Gladys crushed: 'It's been devastating' 

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has spoken of her “personal nightmare” of having her private life exposed to the public.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the exposure over her relationship with former MP Daryl Maguire has been a “personal nightmare”.

The Premier revealed on Monday she had been in a years-long relationship with Mr Maguire, who is at the centre of an inquiry conducted by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

“Without question, I stuffed up in my personal life,” the Premier told reporters.

“It’s very difficult for someone in my position to have a private and personal life, and I’m very upset at what has transpired. But I want to make this assurance to the people of New South Wales — I have always put the public first. I have always made sure the public interest is first and foremost paramount in every single thing that I do.”

The Premier described herself as a private person who lives her life “by the book” and said she was devastated that her relationship with Mr Maguire led to questions over her integrity.

“I will call it a personal nightmare — you cannot appreciate, for someone who’s very private, for someone who is very by the book, for someone who put her trust in someone she thought she could trust … I’d known him for 15 years — I can’t tell you what it’s done to me personally. It’s been devastating, and I’ve had to bear this on top of everything else,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Where I have failed is in my personal life, and I accept that. I take full responsibility for that. I take full responsibility for that. In fact, this was a relationship I did not share with anybody — not my family, not my closest friends.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said the exposure over her relationship with former MP Daryl Maguire has been a ‘personal nightmare’.

The revelation Ms Berejiklian had been in a “close personal relationship” with Mr Maguire, during some of the years in which he is alleged to have engaged in corrupt conduct, led the NSW Opposition leader Jodi McKay to call for her resignation on Monday afternoon. Even some in the Premier’s own party questioned whether she could remain in her position, with Liberal sources telling The Australian her time as leader could be over.

But Ms Berejiklian said she has no intention of resigning. She was flanked by NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who both stated their continuing support for her.

With questions raised about whether Ms Berejiklian had knowledge about some of the allegedly dodgy deals Mr Maguire is being investigated for, the Premier sought to separate her personal relationship to the former MP from his business dealings.

“They were his interests. I didn’t have any interest in them. I didn’t care too much about his interests, because it was his responsibility to disclose them, as is the responsibility of every member of parliament,” she said.

“And — this is my failing — when you’ve known someone for a long time and you put your trust in them, you assume they’re doing the right thing. And that’s what I assumed.”