Charlie Newling, the star of The Bachelorette who drove his car off a cliff to his death this weekend, struggled in his final months with drugs, alcohol and the pitfalls of reality TV fame.
The sudden death of the 36-year-old, who was found dead in Dover Heights in Sydney’s east about 11pm on Saturday night, came as a shock to viewers of the series.
However Close friends say the handsome tradie became overrun by addiction, leading to disturbing behavior that led to a criminal conviction.
Even the birth of a baby girl two months ago could not stop his tragic decline.
Friends say Charlie went into a tailspin after receiving backlash from the public
Charlie Newling (photo middle) quit crystal meth in 2020, but has struggled with alcohol addiction in recent years
An insider said he couldn’t cope with the backlash and negative publicity that came with his appearance on the reality matchmaking show – and turned to drug ice as an escape.
“Charlie’s demon a few years ago was meth. That’s why he said the wiring in his brain was broken,” a friend told Daily Mail Australia.
“He quit meth in 2020. He went to Queensland to escape meth and found himself on Aboriginal tribal land,” they added.
It was in Queensland where he met his partner Kristal Taylor.
However, his demons caught up with him when the couple returned to Sydney and took up residence in Sydney’s east in 2021.
‘They moved in together, but he no longer had control over his drinking and medication.’
In 2022, he entered rehab.
Friends and family have witnessed Newling’s declining mental health and alarming alcohol abuse in recent years.
“His biggest addiction was drinking,” the friend said.
Daily Mail Australia understands NSW Police were called to an incident involving Newling in 2022, which was believed to be an attempted self-harm.
Two days after he was kicked off The Bachelorette, footage emerged of him being wrestled to the ground outside The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay.
The father of two shot to fame on Ali Oetjen’s season of The Bachelorette in 2018 and quickly became a frontrunner
In September last year he was convicted of threatening to torture and kill his stepfather after 37 disturbing text messages.
Newling started the barrage of messages by texting his mother saying: ‘Just so you know I’m alive, doing well and thinking of you xx’.
His mother replied “good news” and sent love heart emojis.
However, this seemed to upset Newling, who then began a tirade of death threats against his stepfather.
‘Suppose I’m outside now… I think the police can come so quickly… I know where you live, where you work, where you eat and where you sleep. For all you know I’m in your backyard right now,” one of the messages read.
The messages soon became even darker.
“I’d rather spend a lifetime in prison killing that son of a bitch than live the life you both gave me… His throat will be slit the next time he tries to go to work… or maybe when he’s at work… Or maybe when he’s taking out the bins… I know your every move.
‘I hope you have a good watchdog, because the police aren’t going to do anything, even if an AVO comes my way. They don’t sit outside your house. How does it feel to know that your damn husband has a knife in his neck and you have no idea where or when.”
In court, Magistrate Ross Hudson acknowledged that Newling had suffered significant childhood trauma, including caring for his biological father when he was a teenager after his father had an accident and became paralyzed. His father later died of a pain medication overdose in 2018.
At the time of the threats, he was under a court order after a 2021 drunk driving offense.
Magistrate Hudson sentenced Newling to a 13-month prison sentence, commuted to an intensive corrections order to be served in the community.
Police and paramedics arrived at Raleigh Reserve after being contacted by locals, who found his car on fire at the bottom of a 70-metre cliff (pictured)
A police spokesperson confirmed that Saturday evening’s crash was not being treated as suspicious
Newling died Saturday at 11 p.m. after his car went off a cliff in Dover Heights.
Police and paramedics arrived at Raleigh Reserve after being contacted by locals, who found his car on fire at the bottom of the 70-metre cliff.
Special Operations Paramedics, Medical Rescue Helicopter, Water Police, Police Rescue and Fire & Rescue NSW attended.
Police spotted a car at the foot of the 70-metre-high cliff.
One responder from the medical rescue helicopter winched down to assess whether there were any occupants in the car. During the delicate winching operation, the helicopter hovered meters away from the rock face.
Mr Newling was the only occupant and was dead, locked in the car.
Tragically, his death came just eight weeks after Kristal gave birth to their first child, a daughter.
Charlie also has a 13-year-old son from a previous relationship.
The father of two shot to fame on Ali Oetjen’s season of The Bachelorette in 2018 and quickly became a frontrunner.
But fans turned on him over his alleged controlling behavior towards Ali, including refusing to introduce her to his family until they were ‘exclusive’.
Just two days after he was kicked off The Bachelorette, footage emerged of him being wrestled to the ground outside The Golden Sheaf pub in Double Bay.
Newling, who had appeared on The Project earlier that evening, said he had been drinking and celebrating his time on the show with friends when a scuffle broke out with bouncers at around 10.50pm.