Todd Carney and Susie Bradley announce special engagement
Todd Carney and MAFS star Susie Bradley are celebrating heartwarming news two years after they broke off their engagement.
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Todd Carney and Susie Bradley are celebrating their engagement.
The happy couple shared their special news with fans on Instagram this week after the former NRL star popped the question in adorable circumstances over the weekend.
Reality TV star Susie, who featured on Married At First Sight, shared the news with her Instagram followers, writing a message that reflected on the first time they met.
“We met on the Saturday. On the Sunday he took me to this beach were we ate pizza and watched the sunset, and he said the words to me ‘lay back on me’,” she wrote.
“It was in this very moment, on this very beach, laying back in his arms I knew. I knew I would love him forever.”
It is a heartwarming moment for the couple that went their separate ways early last year.
Bradley in May, 2023, confirmed she and Carney were back together one year after they announced that they had separated.
However, the former NSW State of Origin star has been getting his life back together in recent years and Bradley has been his rock through some turbulent times following his retirement.
The rocky chapters make Carney’s proposal even more special.
The 37-year-old had cameras set up on the beach to capture the moment and a video shared on his Instagram page showed he had written out ‘Will you marry me?’ in the sand in big block letters before he knelt down and pulled out a ring.
The couple’s children were with them at the time and appeared just as excited as the loved-up couple.
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, son Lion, in March, 2021.
Bradley is also mum to a nine-year-old daughter named Baby from a previous relationship.
Carney last year opened up on their 2022 separation in a tell-all interview about his personal troubles.
Carney said in October he was seven months sober, revealing the devastating impact alcohol has had in his life.
The former NRL star’s ugly drinking problem ruined his football career and he said recently it almost ruined his private life as well.
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 in 2022.
Carney told former Bulldogs cult hero James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast he can’t believe Bradley stayed with him for as long as she did before he sought help following their break-up.
“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.
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 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 now sees a counsellor every week following his 30-days spent in rehab.
Originally published as Todd Carney and Susie Bradley announce special engagement