Troubled former Olympian Grant Hackett admits he wasn’t thinking straight after losing his son at Crown

TROUBLE-prone swim star Grant Hackett has admitted he wasn’t thinking when he rushed out of his hotel room partially dressed in search of his son.

FALLEN swim star Grant Hackett has revealed his shame at losing his four-year-old son, who was found at Crown casino in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Hackett — who was photographed in a semi-nude state in the Crown hotel foyer — said he experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when he could not find his son.

In attempting to explain the bizarre incident in which the Olympian was photographed wearing only a singlet as shorts, Hackett told the Herald Sun he was driven by fear and panicked when he realised his son had vanished.

Crown refused to say where Jagger was found.

But the Herald Sun understands the child was found on the 20th floor of the hotel.

However it is not known whether the four-year-old used a lift or the stairs.

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The trouble-prone swim star admitted he wasn’t thinking straight when he rushed out of the room — wearing jocks and a singlet around his waist — as he tried to find where his son had gone.

“I was focused solely on finding Jagger and nothing else,’’ he said. “When I discovered him missing I went in hasty pursuit, but perhaps with a swimmer’s sense of dress.’’

The 1500m freestyle champion said he was “deeply embarrassed’’ and ashamed about the incident and any pain or confusion he may have caused to his children and ex-wife Candice Alley.

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“Every parent’s worst fear is losing one of their children,’’ Hackett said.

“Unfortunately, my adventurous son decided to go wandering in the early hours.’’

Hackett stressed his twins Charlize and Jagger are his first priority as he tries to deal with the fallout from a bitter divorce from Alley, who declined to comment yesterday.

“Following my marriage breakdown, I have travelled interstate from Sydney to Melbourne for regular visits with my children,” he said.

“In the absence of my own home in Melbourne, I have had the use of a friend’s private apartment at Crown.’’

He says he has since racked his brain trying to work out how Jagger could have let himself out. He said being a regular visitor at Crown meant the kids were familiar with the hotel and its room keys.

“Obviously I am embarrassed, but tremendously grateful to Crown for their professionalism and poise.

“Let’s just say I am going to buy a smaller apartment with a deadlock,’’ Hackett said.

After initially stating Hackett had adult relatives staying in the casino room with him, the Hackett camp last night changed their account to Hackett being the sole adult there.

According to sources, Hackett could not find the child in the room or the nearby corridors and ran into the foyer asking for help.

The former Olympic 1500-metres freestyle champion lives in Sydney following a messy marriage breakup with the twins’ mother, the former singer Candice Alley.

The former Olympic gold medallist has led a sometimes confused and troubled life since retiring from swimming.

The former gold medallist and Olympic champion was a golden boy of Channel 9 and a regular fixture on Melbourne’s social scene.

But his life in the limelight started unravelling in the early hours of October 30, 2011 when he trashed his luxury penthouse apartment after returning from Derby Day celebrations.

His then-wife, singer Candice Alley was at home with the couple’s twins, Charlize and Jagger, and phoned 000.

Photographs obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun showed doors and walls punched, a grand piano up-ended and furniture smashed and broken.

Hackett was soon after dropped as an ambassador for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation — a charity set up to keep children safe from violence.

The marriage broke down in 2012 and Hackett later admitted in an interview he battled a “heavy reliance’’ on controversial sleeping pills Stillnox towards the end of his swimming career.

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