Veteran AFL reporter Caroline Wilson has targeted Jules Neale and Tess Crosley for publicly discussing the bitter fallout from the Lachie Neale saga in separate podcast interviews.
Speaking on Channel Seven’s Agenda Setters on Monday, Wilson said she was stunned by both women’s decision to publicly reveal such intimate details about their private lives.
Jules, 36, broke her silence last Wednesday in a tell-all interview with influencer Adelle Petropoulos on her Pretty Sure podcast, detailing the devastating discovery that her husband had had a four-month affair with her former best friend, Tess.
Tess, 30, then gave her first direct interview about the scandal on Daily Mail Australia podcast The Debrief with Savanna Young, where she discussed the affair, the breakdown of her friendship with Jules and the intense criticism she faced.
“Jules Neale and Tess Crosley both gave so-called tell-all interviews last week on the eve of the AFL finals campaign – a campaign in which Jules Neale’s estranged husband Lachie is expected to play a prominent role,” Wilson said during her regular ‘Caro’s Call’ segment.
‘For the purpose of this ‘call’ I have watched, read and listened to both interviews and I cannot understand why either woman chose it, who is advising them and what they thought it would achieve.’
Veteran sports journalist Caroline Wilson (pictured) has targeted Jules Neale and Tess Crosley for publicly discussing the bitter fallout from the Lachie Neale saga in separate podcast interviews
Speaking on Channel Seven’s Agenda Setters on Monday, Wilson said she was stunned by both women’s decision to publicly reveal such intimate details about their private lives. (Left: Jules talks on the Pretty Sure podcast. Right: Tess talks on The Debrief with Savanna Young podcast)
Wilson was careful to emphasize that she was not passing judgment on the women’s claims.
“I make absolutely no comment on the very personal details that became so public last week with all of these extremely influential details,” she said.
“I also have no idea if this will impact Lachie Neale, or whether I care if it impacts Brisbane’s finals campaign. Also, I have no particular sympathy for Lachie Neale at this stage. I am also not taking sides in any way,” she added.
But Wilson returned to the central question she said was bothering her: why Jules and Tess had chosen to discuss their private lives in public.
“But I say again to these two women, who last summer, step by step, themselves on social media, the story of this great break-up of their marriage came out – why, in an era where social media and their hits dominate, they chose to communicate their private lives in this way.”
In her interview with The Debrief, Tess addressed a number of persistent rumors, including allegations that the friendship group was involved in a secret swinging scheme.
Although she wouldn’t reveal any intimate details, Tess suggested there was more to the swinger rumors than had previously been made public.
“There was a lot of context that people don’t know… it was a friendship that just became way too close,” she said.
“For the purpose of this ‘call’ I have watched, read and listened to both interviews and I cannot understand why either woman chose to do it, who is advising them and what they thought it would achieve,” Wilson said.
‘Out of respect for the other people involved, I obviously cannot talk about their private lives.’
The mother-of-one also challenged another widely held belief about the scandal, revealing that she and Jules were not best friends all their lives as many had assumed.
Instead, Tess said their friendship only lasted about a year before the affair blew up and sent shockwaves through both families.
However, it was a particularly cruel rumor that finally convinced her to speak out.
For months, there was speculation online that Neale was secretly the father of her son Beau, a claim that Tess said crossed a line.
Although she accepted responsibility for her role in the affair, she vehemently denied the accusation.
“I just got to a point where I was like, ‘Don’t get my kid involved in this.’ That is 100 percent a rumor,” she said, adding, “There is no truth to it at all.”
Elsewhere, Tess claimed she was ‘bombarded’ by Lachie during their affair and that she ‘deeply regretted’ some of her decisions.
In her interview with The Debrief, Tess addressed a number of persistent rumors, including allegations that the friendship group had been involved in a secret swinging scheme.
Although she wouldn’t reveal any intimate details, Tess suggested there was more to the swinger rumors than had previously been made public. “There was a lot of context that people don’t know… it was a friendship that just became way too close,” she said
Meanwhile, Jules told the Pretty Sure podcast that Lachie had cheated on her with multiple women.
‘At that moment you doubt your trust in everything and everyone. It’s not a good feeling,” she said.
Jules also revealed that there were original plans to keep the divorce private and publicly characterize the separation as a marital matter.
But she said that changed when she shared a cryptic message on social media claiming she had been “betrayed in the most unimaginable way.”
“I actually felt a huge weight of relief lifted off my shoulders,” she said.
“It actually felt good that people didn’t know exactly what happened, just the truth.”
The Debrief with Savanna Young is now available on the Daily Mail’s YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, with new episodes delivered weekly.
