Candice Warner recalls the “terrible” experience she had at a cricket match in South Africa, where fans wore Sonny Bill Williams masks to remind her husband, David Warner, of her infamous toilet visit.
In 2007, before Candice was dating David, the Ironwoman was photographed getting intimate with Sonny in the bathrooms of Sydney’s Clovelly Hotel.
South African cricket fans tried to weaponize the incident in 2018 by wearing Sonny Bill Williams masks in the stands in hopes it would get under David’s skin and cause him to lose the match.
Candice, who had joined David for the South African test, spoke The Sunday Telegraph this weekend about almost refusing to go to the game because of the taunts.
“I remember going to the game scared, anxious, scared and thinking, ‘OK, what do I do? Hey, should I turn around and not go?’, she recalled.
Candice Warner, 39, (pictured) recalls the ‘terrible’ experience she endured at a cricket match in South Africa, where fans wore Sonny Bill Williams masks to remind her husband, David Warner, of her infamous toilet visit
“If I did, David would think, Where’s Candice? And then he would have known it affected me and then it would affect him and it [would have] had the spiral effect.’
Despite feeling “broken inside,” she decided to attend the game to support her husband.
Candice also claimed that the South African officials allowed the brutal taunts and even participated by taking pictures with the masks on.
In 2007, before Candice had married David, the Ironwoman was photographed getting intimate with Sonny (pictured) in the bathrooms of Sydney’s Clovelly Hotel
Some Australian supporters had their picture taken. It just escalated. And it was terrible that they thought it was okay to laugh at someone’s past like that, to make me feel so small in front of my children, my mother, my husband.’
Candice explained how the coach at the time, Darren Lehmann, had to come out and support her when others advised her to keep quiet.
The Candice’s infamous hook-up with New Zealand All Blacks star Sonny took place 13 years ago, years before she met her now-husband David Warner.
The pair were photographed in a compromising position in a toilet at the Clovelly Hotel in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
In 2018, photos surfaced on social media of fans wearing tacky Sonny Bill Williams masks in an attempt to get under David’s skin (pictured). Candice has claimed that the pressure her husband David felt to silence her critics inspired him to come up with the plan to tamper with the ball.
After the meeting, Candice told the ABC in 2008: ‘I wasn’t in a state where I didn’t know what was happening, but you don’t think about how your actions, when you’re drunk, can affect your life’.
In the run-up to Cricket Australia’s 2018 ball-bashing scandal, Candice was taunted by South African fans for her brief sexual encounter.
South African player Quinton de Kock was fined for allegedly provoking David with a sled over Sonny and his wife, while South African fans wore masks with Williams’ face.
Cricket South Africa had to apologize after two officials posed for a photo with fans wearing the masks.
David was banned by Cricket Australia for a year after helping to mastermind a plot to cheat in the Third Test against South Africa in March 2018. Pictured at a press conference at Cricket NSW offices in 2018
The star batsman devised the plan to get rookie opener Cameron Bancroft to secretly rough up the ball with sandpaper during the March 2018 Test Tour. Bancroft was caught on camera and the pair, along with Australian captain Steve Smith, were taken for banned from first-class cricket for up to a year. Candice and David pictured with their children in 2018
Candice has claimed that the pressure her husband David felt to silence her critics inspired him to come up with the ball-tampering plot.
David was banned by Cricket Australia for a year after helping to mastermind a plot to cheat in the Third Test against South Africa in March 2018.
The star batsman devised the plan to get rookie opener Cameron Bancroft to secretly rough up the ball with sandpaper during the March 2018 Test Tour.
Bancroft was caught on camera and the pair, along with Australian captain Steve Smith, were banned from first-class cricket for up to a year.
Candice previously told The Australian Women’s Weekly that she suffered a miscarriage just a week after David apologized for his role in the conspiracy
‘I was bleeding. We knew I had a miscarriage. We held each other and cried,” Candice told the magazine
said Candice Australian women’s magazine that she miscarried just a week after David apologized for his role in the conspiracy.
‘I was bleeding. We knew I had a miscarriage. We held each other and cried,” Candice told the magazine.
“The miscarriage was a tragic consequence, a heartbreaking end to a horror tour,” she added.
The mother-of-three also reflected on the scandal that made her a tabloid regular for years — and apologized to Sonny Bill and his family.
In 2018, Candice apologized to Sonny Bill and his family when the story hit the headlines again: “I want to give that apology to Sonny Bill. He’s a husband and father, so imagine how his wife and his kids would feel,” she said
Candice and David married in 2015 and have three daughters, Ivy Mae, eight, Indi Rae, seven, and Isla Rose, three
In the end I got a feeble apology from Cricket South Africa [for the fan taunts]. I realized that they are the ones who are ashamed, not me,” she told the magazine.
“I’d like to apologize to Sonny Bill. He’s a husband and father, so imagine how his wife and children would feel.’
Sonny Bill married Alana Raffie in 2013 and they share four children, daughters Imaan, Aisha and sons Zaid and Essa.
Candice and David married in 2015 and have three daughters, Ivy Mae, eight, Indi Rae, seven, and Isla Rose, three.
Sonny Bill married Alana Raffie in 2013 and they share four children, daughters Imaan, Aisha and sons Zaid and Essa. All pictured