Media Street: Wayne Carey opens up on casino ‘white bag saga’, being sacked from the media and his childhood

In a revealing interview, Wayne Carey has opened up on his white powder scandal and his Channel 7 sacking. But he was also frank on an incident that occurred when he was a child.

Wayne Carey has launched his own podcast. Picture: Getty Images

Wayne Carey has revealed he’s been through a “really emotional period” after being sacked from the media last year following an incident at Perth’s Crown Casino.

The former North Melbourne great maintains his innocence, claiming there was nothing to the “so-called white bag saga” which led to the end of his media career.

Carey was banned from all Crown casinos for two years after a bag containing white powder dropped from his pocket, activating an alarm and alerting security personnel who questioned him.

He maintained it was not an illegal substance, rather a crushed anti-inflammatory that he took with dinner.

Carey is making a return to the media with his own podcast, The Truth Hurts – which is co-hosted by former Channel 9 journalist Ayrton Woolley – where he will offer unfiltered views on footy and life.

“Everyone knows why I am out of the media, the so-called white powder saga at Crown Casino … which by the way had nothing in it, which hasn’t been said or even shown a photo of or there hasn’t been a picture of anything,” Carey says.

Wayne Carey lost his position on the Channel 7 commentary team. Picture: Getty Images

“I had a really emotional period after all that stuff came out in the media. People have got to understand that this type of reporting doesn’t affect me anymore, I have built a wall and have built a mask that is almost unbreakable.

“But who it does affect is my 17-year-old, my eight-year-old, my four-year-old, it affects the mother of those children who I am very, very close with, it affects their families, their aunties, uncles, their nans, their pops.

“It affects all of those people so I sat down and had a really emotional period and thought how can I give my voice to my truth for the first time in my life?”

Carey said he was on “autopilot” in the last few years at Channel 7 and Triple M where he was limited in what he could say.

“I thought I would step away from Channel 7 at the start of this year or the end of last year anyway because it really wasn’t something I was totally enjoying,” Carey said in the first episode of the new podcast.

“I knew you could just go there on autopilot, you knew what you had to say … you are muzzled to what you can say, you train yourself to what you should and shouldn’t say.

“Obviously in the new world, the woke world with political correctness which you’re hamstrung by in the mainstream media. This is the first time since I was 16 that I have the opportunity to speak my truth.”

Carey, 51, reveals he was an insecure and “really emotional shy kid” who didn’t stand up for himself until he moved out of home at the age of 13.

“I used to bawl my eyes out, on the first day at school I pooed my pants, I went home with it, I didn’t clean it at school, it went really stale,” he says.

“I got home and cleaned it, once I got home I think I got a smack for pooing my pants on the first day.

Wayne Carey has spoken about his tough childhood. Picture: Getty Images

“I don’t blame any of my behaviour on my upbringing and I had a very indifferent upbringing but I don’t blame behaviour on any of that because a lot of other people had a lot tougher upbringing than I did.

“When I was 13 I moved in with my brother and I built a wall and a mask, that mask only grew over time. I moved to Melbourne when I was 16, living with a group of young guys in Melbourne in a house with no-one really looking after us.

“Then three or four years later I am captain of North Melbourne. Everything happened really quickly and I was a really emotionally immature person.

“I really had no time to gather who I was, I built this wall and this mask that no-one was ever going to hurt me.”

On current footy issues, Carey says he doesn’t blame No. 1 draft pick Jason Horne-Francis for leaving North Melbourne given the troubles at Arden St when he was there.

“If I was Jason Horne-Francis I would have left North Melbourne as well, 100 per cent you would leave,” Carey said. “I have no problem with his decision to leave, loyalty went out of this game a long time ago.”