Jules betrayed ME: Tess Crosley reveals what happened behind closed doors the day her affair with Lachie Neale was leaked: THE DEBRIEF

For almost a year, Tess Crosley has been wearing a label that was decided upon long before anyone heard her side of the story.

She was cast as the villain in one of the AFL’s most high-profile scandals and became the target of brutal headlines, viral commentary and fierce public judgment after her role in the breakdown of Lachie and Jules Neale’s marriage was exposed.

But sitting with me now, Tess says there is another side to the scandal.

When I sat down with Tess for her very first interview since the drama broke last December, she told me the story that millions think they know is only part of the picture.

According to Tess, the deepest wound was not the online abuse, the media attention or becoming public enemy number one.

It was the betrayal that she believes happened behind the scenes.

When Jules publicly announced her split, telling followers she had been “betrayed” by Lachie “in the most unimaginable way,” Tess said she knew immediately the situation was about to explode.

Her blunt statement made it clear that there was infidelity on her husband’s part. The only question left was, “With whom?”

Tess tells me her reaction to Jules’ Instagram Story was a sinking feeling of, “Okay, I think this is going to be public now.”

From that moment on, the scandal spiraled out of control.

Jules soon went further by pointing the finger directly at Tess and commenting under one of her photos showing Tess and Lachie together: “Take this away you idiot. You’re embarrassing yourself.’

It was a gut punch. Until that point, Tess believed that everyone involved had personally agreed to keep the fallout from public view.

“I thought we had more or less unanimously decided not to make any comments publicly at all,” she says. Whatever understanding they had didn’t last long.

While Tess unequivocally says she regrets her actions and takes responsibility for the pain caused, she also feels like she was blindsided by the drama that was so suddenly made public.

Not only does she feel betrayed by Jules for making the scandal public in the first place, but she also accuses her of informing reporters off-the-record after the fact.

“A few months ago I also heard that someone from the parties sent private information to the journalists,” says Tess.

‘And that was very difficult. I remained silent out of respect.

“There’s so much more to this story that people don’t know, but I’m also not going to put others down just to make myself look better.”

Going into my interview with Tess, I made it clear that I did not condone her actions. But I firm I believe my job as a journalist is to hear all sides of a story.

This, in my opinion, is especially important when a person is publicly defined by a single regrettable chapter of their life for over a year.

During our conversation, Tess does not shy away from taking responsibility. She did what she did. Still, she admits that she felt like she was, in a sense, the one who was betrayed, after details emerged in the media that could only have come from someone deeply involved in the scandal: Jules.

“It almost felt like a betrayal,” she says, “to hear that people who wanted to keep things quiet weren’t keeping things quiet by doing things anonymously.”

At the height of the media storm, Tess struggled to understand why she became the face of the affair while other parties involved were shielded from the same scrutiny.

‘I always thought, “Why is there so much about me?” she says. “I’m nobody.”

What was Tess really thinking when Jules went scorched earth on Instagram? How did she react behind closed doors? Did she see it coming?

And why does she think the public still doesn’t know the full story?

For the first time, Tess answers it all in an explosive interview with Daily Mail The debriefing with Savanna Young. Watch the full exclusive film next Thursday at 4pm.