Bangkok: Shane Warne endured a difficult love life – including a 10-year marriage which was surrounded by cheating scandals, a failed engagement to Elizabeth Hurley, and unsuccessful flirtations on social media with celebrities.
The Australian cricketer turned pundit, one of the finest bowlers of all time who revived the art of leg-spin has died aged 52 following a suspected heart attack.
Warne – a larger-than-life character whose 708 Test wickets has only been surpassed by contemporary rival and fellow spinner Muttiah Muralitharan – could not be revived after being found unresponsive in his Thailand villa on Friday.
The cricket legend – who retired in 2013 but continued to be involved in the game as a broadcaster – was equally as noted for his life off the field as on it.
Having had his fair share of high-profile romances – most notably a failed engagement to Elizabeth Hurley, his scandalous love life also included a 10-year marriage to former model Simone Callahan, whom he divorced in 2005.
He also faced multiple sexting scandals dating back to 2000, was spotted trying to flirt across social media with glamour models and celebs such as Kate Beckinsale, and at 51 was still found to be on Tinder.
During his career, he gained a reputation as the blonde-haired, blue-eyed hero of the sport, a buccaneering bowler on the pitch and a playboy off it, famed for his love of beer and cigarettes.
For ten years he was married to his childhood sweetheart Simone, having three children together: Jackson, Summer and Brooke.
The couple split after a decade, and in a heartbreaking documentary, he confronted being caught cheating on his then-wife Simone with multiple women, which led to their marriage breaking down in 2005.
The Amazon Prime programme, which came out this year, saw him admit to drowning his sorrows alone in his hotel room, drinking until he was ‘crying on the floor’ after his family fled England in the wake of the scandals.
Ms Callahan also spoke about her own heartbreak after landing in the UK to find stories of her husband’s numerous infidelities splashed across newspaper front pages.
She told the show she and the couple’s three children ‘were going to set up a life in England’ and had uprooted their lives in Australia to do so.
Warne revealed that ‘unfortunately there was a story that broke of me with two women just before they landed… Simone read that story.’
Callahan described the litany of newspaper articles about her husband’s affairs as: ‘Shane’s with this [woman], Shane’s with this [woman], Shane’s with that [woman].’
‘My life was pretty much turned on its head,’ the former model-turned-yoga instructor said. ‘It wasn’t even a two-week turnaround before I came back to Australia.’
The spin bowler ultimately owned up to his mistakes, confessing in an interview at the time: ‘I gave into temptation, gave into opportunity.’
The pair, who share children Brooke, Jackson and Summer, briefly reconciled after their divorce but split for good in 2007.
Warne and Elizabeth Hurley first got together in late 2010, before Warne popped the question to the Austin Powers actress in September 2011, but they sadly split in 2013.
He said of the romance in 2018: ‘Who knows what the future holds. There’s a difference between being in love with someone and loving someone. I’ll always love Elizabeth but I don’t think we’ll ever get back together.’
Warne’s words came after he branded his romance with Elizabeth as being the ‘happiest time of his life.’
He told the Mirror: ‘I was more in love with Elizabeth than I’d realised I could be. I miss the love we had. My years with Elizabeth were the happiest of my life.’
The cricketer reflected back on his romance with Elizabeth, saying: ‘When we were together we both had a great time. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
‘It wasn’t something that she or I did wrong, it just fizzled out. We’re still great friends, we still stay in touch, we’re good for each other and our kids get along great.’
Elizabeth previously dated fellow actor Hugh Grant for eight years, and despite splitting in 2000 the exes remained close.
Warne touched on the jealousy he experienced due to how close Liz and Hugh were.
The Spin King found it especially hard given the, at times, long-distance nature of Shane and Liz’s relationship and explained that became a factor in their break-up.
‘The long periods apart were too difficult. The more you’re apart, the more you ask questions. I got jumpy about the time Elizabeth spent with Hugh Grant, for example,’ he admitted.
In a 2020 Foxtel docu-series A Week With Warnie, the cricketer revealed how the ‘circus’ surrounding their PDA-filled romance relationship ‘got scary’.
The sportsman recalled seven cars and a helicopter following their every move, when Elizabeth visited him in Melbourne in 2011, after six months of dating.
‘We tried to keep things as normal as possible but it got scary,’ Shane began.
‘Some of these rogue photographers trying to get exclusives – I remember my youngest daughter Summer screaming in the back seat, “Dad, dad slow down”. Cars jumping in front of us, running red lights.’
The Spin King recalled attempting to enjoy a quiet meal with Elizabeth, at the Capitol Golf Club in Melbourne, only to be followed by seven cars and a helicopter.
‘We couldn’t go anywhere else because we’d just get 30-40 people, photographers, news crews, everywhere we went.
‘We had seven cars following us and a helicopter over our head just following us, running red lights, cutting off in front of us,’ he continued.
Shane also revealed that fans left golf clubs outside his front door, hoping that the British bombshell would sign them.
In 2019, it was reported Warne had allegedly had a noisy four-way sex party with his lover and two escorts at his £2.7million Maida Vale home in northwest London.
The spin bowler threw the windows open wide and his antics with his unnamed lover and two sex workers identified as Davina, 19, and Poppy, 27, were reportedly so loud the neighbours could hear.
They left the TV pundit’s home two hours later when his lover drove them away in his Jaguar, according to The Sun.
One onlooker said: ‘He was having quite a party in there and didn’t seem to give a damn who heard what was going on. He left the windows wide open and you could clearly hear all the noises.’
It was the latest in a series of sex scandals for the cricketer.
In 2000, he lost the Australian vice-captaincy for sending erotic texts to a British nurse while he was a father and married to his wife Simone.
After a series of high-profile romps, he tried to get back with Simone but accidentally sent her a saucy text which was meant for a different woman.
In 2006, Warne, then 36, was playing a county cricket game in England when he was sent a text inviting him to meet with 25-year-old Coralie Eichholtz and her friend Emma Kearney, 25.
Pictures of their tryst were published in the media – featuring Warne wearing Playboy underwear.
It was the latest in a series of sex scandals for the cricketer; earlier that year he raised eyebrows by flirting with 21-year-old Love Island contestant Lucie Donlan on Instagram, who is younger than his eldest daughter.
In 2000, he lost the Australian vice-captaincy for sending erotic texts to a British nurse while he was a father and married to his wife Simone.
After a series of high-profile romps, he tried to get back with Simone but accidentally sent her a saucy text which was meant for a different woman.
In 2006, Warne, then 36, was playing a county cricket game in England when he was sent a text inviting him to meet with 25-year-old Coralie Eichholtz and her friend Emma Kearney, 25.
Pictures of their tryst were published in the media – featuring Warne wearing Playboy underwear.
‘I’m not a criminal… yes, I’m into women, which has cost me massively, time after time,’ Warne wrote in his book No Spin.
‘To me, only a pretty sad mind goes undercover to make a few bucks out of a friend and a guy she’s never met before. Either that or Coralie was lying and she set the whole thing up. Then it’s even worse.’