Disgraced senator Sam Dastyari announces split with his wife of eight years – and reveals he ALREADY has another girlfriend (who used to work for Julia Gillard)
- Disgraced former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari announced his split from his wife
- Dastyari, 35, made TV debut on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! on Monday
- The father-of-two is dating former assistant to ex-prime minister Julia Gillard
Disgraced former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari has announced his split from his wife of eight years as he makes his reality TV debut on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
The 35-year-old father-of-two split with partner Helen Barron and began dating Labor staffer and former media assistant to ex-Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Claire Johnston.
Less than 12 months before he resigned from office after a travel scandal involving a billionaire Chinese property developer and political donor.
Dastyari has announced his split from his wife of eight years Helen Barron (right) and revealed he has began dating Labor staffer and former media assistant to ex-prime minister Julia Gillard, Claire Johnston
Disgraced former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari, 35, (pictured) was confirmed on Saturday as the latest I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! contestant
Dastyari broke the news from the South African jungle where he and the other contestants will spend up to a month competing on the show.
‘The scandal took everything from me — my career and my family,’ Dastyari told The Daily Telegraph.
‘Helen stood by me during my dark period … the days I wouldn’t leave my room when I was at rock bottom. It takes a toll on a marriage.
‘Having cameras parked out the front of your house. Being followed down the streets. Not being able to read the papers because of fear of what is in them. It takes its toll,’ Dastyari said.
‘I changed. I broke. I know I wasn’t able to make her happy and she had a right to move on with her life. She should only ever have had to sacrifice so much. This year we did Christmas apart, sharing the kids. It hurt. It’s still raw. But Helen deserves better. She always did.’
The former couple were married in 2010 and Dastyari described the marriage split as ‘very amicable’ and having ‘the most supportive and amazing wife’.
Sam Dastyari revealed the real reason he wanted to enter the jungle was for his two children, whom he shares with former partner Ms Barron
He revealed the real reason he wanted to enter the jungle was for his two children, whom he shares with former partner Ms Barron.
In a video posted to social media on Sunday, Dastyari said: ‘We do these weird things to try and make our kids like us when in fact they are probably just going to be more embarrassed.’
‘In a period of time my daughter, Hannah, will be old enough to read the Internet and read all the bad decisions I’ve made in the past,’ he told The Sydney Morning Herald
‘But I hope she will see the other things out there and if that means eating a spider or lying in a snake pit then so be it.’
Dastyari was seen In October and November attending a number of events with his new girlfriend, who works as a senior adviser to Canberra politician Meegan Fitzharris.
He will spend up to a month in South Africa competing on the show.