How a ‘breakdown’ helped Candice Warner rebuild her family life
Candice Warner hit rock bottom after her cricketer husband David’s ball tampering scandal. Now, she reveals how she rebuilt her life.
SmartDaily
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Ironwoman Candice Warner has revealed in an extraordinary new podcast series how she rebuilt her family life after cricketer husband David Warner’s ball tampering controversy.
The mum of three opens up to former PR supremo Tory Archbold in Powerful Stories about how an emotional “breakdown” helped her reassess life – advice she now wants to pass onto others.
In a raw interview with Archbold, a close friend and associate of many years, Warner tells the podcast: “To have people question us as people, question us as parents, question us as husband and wife – it’s really very difficult and it’s how you deal with it when you hit rock bottom. At first it’s devastating (but) it isn’t so bad – you get to assess your whole life because things can’t get any worse. From that, we’re much better people to be around because we now value different things.”
Warner says she reached a point where the pressure of keeping things together for her family and husband became too much.
“I felt partly guilty for the situation that as a family we were in because of my past,” she tells Archbold. “I just couldn’t hold it back anymore – you try to be that brave person for everyone especially when you know people need your strength. But at that one moment I just broke – and I couldn’t contain myself.
“Because I had that breakdown I felt I was better for it. With my positive mindset I thought – let’s make this work for us.”
She also shares her three survival tips, “Do the opposite of what people expect, don’t run and hide, and have the right mindset – still be positive.”
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Over two decades, Archbold ran an internationally successful PR agency working with brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Zara and Nespresso. But at the peak of her success after working with Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty cosmetic range, she decided to give it all away.
“I decided to change course two years ago. I just had this gut instinct. I wanted a new beginning,” Archbold tells SMARTdaily. And with the launch of her podcast Powerful Stories – convincing high profile women such as Warner and Jules Sebastian who have survived the criticism of public life – she has found her purpose and reinvented herself. Back then, the PR powerhouse and mum revealed that while on the surface she looked like she was living a glamorous life, personally she was going through a trauma.
This included being harassed by her former partner and having a near-death experience after being diagnosed with appendicitis, then contracting septicaemia. But the experience caused her to re-evaluate her goals.
“After sharing my story I got hundreds of emails from people sharing their stories. I felt there could be a business in it,” Archbold says.
So she wound back her PR business Torstar and launched Powerful Steps, a company that empowers female entrepreneurs and corporate teams globally. “It was a massive decision. I was Tory from Torstar. I was always working behind the scenes. But I had to step forward.”
Archbold has hosted business mentoring events and workshops and recently launched Powerful Stories where she interviews women she’s met through work.
They talk about their game changing moments to help inspire others to see the power of transforming challenges into opportunities.
Listen to the podcast here.