In their heyday, Sam and Phoebe Burgess seemed to be couple goals. But the former NRL player and TV journalist’s marriage has been shrouded in scandal.
WATCH BELOW: A timeline of Sam and Phoebe Burgess’ whirlwind romance
Sam and Phoebe met at an Avicii concert in January 2014 and didn’t go public with their romance until September that year.
In December 2015, the couple were married and tied the knot at Phoebe’s parents’ home in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Daughter Poppy was born in January 2017 and son William ‘Billy’ in December 2018, but just three months before Billy’s arrival, it was revealed that Sam had become embroiled in a sexting scandal.
Allegations were made that South Sydney Rabbitohs players, Sam’s teammates, had sent lewd, non-consensual images to a 23-year-old woman using his social media account.
At Christmas 2018, Phoebe wasn’t seen at the Burgess family lunch and a few days later, photos emerged of Sam leaving his and Phoebe’s family home carrying packed bags suggesting that they’d called it quits.
Speaking to Stellar in April 2019, Phoebe confirmed that she and Sam were still together.
“The main thing I’d like to say is that we’re a young family and we’re learning every single day,” she told the publication.
“Sam and I will have good days and we’ll have trying days. We’ll have challenges but it’s how you deal with those challenges together. Every single person on this planet who is married knows it isn’t perfect. It’s never going to be perfect.”
She added: “I’ve always believed that in the end, love conquers all.”
However in October 2019, the couple split for good. The Australian shared a damning report that detailed Sam’s alleged episodes of drug use, domestic violence and abusive behaviour.
It was also reported that police took an AVO against Sam for the protection of his father-in-law, Mitchell Hooke.
Sam’s lawyer told The Australian the claims were “false”. Sam denied the allegations and hasn’t been charged over the claims.
In February 2021, after he was found guilty of intimidation against Phoebe’s father, that decision was later overturned in the New South Wales District Court.
Since splitting from Sam, Phoebe along with Poppy and Billy have moved to her parent’s Bowral property in the Southern Highlands – the same place as her wedding location.
However, Phoebe told Stellar that every memory she has there is a happy one.
“Even when things have been really s**t, it’s a good memory because it happened. I was very much in love on my wedding day and I’ll never forget my dad walking me down the aisle. And I’ll never forget how beautiful it was,” she told the publication.
She now has her own property in the same area and remarked that motherhood and the responsibility saved her.
Phoebe is also keeping her married surname rather than going back to Hooke for the sake of her children.
Sam told the same publication in August 2021 that co-parenting with Phoebe has been much harder than he thought it would be.
“Essentially, I still think it is the right decision for us both. I still care about Phoebe, we have two amazing kids. We just didn’t work out as a married couple,” he said.
Now, in a candid interview with Mamamia’s No Filter podcast, Phoebe has tearfully opened up about her marriage breakdown, saying that the night she discovered his affair with a Melbourne woman while he was captaining England in 2017 “broke her”.
“I was so sucked in – I was the ultimate defender of my husband,” she said.
“I believed that he had been made a victim.
“And then came the night where the next woman had decided she was going to tell her story as well, that my husband had had an affair while he was captaining England in 2017, while I was travelling around the country with our daughter to watch his games.
“And that night, that night broke me,” Phoebe said.
The mum-of-two added that there were “moments along the way” that led to the end of her marriage, and used an analogy to describe how the pair’s relationship wore down gradually.
WATCH: Phoebe Burgess On Why She’s Breaking Her Silence
“I couldn’t give you an exact moment. All I can say … is that analogy of the frog. You throw a frog in boiling water it’s going to scream. If you turn the heat up slowly, it stays there and it just cooks alive and that’s – little things started adding up,” she said.
“And I wish, I wish I’d listened to what my body was telling me. I became extremely anxious after having my daughter, after having back surgery, to the point where I couldn’t drive. I was just afraid of driving. And that’s something that was never part of my personality. I couldn’t drive on a highway without feeling as though I wasn’t in control.
“And I think those were symptoms of what I was starting to go through emotionally and mentally. I was starting to – I felt – lose myself.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 24 at any time of the day, seven days a week for anonymous support and guidance.
This article originally appeared on our sister site, Who.
