- The cricket legend’s daughter opened up about the grieving process
- Warne died of a heart attack in March last year at the age of 52
- The Heart Health Initiative was launched in his name
Shane Warne’s daughter Brooke has revealed how her father’s shock death at the age of 52 has forever changed the way she interacts with her closest family members.
The 26-year-old, who is the eldest daughter of the cricketer and his ex-wife Simone Callahan, told former Miss Universe Australia Olivia Molly Rogers’ Tell me more podcast that she and siblings Jackson and Summer never regularly expressed their love for each other until their father died.
Warne, one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, suffered a fatal heart attack on March 4 last year while staying at a luxury villa on the Thai holiday island of Koh Samui.
Brooke (pictured with Shane) has opened up about how the cricket legend’s death has forever changed the way she interacts with her brother Jackson and sister Summer
Warne’s eldest daughter also revealed she has inherited so many traits from her father that she is ‘a mini Shane’
His death sent the cricket community into mourning and caused a huge outpouring of grief in Australia as he was remembered with a stand named in his honor at the MCG.
When Rogers noted that “people say so many nice things about the person” at their funeral, Warne interjected, “They would never say that to them while they were here!”
“Do you think that tells you that you love your family and friends more than you might have before?” Rogers asked.
“One hundred percent,” Brooke replied.
“For example, my brother, my sister and I would never say, ‘Okay, I love you, bye!’ [Now] We say I love you, I love you, I love you all the time, all the time. And of course they say that back.
“But I mean, it’s little things like that, like people always say, oh, make sure you tell people you love them. It’s true.’
Brooke (pictured at this year’s Melbourne Cup) believes her father wouldn’t want her to ‘be sad and waste my days here’ mourning his death
She says the Warne children (pictured from left to right: Jackson, Brooke and Summer) have always said “love you” since her father passed away.
The spider king’s daughter went on to talk about how she dealt with the shock of her father’s death.
“Everything that has happened to us has made us so much stronger,” she said of her family.
“I feel like I owe it to my father to be strong and carry on his legacy.
‘He wouldn’t want me to be sad and waste my days here, he would say, “What are you doing? Get up! Do something! Try harder, come on!”‘
Brooke also explained that she has adopted many of her father’s traits.
“I think I’m really a mini-Shane over the years,” she said.
“The way we look, the way we act, our mannerisms, everything, we’re very similar.”
Brooke admitted that she always wondered why she didn’t look like her mother Simone Callahan, but is now “so proud” to be a “mini-Shane.”
‘I always thought, ‘why didn’t I get the gene from my mother?’ and I think over the years, as I got to know my father more and more and to know myself, I was so proud that I’m a mini-Shane,” she added.