‘Worst day of my life’: Jules Neale breaks silence on marriage breakdown
The mum-of-two has finally opened up about the alleged affair that ended her marriage - and revealed there’s a lot more to the story than anyone knew.
Jules Neale has given her first major interview since the very public breakdown of her marriage to AFL player Lachie Neale.
After Lachie’s alleged affair with Jules’ best friend made headlines last year, Jules has largely stayed quiet while she’s rebuilt her life as a single mum. But in a candid new conversation with Adelle Petropoulos on the Pretty Sure podcast, she’s revealed there was far more to the story than she first realised.
Jules Neale reveals the truth about Lachie’s alleged affair
“I guess it was an on-going, like four-month affair… with my best friend, behind my back,” Jules told Adelle, explaining she didn’t find out the full extent of it until she’d already moved back to Perth from Brisbane, where she lived with Lachie and their two children Piper and Freddie. “I was told it was a kiss, and that’s all it was, and I actually packed up and left because of that… then when I got to Perth, it all came out.”
Jules said it was the deception that hurt more than anything else. “Just gross, just awful… not even cheating but the lying after lying.”
She also opened up about why she chose to go public, revealing she was initially advised to keep things “hush hush” to protect Lachie and his career. “As soon as I put on my [Instagram] stories that I wasn’t working through anything and that I’d been betrayed… I actually felt a huge weight of relief off my shoulders.”
Jules also shut down rumours that she and Lachie were in an open relationship. “I was definitely not in an open relationship, and definitely not swinging,” she said. “If we were swinging, I wouldn’t have packed up my life and packed up the kids and left over a kiss.”
Jules Neale on Lachie’s alleged previous infidelity
Perhaps most surprisingly was Jules’ revelation that it allegedly wasn’t the first time Lachie had been unfaithful. She recalled discovering a previous incident years earlier, describing it as “the worst day of my life” and revealing she “didn’t leave bed for four days.”
At the time, with a daughter already in the picture, she chose to stay and rebuild. “I’ve got too much at stake here for her… so I did stay,” she said.
Jules shared that other women have since reached out to her with their own stories involving Lachie, and she’s now using her platform to share advice for women who may find themselves in a similar situation.
