Barnaby Joyce’s estranged wife Natalie says speaking out about her husband’s affair in an explosive sit-down interview was a ‘cathartic experience’.
Mrs Joyce unloaded on her cheating spouse to the Australian Women’s Weekly last week, recalling the moment she called Vikki Campion a ‘homewrecking wh***’.
She claimed Ms Campion had stole the name of the son the couple had always wanted – Sebastian – and revealed the toll of the months-long scandal.
But over the weekend the mother-of-four signaled a return to a more private life.
Natalie Joyce (back row) with family. She said she and her girls felt ‘that we have completed our journey’ after an unpaid interview with the Australian Women’s Weekly
Natalie Joyce and her estranged husband Barnaby were reunited at his brother Tim’s funeral last Thursday – just as she unloaded on him in a magazine interview
‘We feel that we have completed our journey,’ she said in a Facebook post.
‘Any questions you may have should have been answered in this professionally written article.
‘Our lives move forward from this point.’
Friends described Mrs Joyce as ‘an inspiration’ and a ‘role model’ for her four daughters, Bridgette, Julia, Caroline and Odette.
In a Facebook post, Natalie Joyce said the family’s ‘lives move forward from this point’
The interview with Mrs Joyce was published just hours before she threw a comforting arm around Mr Joyce at his brother Tim’s funeral last Thursday.
The warring Joyces put aside more than a year’s animosity to come together and hug in front of their daughters at the Sydney memorial.
It was the first time the pair had been seen together since Mr Joyce announced their separation last December.
Mrs Joyce wrapped an arm around her grieving ex-partner. In a Facebook post later that week, she said: ‘We feel that we have completed our journey’
In the recent interview, Mrs Joyce said she was surprised Barnaby had not thought to make arrangements for their daughters as he had his newborn son.
Channel Seven paid Mr Joyce and Ms Campion $150,000 for their TV interview, with the money invested into a trust for their little boy.
‘It begs the question, if Barney agreed to be a part of it, how could he allow his four girls to be overlooked?’ Mrs Joyce said.
‘I wouldn’t want a cent of that money, it was all we could do to watch it without throwing a brick at the TV’.
Controversial interview: Natalie Joyce said she was tempted to throw a brick at the TV when Barnaby and new girlfriend Vikki spoke to Channel Seven recently
The little baby made a bath-time appearance during the Sunday Night special
Ms Joyce’s interview appears in this month’s edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly
Mrs Joyce told reporter Lizzie Wilson she spoke up ‘so the girls feel empowered, and know their mum stood up and defended our fine name’.
Prior to the interview, her only previous public comments came in the form of a short statement where she said she felt ‘deceived and hurt’.
She hired a media manager, Cecelia Haddad, to cope with the deluge of press inquiries – only to reject endless opportunities to speak publicly.
Rumours of an affair swirled around Canberra for several months before the couple were finally outed in February this year.
Then, Ms Campion was pictured crossing the street near her apartment heavily pregnant by a news photographer.
Sebastian Joyce was born in April. In the couple’s interview with Sunday Night’s Alex Cullen, Ms Campion revealed she and Ms Joyce had an argument – but couldn’t ‘repeat the words on television’.
Ms Joyce’s interview appears in this month’s edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly.
Barnaby Joyce and spokeswoman Vikki Campion had long been rumoured as having an affair. But there was no sign of trouble when Natalie and Barnaby stepped out in public