AFL legend Wayne Carey has opened up about the sex scandal that sent shockwaves through the football world, destroyed life-long friendships and divided a club.
The North Melbourne captain, 50, walked out on the club before the 2002 season when his affair with the wife of teammate Anthony Stevens became public.
Carey and Stevens’ wife Kelli had been caught in a bathroom together by teammates – including Stevens himself – at a birthday party, shattering both men’s marriages and tearing the Kangaroos apart.
Carey, now an AFL commentator for Channel Seven and Triple M, will address the scandal on the upcoming season of reality show SAS Australia.
Scandal: AFL legend Wayne Carey (left) says his affair with the wife of teammate Anthony Stevens (right) has ‘haunted me for 20 years’ – as he makes a bid for redemption on SAS Australia. (The teammates are pictured here celebrating after the 1996 AFL Grand Final)
Coming clean: Carey, now an AFL commentator for Channel Seven and Triple M, will address the scandal on the upcoming season of reality show SAS Australia
In a trailer released on Thursday, the dual-premiership captain reveals during an interrogation how his life has never been the same since that fateful night.
‘I slept with a teammate’s wife,’ Carey tells the show’s Directing Staff, comprising four ex-British Special Forces soldiers.
‘It’s haunted me for 20 years. My integrity will always be questioned.’
Chief Instructor Ant Middleton notes Carey is considered the ‘greatest player in 150 years of Australian football’ – but isn’t impressed by his personal conduct.
One of the other Directing Staff calls him a ‘trainwreck’ to his face.
In happier times: Carey and Stevens’ wife Kelli had been caught in a bathroom together by teammates – including Stevens himself – at a birthday party in 2002, shattering both men’s marriages and tearing the Kangaroos apart. (Anthony Stevens and then-wife Kelli are pictured here at Wayne Carey’s wedding reception in 2001, a year before the affair was exposed)
Tainted: In a trailer released on Thursday, the dual-premiership captain reveals during an interrogation how his life has never been the same since that fateful night
Carey says he’s not trying to change people’s minds about him, but wants to prove to himself he’s a better man than he was 20 years ago.
‘I’m not trying to prove anything to the public, it’s to myself,’ he says. ‘People can change, they evolve. Hopefully this can help me.’
The promo includes dramatic scenes of Carey taking part in brutal challenges, including running through bushland while on fire.
This is contrasted with archive footage from his glittering AFL career as well as his infamous post-scandal press conference.
The footy, nicknamed ‘The King’, is also seen facing his fear of heights.
Mixed legacy: Chief Instructor Ant Middleton notes Carey is considered the ‘greatest player in 150 years of Australian football’ – but isn’t impressed by his personal conduct. (Carey is pictured here at a Kangaroos vs Brisbane match in Melbourne in February 2000)
‘My worst nightmare would be standing at the top of a mountain’ he says, while shown scaling the cliff face of a thunderous 80-metre-high waterfall.
Carey’s sordid affair with Kelli Stevens was uncovered just 14 months after Carey married his long-time partner Sally McMahon with Stevens by his side as a groomsman.
The couple mended their relationship and had a daughter before parting ways in 2006.
Stevens also reconciled with Kelli and welcomed two children together before they split in 2008.
In the wake of the scandal, Carey was forced to resign from the club and joined the Adelaide Crows. He was voted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
The former teammates Carey and Stevens finally made up during a 15 minute catch-up in 2016, 14 years after the love triangle rocked North Melbourne.
Making it work: Stevens reconciled with wife Kelli (right) before the marriage broke down in 2008. The couple are pictured after Stevens’ last AFL game in August 2004
In addition to his affair with Kelli, Carey is also notorious for several incidents of violence against women.
He pleaded guilty to indecent assault in 1997 after grabbing a woman’s breast on a Melbourne street and allegedly asking her ‘Why don’t you get a bigger pair of tits?’
A decade later, In 2007, Carey’s girlfriend Kate Neilson told police in Miami he had smashed a wine glass in her face.
The sportsman later pleaded guilty to assaulting and resisting police and was sentenced to 50 hours of community service. Neilsen decided not to press charges.
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