‘Delicious’: Disgraced ex-WAG Arabella Del Busso’s prison revelation

Former NRL WAG and reality TV contestant Arabella Del Busso has opened up about her “eye-opening” five months behind bars.

Warning: This story mentions suicide

Former NRL WAG and reality TV contestant Arabella Del Busso has revealed inmates hit on her during her time in prison.

The 34-year-old, who was released from prison earlier this month after stealing $52,000 from her employer, spoke to the Secrets of the Underworld podcast.

She said prisoners made “very uncomfortable” remarks and called her “delicious” during the five months behind bars.

“I got offered that many times,” the 34-year-old told former bodyguard Neil ‘The Muscle’ Cummins on the podcast.

“The girls would just (say) do you swing this way? Have you ever? Would you ever?”

“Some of them have never been in that position so they were like ‘oh I’ll turn for you’ … and they’re like ‘oh you’re delicious’ … It was very uncomfortable.”

The former SAS Australia contestant, who faked pregnancies to ex-NRL star Josh Reynolds, said she would sometimes have to shower with the other female inmates.

“You would have a communal shower. So there were two showers and lots of us in one place that would obviously have to go in and shower and take turns but I guess they see a lot of you,” she said.

“During my time, I’ve seen a lot of boobs and a lot of bits that I didn’t want to see but I did.”

Arabella Del Busso was sentenced to prison for stealing $52,000 from her employer. Picture: Instagram

The 34-year-old left prison on Friday. Picture: Instagram

Del Busso was jailed for 20 months for stealing $52,000 from her employer while working as a receptionist at a Sydney medical practice between September 2019 and February 2020.

Her sentence was slashed to five months after a successful appeal in the NSW District Court in April. 

‘Nightmare’ first night in Silverwater

The model and boxer spent four weeks in Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre, in Sydney’s west, before transferring to the female-only Dillwynia Correctional Centre in Berkshire Park, in Sydney’s northwest.

Once behind bars, Del Busso said it didn’t take long for prisoners to recognise her.

“They had put me in protection, obviously being in the public eye. It was quite interesting because a lot of people already … had seen me from somewhere. (They would say) ‘you look so familiar. Like I’ve seen you somewhere’,” she told the podcast.

“(I said) I’m not from the area … I tried to act cool in that aspect without showing any fear, because I felt the minute I showed, like being vulnerable and scared. They can take advantage of you.”

During her first night in Silverwater, Del Busso said she was placed in the mental health unit of the prison as there were no other beds available – an experience she described as a “nightmare”.

“That was hard, hearing people trying to commit suicide at two in the morning. It was hard and I’m thinking, ‘geeze, this is a nightmare.’ Like, surely this is not how it’s meant to be and what I’m meant to go through.”

Surprising prison job 

Days later, Del Busso was offered the role of a “sweeper” – an inmate who undertakes paid domestic tasks in an area of a centre. 

“The sweeper was the most trusted role,” she explained. 

“The girls that I was with were kind of rolling their eyes and like, ‘Oh, God, we’ve got a princess’. But credit to me like I was in there and I was doing what I had to do. I was doing the girls’ washing, I was feeding them, I was you cleaning cells (and) cleaning toilets.”

The job saw her earn just $36 a week but Del Busso said it “wasn’t about the money”.

“It was more mentally for me. It was like no matter what I’m going through, there’s someone that I’m meeting in there that is going through something 10 times worse than what I am.”

Arabella Del Busso served five months behind bars. Picture: Instagram

She said fellow inmates hit on her inside. Picture: Instagram

‘Pretty traumatic’

Describing her five months in prison as “eye-opening”, Del Busso said she was “confronted with a lot of things” behind bars, including drug use.

Arabella Del Busso said her time in prison was “eye-opening”. Picture: Brendan Beckett

The model earlier opened up about the “traumatising” reality of life behind bars, in an emotional handwritten letter tendered to the court in April. 

In it, she described feeling “violated” by regular strip searches at the prison, which are conducted in front of two corrective services officers.

“You are required to lift up your bra and show your breasts,” she wrote.

“Then either pull your underwear down to your knees, or completely off, bend over, spread your bum cheeks and lift one foot up at a time.”

After surviving five months behind bars, the 34-year-old said she felt a “sigh of relief” on the morning she was released from prison. 

“I think once I got home, I just couldn’t believe (it) and I kept saying to myself, I can’t believe I’ve just done that. I’ve just done five months behind bars and a lot of people had doubted me,” she told the podcast.

“I’ve proven to myself that I am strong, and no matter what is thrown my way that I can get through it.”

Looking to the future, she said she wants to put “everything behind me” and release her own book and clothing brand.

“I do have so many goals that I want to achieve and I know that I can do it, because I’m gonna put my head down and I know that nothing can stop me now.”