‘Outside the relationship’: Matthew Mitcham’s shock SAS sex confession

Olympic diving champion Matthew Mitcham has labelled himself “a liar” after making a shock revelation about his relationship.

Australian Olympic diving champion Matthew Mitcham has confessed to “sexual behaviour” outside his marriage as being a source of shame, despite revealing the pair have “an understanding”.

Mitcham came to the spotlight at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he snatched gold from Chinese rival Zhou Luxin with a score of 112 in the men’s 10m platform event.

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Mitcham, who went public with his sexuality in the lead up to the Olympics, became the first openly gay male Olympic champion and went on to win a gold and six silvers at Commonwealth Games events in 2010 and 2014.

His life soon fell apart after he became addicted to crystal meth during his career.

He spoke about this part of his life earlier in the season of SAS Australia, revealing he was seven and a half years clean and sober.

Mitcham has been sober since retiring from the sport in 2016 and in 2020 married his British partner Luke Rutherford.

In the latest episode of SAS Australia, the contestants faced a challenge where they had to write down and reveal their most shameful moments to the group, before cathartically burning them in a fire.

Mitcham looked down as he read his letter. Photo: Channel 7

Mitcham with his 2008 gold medal.

Mitcham admitted: “The one thing that I haven’t really worked through yet is that I’ve been a really selfish person in relationships.

“I feel so ashamed for the immense hurt that I caused someone for 11 years who stayed with me all throughout my entire addiction.

“And despite being several years clean and sober and it being one of his absolute deal breakers, I still struggle to be completely honest with my husband.

“I let my own insecurities, fear and trust issues be more important than a promise I made to him. And in doing so, I’ve caused so much hurt and serious damage to the relationship.

“So, the thing that I’m most ashamed to admit today is that I hurt the people who are most important to me because honesty is not one of my core values and I’m a liar.”

In a to-camera interview, Mitcham said “I haven’t been the best husband and I’ve definitely caused a lot of pain and I still have a lot of shame for lies and deception in my relationship.”

Mitcham faced the interrogation. Photo: Channel 7

But Mitcham was taken to the interrogation tent, where SAS chief instructor Ant Middleton continued to press him.

Mitcham revealed that the lies began as a child as a defence mechanism in order not to get in trouble.

Asked to reveal the latest lie he’d told that was on his mind, Mitcham said “Sexual behaviour within my relationship, sexual behaviour outside the relationship which is ridiculous because my partner and I have an understanding and yet I still have so much shame about it that I can’t be honest with it so there’s no reason to lie about it and that’s what eats me up because of my own shame.”

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham and partner Luke Rutherford at their wedding in Europe. Picture: Supplied

Mitcham was brought to tears. Photo: Channel 7

Mitcham agreed that he may be a compulsive liar.

“That would be a very shameful thing for me to admit,” he said.

“I feel ashamed of myself. There’s a lot of shame. Because honesty is such a virtue, in fact it’s not just a virtue it’s an expectation.”

Middleton said he knew first hand what Mitcham was going through, as his mother was a compulsive liar.

“I used to hate speaking to my mother,” Middleton admitted. “I never hated my mother, never showed any disrespect towards my mother but I hated speaking to her because I knew that every word was a f**king lie.

“I hated being around her, my own mum — and I hated myself for that. But she believed her own lies. It became compulsive and then I didn’t want to be around her. The only time I could find a bit of peace with her was when she was on her deathbed.”

Middleton finished saying: “Moving forward from this moment forward — a trustworthy, integral individual.”

“That’s what I want to be,” Mitcham said.