'Embarrassing': Sonny Bill Williams spills on infamous toilet tryst
Sonny Bill Williams has shed light on the infamous 2007 toilet tryst with Candice Warner in a new book about the cross-code superstar's life and career.
In his upcoming autobiography 'You Can’t Stop The Sun From Shining', Williams touches on a range of topics from his drug and alcohol-fuelled early days, to his partying and womanising and the famous split from the Bulldogs in the NRL.
PLEASE EXPLAIN: NRL demand answers over broken premiership trophy
'NO BRAINER': NRL set to expand after $100m Peter V'landys deal
OPINION: Melbourne Storm's 'hangover' an NRL embarrassment
In an extract from the book - available to read through the Saturday Telegraph - Williams talks about the drinking problems that preceded his bombshell departure from the Bulldogs and the scandalous incident involving the now-wife of Australian cricketer, David Warner.
Williams conceded that his drinking was the "symptom of a much bigger issue" that was not addressed at the time and said he needed to get out of a toxic party culture of booze and drugs.
“And then there was an incident in a nightclub in 2007, when I fooled around with a woman in a toilet stall.
“Both she and I will have to live with that mistake for the rest of our lives. It made headlines around a good part of the world. It was embarrassing, and not just for myself. There’s the woman involved, of course, though she was a single adult woman and so it really was no one else’s business what she did.
“But I had a girlfriend at home who was publicly humiliated as well as suffering the pain of being cheated on. She surely did not deserve to be at the centre of a media storm.”
Candice Warner (then Candice Falzon before she was married) and Williams met at the Clovelly hotel in 2007 and were filmed by a member of the public in a toilet cubicle.
Candice, 22, was an elite ironwoman at the time and a 21-year-old Williams (who was in a relationship) was at the start of his NRL career with the Bulldogs.
While Williams later issued a brief apology after the incident, he’s never faced the same sort of scrutiny that Candice, who was single at the time, has for years.
Candice Warner reveals toll of 2007 incident
Warner touched on it during last year's appearance reality TV series SAS Australia, admitting that it had "brought embarrassment and shame" to her family.
For Recruit #2 Candice Warner, it's all about making her family proud. #SASAustralia pic.twitter.com/imyRRP7KUb
— SAS Australia on 7 (@sasaustralia) October 26, 2020
"A long time ago, when I was young, I got myself in a compromising position, which I regret. It had a huge impact on my family. Huge," Warner told her fellow contestants.
Warner refrained from elaborating on the details of the incident but confessed that the public fallout from it was too much to take.
“So … it was just a personal situation. Too many drinks,” she said.
“Living with that and having to explain to my kids in the future is going to be very difficult. Especially when you’ve got three girls.
“I remember sitting on the side of the street and not being able to take it anymore. And just thinking, ‘If this is what life’s about then I can’t take it anymore’.”
The mother-of-three says she's always been deeply sorry for the transgression but slammed the media's role in perpetuating her mistake.
“Yes, I’d made a mistake. But is that really worth, every single day, the media trying to drag me down? I don’t think so.”
Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.
