‘You feel hopeless and helpless’: AFL legend Billy Brownless recalls finding out about his father’s passing ‘halfway around the world’ while on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Billy Brownless’ father Anthony Brownless passed away at age 82 from dementia, on the same day he was voted off I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Australia.
And speaking to The Herald Sun on Friday, the AFL legend recalled finding out the news ‘halfway around the world’ on January 21.
‘It only happened the night I got voted off, virtually the same time. It was sad,’ the 53-year-old said.
‘You feel hopeless and helpless’: AFL legend Billy Brownless, 53, recalled finding out about his father’s passing ‘halfway around the world’ while on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
‘He was quiet and he had dementia and had been in the [aged care] home for a while.’
What made the loss more difficult was being in South Africa, miles away from home.
‘It’s still sad when you get told halfway around the world. You feel hopeless and helpless,’ he said.
Billy flew home to Australia immediately to attend a thanksgiving service for his father in Jerilderie, New South Wales, on January 29.
‘It’s still sad when you get told halfway around the world’: Billy told The Herald Sun on Friday that his father had dementia and passed away at age 82, the same day he was voted off
Meanwhile, the retired sportsman wasn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve during his stint in the jungle.
It was there he spoke about his ex-wife, Nicky, and how she left him after an affair with his friend Garry Lyon because she ‘fell out of love’.
In a conversation with Rhonda Burchmore, he said the pair were estranged, before he opened up about the split which shocked the nation in 2016.
‘It was public, very public. Front pages and all that,’ he said.
‘We had separated which surprised a few. Well she left me, really. She just fell out of love which happens, you know?’
Emotional: Meanwhile, Billy wasn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve during his stint in the South African jungle
Open: The retired sportsman discussed his failed marriage during a chat with entertainer Rhonda Burchmore (pictured together) in the I’m A Celebrity jungle
Rhonda asked how long they were together for, to which he replied ’18 years’.
He continued: ‘I didn’t expect it. You think she’ll come back and all that, but she didn’t. So that was a good kick in the guts.’
Billy said he was well on the way to getting over the affair – but admitted he was out of sorts for two years after finding out.
‘But it’s been four years now so you get through it, you know? I reckon it takes you two years when you split, when you bounce back and to be yourself,’ he said.
Billy and Garry had been friends for 15 years and worked together on the popular AFL Footy Show between 2009 and 2015.
Tough: In 2016 news broke that Garry Lyon (second right), who had separated from wife Melissa (right) in 2014, had been having an affair with Nicky (second left with Billy in 2012)