Todd Carney spills beans on ugly break-up secret, rehab crisis

Todd Carney has left a rehab centre and has spoken out like never before over the dark moment his relationship fell apart.

Todd Carney has revealed he is seven months sober.

The former NRL star’s ugly drinking problem ruined his football career and he’s now admitted it almost ruined his life in a tell-all interview on James Graham’s podcast.

Carney admits he has a long way to go despite his enormous lifestyle changes that have followed a 30-day stint in a rehabilitation centre earlier this year.

The 37-year-old’s life in recent years appeared to have stabilised following his long-term romance with former reality TV star Suzie Bradley — but the footballer has revealed there was another dark side to their relationship.

Speaking on The Bye Round with former Bulldogs cult hero Graham, Carney has revealed his moment at rock bottom — and the snap decision to get professional help for his issues with alcohol.

Carney says in the interview — looking back at the person he used to be — he can’t believe Bradley stayed with him for as long as she did.

The former Married At First Sight contestant in May confirmed she and Carney were back together one year after it was confirmed they had separated.

Todd Carney and Susie Bradley. Picture: Celeste Humphrey

The on-and-off couple have been in a relationship since 2019, with the pair getting engaged in December 2020 before welcoming their first child, a son, in March, 2021.

Bradley is also mum to a five-year-old daughter named Baby from a previous relationship.

Bradley shared she was heartbroken after their split last year.

Carney has now opened up on the deeply personal matter, confirming Bradley walked out on him last year because of his ongoing problems.

“I’d drink on weekends and then I’d wake up Sunday and I’d be like, ‘I’m not going to do it again’. I’m feeling s***,” he said.

“That happened more often than not and then I said to myself it’s time to start considering — and me and Susie were starting to talk about getting back together and things like that — and it just wasn’t happening because I was still drinking and she couldn’t be around it.”

He went on to say: “She started to question it. Not dealing with it (his behaviour) and I had my little boy and we split up for seven months and then that was a big kick in the guts.”

He said he described himself as a “50-50” dad, who was only a father a few days of the week.

He said even when his son was with him, he would feel like “s***” because of alcohol consumed on the days when their child didn’t stay with him.

Todd Carney and Suzie Bradley. Photo: Instagram.

He says bluntly that no one deserved to be treated the way he treated Bradley during that period of their life.

That realisation came this year when he was asked during his stay in rehab how he would react if his daughter had grown up and was dating the type of person he was at the time.

“I’d wring his neck. I’d see red,” he said.

He said he acted “childish” towards Bradley at times and would refuse to confirm when he would come home after being out socially.

“No wonder she left,” he said.

“No wonder she didn’t put up with it. No one should. But that’s what I thought was normal. It’s crazy to think that.”

Carney ‘pissed off’ over squandered career

Carney said in May he’s found peace in his life and wants athletes across the country to learn from his mistakes.

Carney now lives on Queensland’s Gold Coast where he runs a concreting business while also working with Men of Business, a local organisation that helps and mentors at-risk teenagers.

He has been through a private hell and back to reach this place of having a healthy mind and body.

Carney shot into the NRL spotlight as a 17-year-old, however, his career was derailed by a series of off-field incidents that saw him sacked from Canberra and released by the Sydney Roosters before the infamous “bubbler” incident at Cronulla saw him ultimately exiled from the NRL.

Todd Carney of the Sharks. Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images.

At the time someone posted footage of Carney appearing to urinate in his own mouth on Instagram and that was the end of both his stellar and incident-filled NRL career.

Looking back now he says it is easy to see the connection between him winning the Dally M medal in 2010 and the 2010 season being the one time he abstained from alcohol for a full season.

“Now that I don’t drink, I look back on it and I’m pissed off at myself and how I handled it,” he said.

“Because I look back now and I go, well why didn’t the penny drop and go, ‘That’s it, you’ve got the rest of your life to have a beer’. But I didn’t see it that way. Now it pisses me off a little bit.

“I still talk about the bubbler and those sorts of things, but I don’t laugh too much about it.

“Now looking back at it, it’s stupid. That’s all it was. It eats at me now that I don’t drink, the s*** that I let go of.”

The moment Carney hit rock bottom

Carney now sees a counsellor every week following his 30-days spent in rehab.

He says he was prepared to stay in the facility for three months if it was necessary.

Carney had spent time in rehab facilities during his career and had received professional help — but nothing seemed to help.

It worked this time around because it is the first time he has done it for himself.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was a bizarre morning where he hopped out of the shower after having a few drinks the previous night.

Susie Bradley and Todd Carney as seen in Instagram posts.

“I got out of the shower and got ready to brush my teeth to go to work and I physically couldn’t look at myself to brush my teeth,” he said.

“So I sat back on the bed and I said to Susie, like, ‘I need to make a change’. I need some help around this and how I’m feeling. She was at work and she said, just stay at home for the day. I rang work and told them and they were really good about it.

“I needed to work out why it was that I was doing it. So I went to rehab for 30 days. I felt I didn’t need it, but I did need to go to show that I was serious about it. Not for anyone else, other than myself. So I told my close mates, my family, obviously my work place that I was going to get professional help so I would stay on that road.

“That was the first time I’d done it for myself.

“I say if I’m going to do something and I’m determined to do it, I do it. If I put the things in place that I need to do, I’m comfortable to know that when I’ll put my head to rest every night that I’ll be sober.”

Originally published as Todd Carney spills beans on ugly break-up secret, rehab crisis