Nathan Cleary lifts the lid on one of the lowest points in his NRL career which caused him to ‘hate himself’
- Nathan Cleary caused controversy in 2020 for breaching Covid restrictions
- Cleary says he wasn’t proud of one particular action during the scandal
- NRL star believes the saga has made him want to be a better person
NRL superstar Nathan Cleary has opened up about one of the lowest moments of his football career which left him hating himself and lying to his parents.
In April 2020, NSW Police fined the Penrith Panthers playmaker after he was caught breaking social distancing rules when a TikTok video emerged of him dancing with five women on Anzac Day.
Initially, Cleary had claimed that he was practicing self-isolation at home and that the girls in the video were drinking on the road, so he left them at his house waiting for an Uber.
He also claimed the girls were only at his home for ten minutes and lied that he had left his house to pick them up, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The football star has now expressed his regret over the scandal, saying he hated himself at the time.
“I just really hated myself – all I had was regrets about it,” Cleary explained on Channel Nine’s Marlee & I podcast.
‘The moment was bad, but how I reacted afterwards was what I was most disappointed with.
“It put me in a place where I wasn’t even completely honest with my parents. That killed them.
NRL superstar Nathan Cleary has told how he hated himself after ignoring social distancing laws to party with blondes
Cleary was fined by New South Wales Police after he was caught breaking social distancing rules when a TikTok video emerged of him dancing with five women on Anzac Day 2020
“Even thinking about it now, it was so stupid. But that’s what hurt me the most: seeing them, and how it affected them.
‘That made me realize: things may not go the way you want, you may do crazy things, make mistakes, but be true to yourself and be honest. especially for those close to you.
Cleary says he thinks the incident probably brought him closer to his parents in the long run.
“It took me a while to realize what I had actually done, but then I kind of turned it around and I wanted to make the people in my corner proud of me and I wanted to be a better person and learn from this moment,” he said .
Cleary (pictured with girlfriend Mary Fowler) said the scandal has made him want to be a better person and made him closer to his parents
‘…The way I acted was bad, it was bad and I knew it. I couldn’t change what I had done, but I could control what I did in the future and who I was.’
Cleary was a highlight for the Panthers against the Sharks last week as he marched his side to an historic fifth NRL grand final.
The Panthers will take on the Melbourne Storm in the grand final on Sunday.