she was drawing on to power herself to victory.
One message said ‘put myself first – I deserve this’ and another pledged to ‘remove toxic people’ from her life.
Another read: ‘FEAR – Forget Everything And Run’.
Ms Peris has hired a lawyer to contest the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s findings.