Lara Bingle 'didn't know Brendan Fevola was married'

MODEL Lara Bingle has come clean about her affair with AFL star Brendan Fevola, saying she only knew he was married when she heard a baby crying in the background.

'I didn't know Fevola was married'

MODEL Lara Bingle says she found out her lover of five weeks, Carlton footballer Brendan Fevola, was a married man only after she heard his baby crying over the telephone.

Bingle, 19, says she is not a “home wrecker”, despite being ridiculed publicly for almost a year.

The bikini model, famous for her 'Where the bloody hell are you' Tourism Australia ad, told The Daily Telegraph she ended the affair as soon as she discovered 26-year-old Fevola was married.

“We spoke a lot on the phone because he was in Melbourne and I was in Sydney,” she said.

“We were talking one day and I asked, 'What's that noise?' and he said, 'It's my baby'. Then it all came out.”

Clear the decks

Bingle said she wanted to “clear the decks” and move on with her life.

The Sydney model and the AFL star dated after they met last September at The Footy Show in Melbourne.

She said Fevola did not mention he was in a relationship.

“We met in Melbourne and then hung out in Sydney when he came up for a couple of days and that was all there was to it,” Bingle said.

“I'm only 19. I was young and single and I thought I had met a guy who was really nice.”

Knew nothing about AFL

Being from Sydney, she knew “nothing about AFL” and was unaware of Fevola's wife, Alex.

“I don't want to blame anyone,” she said.

“A lot of people have been hurt - not just my family, but their family as well.

“I know I would hate for it to happen if I were married.

“I can't imagine what she was going through, or went through, and I don't really want to add to it.

"In hindsight, it was a big mistake and I think it happened because I was just too trusting.”

Clarke supportive

Bingle said her boyfriend, Australian Test cricketer Michael Clarke, had been supportive throughout the saga.

"He came and watched the Fevola interview on A Current Affair at home with my parents, so he has been there all the way through," she said.

Future plans

Bingle said she wanted to concentrate on a TV career and reignite her modelling.

She has signed with a new manager, Chris White from International Quarterback, who also manages Clarke and swimmer Grant Hackett, after leaving her model agency Priscilla's.