Carey Ducks, Weaves In Denton Interview
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday March 28, 2008
THE disgraced former AFL player Wayne Carey is too ashamed to go out in public and spends his days drifting between the homes of friends and family.
In a two-hour interview, due to air Monday on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope program, the footballer also described abusing drugs and alcohol and his relationship with his father. Denton said Carey "flatly denied" receiving an estimated $180,000 for a New Idea interview two weeks ago in which he and his girlfriend, Kate Neilson, revealed they were addicted to cocaine."It seemed unbelievable," Denton said yesterday of the claim the couple received no payment, describing Carey as "articulate, polite and almost charming". "I think he came really wanting to be candid but left not being as candid as he wanted to be."Carey was also evasive when questioned about binge-drinking incidents or allegedly striking Ms Neilson in the face and neck with a wine glass in a Miami hotel last year.The former captain of North Melbourne pleaded guilty in 1996 to the indecent assault of a woman on a Melbourne street. He is yet to face court following his arrest in Florida last October, when he was charged with assaulting Ms Neilson and a police officer. Carey has denied intentionally striking Ms Neilson. "I got him to demonstrate what he did and I put it to him that that is the way he has spun it," Denton said. "[But] when he is so blind [on alcohol] when it happens, who knows how accurate his memory is."Carey admitted to binge drinking during his football career and that he started using cocaine after football "because it enabled him to drink longer".Denton also interviewed Carey's brother and sister, as well as his former wife, Sally Carey. He described her as supportive despite Carey having left her for Ms Neilson six weeks before the birth of their daughter."I think one of the things he is hiding from is the life he was leading," Denton said.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald