Wayne Carey’s romance shame has caught up to him

Wayne Carey’s demons from past relationships have been laid bare in a confronting interrogation on SAS Australia.

The demons from Wayne Carey’s previous relationship shame have caught up with him in a confronting interrogation on SAS Australia.

In an episode screened Tuesday night, the football legend opened up about his infamous relationship scandals that left his life at rock bottom.

The 50-year-old labelled his affair with a teammate’s wife as “the biggest regret of my life as an adult” in promotional clips previously released by Channel 7.

He has also addressed ongoing claims he deliberately “glassed” his former fiancee Kate Neilson.

It comes after Neilson spoke publicly last week about wanting to put the traumatic incident behind her. She remains on speaking terms with the North Melbourne icon.

Carey bared his sole in Tuesday night’s episode, revealing his shame at suggestions he mentally abused partners in previous relationships.

“I’m not proud of some of the things that I’ve done,” he said in the episode that also featured Barry Hall committing toilet etiquette sins.

“But I’ve done a lot of work on myself over the last 10 years and I take ownership of it myself.

Wayne Carey and Kate Neilson at home in the Redlands district of Brisbane in 2008.

Wayne Carey's girlfriend Kate Neilson after the glass incident.

“One of the biggest stories was when I slept with a teammate’s wife. It’s haunted me for over 20 years. I was in self destruction mode and I guess my life started to unravel. I left the football club and went to America.

“In America, I’ve been charged with assaulting police, I got accused of glassing my girlfriend.

I leant over to throw wine on her in a restaurant, which clearly is wrong, the glass touched her lip. The headlines were that I glassed her.

“That’s one of the biggest regrets of my life. Of course throwing wine on a girlfriend is unacceptable, completely unacceptable. Yes, the glass touched her lip, it didn’t break, I wasn’t trying to glass her.”

When asked if he was an aggressive person, Carey replied: “No”.

He admits he was blind to his previous behaviour in mentally abusing and intimidating former partners.

“All my partners would say I’ve never been physically abusive,” he said.

“But have I been abusive mentally and also I guess intimidating? Absolutely. Why I behave that way is due to I think a number of reasons, not addressing things. Actually being physically violent to someone. I saw that growing up. The way my dad was with my mum.

Horrific stuff. And that’s why when people close to me said that it is unacceptable, I said, ‘What do you mean?’. I raised my voice, I stood up, I put my arm on her. I now know how warped my thinking was. You don’t have to actually hit someone to be abusive.

“The penny drop stuff. I spoke to the right people and that’s not to say I’m a perfect human now either, I’m still a work in progress.”

Wayne Carey’s mug shot after the incident with Kate Neilson.

Wayne Carey on Channel 7's SAS Picture: Channel 7

The Herald Sun, earlier revealed Neilson, a Melbourne socialite turned Los Angeles-based actor, said she hoped the “dark period” of her life wouldn’t be re-explored in the public eye when aired on Seven.

The former couple were briefly engaged in 2009, but split soon afterwards.

The separation came after Carey spent time in a US jail for assaulting Miami police, who were called after what the footballer claims was an accidental glassing of Neilson in 2007.

“The incident was so long ago now and it was a dark period of our relationship, but I can say with certainty the glass of wine was intentionally thrown into my face and smashed my mouth pretty bad,” she told The Herald Sun.

“(It is) definitely something I well and truly want to leave behind me.”

Carey also wants to put his affair with former North Melbourne teammate Anthony Stevens’ from 2002 behind him.

He says he has offered an apology to Stevens. Stevens has previously said he never received an apology.

Carey was ultimately forced to leave North Melbourne at the time to finish his career with the Adelaide Crows.

Brent Harvey, the AFL games-record holder who played his entire 20-year career at North Melbourne, said last year the sex scandal ruptured the playing group and crippled the club for years.

Wayne Carey the Kangaroo. Credit: HamishBlair/ALLSPORT

Kelli and Anthony Stevens.

Publicly, Stevens stayed silent for years about being betrayed by Carey before finally going on the record with veteran AFL journalist Mike Sheahan in 2015.

Carey spoke in 2016 about how he moved to mend his rift with Stevens ahead of the 20-year reunion for the Kangaroos’ 1996 premiership-winning team. The pair met privately in Melbourne before the big event to sort out their differences.

“As we know, Stevo said on Open Mike a little while ago that he thought that I hadn’t properly apologised so that is where it started,” Carey told Triple M six years ago.

“A heartfelt apology. That’s where it started and that’s where it ended.

“You’ll never forget (the affair) and it’s something that will live with me forever, as I’m sure it will a lot of people, which is still sad and I still live with that, but we can go to the event on Saturday and just have a smile on our faces and laugh and people can feel really good about being there.”