Sunrise host Natalie Barr’s brutal question to Candice Warner about ‘toilet tryst’
Brutal question from Natalie Barr to Candice Warner about her infamous ‘bathroom date’ with Sonny Bill Williams: ‘This was 16 years ago’
- Candice Warner said times have changed since 2007
- Was pictured in the bathrooms with Sonny Bill Williams
- Explained that the media frenzy was due to women ‘having no voice’
Former ironwoman Candice Warner has taken a stand against the way she was treated after her infamous ‘toilet tryst’ with Sonny Bill Williams.
In an interview on Sunrise on Wednesday, while doing publicity rounds for her memoir, Ms Warner was asked by presenter Natalie Barr if she had ‘thought of coming out straight away’ when the scandal erupted.
Ms Warner said the media attention and subsequent apology she had to issue was due to women not having a ‘voice’ at the time.
The 2007 incident erupted after a photo was taken of the couple in the men’s bathroom of the Clovelly Hotel, in eastern Sydney.
Although she was single at the time and claimed the pair only shared a kiss, Ms. Warner revealed that the media frenzy had caused her mental anguish to the point that she contemplated suicide.
The incident has haunted both her and her husband, cricketer David Warner, whom she married in 2015.
The lead-off batsman was particularly mocked over the incident during Australia’s 2018 South Africa cricket tour.
Ms Warner explained how women were treated at the time of the incident, saying “We lived in a society where we didn’t have the voice, women didn’t have the voice that we have now”.
“This was 16 years ago,” Ms. Warner said.
“I had to apologize, I was single, because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That just wouldn’t happen nowadays…
“Our society has changed, there is still a long way to go, but I feel like a woman, I have the confidence to be able to tell my side of the story and be heard.”
She said she wrote her memoir, Running Strong, in part for her three daughters “who in time will be able to read the book.”
“I wanted them to better understand my story without outside interference or judgment.”
Candice Warner, former ironwoman and wife of David Warner (pictured), responds to a question about her now-infamous 2007 “go to the toilet”
Ms Warner was pictured in the male bathrooms with former rugby league and rugby union player, Sonny Bill Williams (pictured), and was later forced to apologize despite being single at the time
During an earlier stop on her publicity tour, Ms. Warner opened up to The Sunday Project about the incident.
“I just thought, ‘This is it.’ I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t handle the headlines. I couldn’t bear to disappoint my parents. I couldn’t handle it all. It was all too much,” she said.
“It still amazes me to this day how I was forced to apologize for a pash I had – a drunken pash I had on a night out.”
David Warner was involved in an argument in 2018 while on tour in South Africa after South African opponent Quinton De Kock reportedly made “vicious” comments about his wife.
The pair nearly came to blows in a kick at Kingsmead Stadium, in Durban, before fellow Australian cricketer, Usman Khawaja, stopped Warner.
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