Michelle Bridges opens up about drink driving conviction and Commando split in Stellar interview
Michelle Bridges opens up about her split with Commando and the night before her drink driving conviction in a candid new interview.
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Michelle Bridges has issued a “heartfelt apology” to those she let down with her drink driving conviction in January this year.
In her first sit-down interview since the news broke, Bridges spoke to Stellar’s editor-in-chief Sarrah Le Marquand for the magazine’s new issue, available in today’s Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun.
The personal trainer and TV star, 49, opened up about the circumstances leading up to her drink driving with her young son Axel in the car on Australia Day morning, for which she was handed a three-month driving ban and a $750 fine with a recorded conviction.
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Bridges later revealed that the incident happened as she grappled with the end of her high-profile relationship with Axel’s father and her former Biggest Loser co-star Steve ‘Commando’ Willis. Speaking to Stellar, she opened up for the first time about what had happened the night before her ill-fated drive.
“I suppose on the outside looking in, I seemed my happy usual self. But privately I was going through a pretty stressful time on a personal level, coming to terms with my relationship breakdown. I spent the evening with girlfriends who rallied around and do what girlfriends do, lend a shoulder, lend an ear. And with that, we were drinking. I’m not proud of that, but that’s really the case, and that was my night beforehand,” Bridges said.
At 11.25am the next day, Bridges was stopped by police during a roadside random breath test in Bellevue Hill, blowing .086. As the news broke, she offered a public partial explanation for the out-of-character behaviour, revealing she and Commando had split after almost eight years together. She now says the aftermath has been “the hardest two months of my life”.
“Well, break-ups and separations are tough; they’re challenging at the best of times. No one really knows what goes on behind closed doors and no one will, nor should they. We’re two people who are going through a relationship break-up that sets about its own set of challenges for us, individually and for us as a duo going through a separation,” she said.
“And I’m now trying to navigate a new life for myself going forward. Yeah, it feels different, it feels strange, and, yep, there are moments that I look around and think, ‘Can I do this?’”
Bridges said she’d been grateful for the forgiveness and empathy of ordinary Australians, many who had contacted her to let her know that while she’d made a mistake, she had their support going forward.
“I’ve got a lot of people I want to be there for and who rely on me … I still have a lot to do,” she said.
Read the full interview with Michelle in the current issue of Stellar, available in today’s Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Herald Sun.
Originally published as Michelle Bridges opens up about drink driving conviction and Commando split in Stellar interview