Tess Crosley, the woman at the centre of Lachie Neale’s cheating scandal, has hit out at trolls after being subject to vile abuse in public.
She has faced significant ridicule since being linked as the woman responsible for the breakdown in Neale’s marriage with Jules, Tess’s former best friend, in December.
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That speculation was further fuelled this week after the pair both shared photos from the same late-night bar in Brisbane on social media.
Trolls tagged Neale in the comments of Tess’s post and now online abuse has become public, Tess revealed.
“I want to make this very clear, it is never acceptable for anyone to approach a stranger in public and make derogatory comments or abuse at them, especially when they are simply trying to care for their children’s needs,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
“My child does not deserve to be exposed to that kind of behaviour. No child does.
“While I navigate my own personal challenges, my priority remains protecting and shielding my child from unnecessary hostility and cruelty in every day situations.”
Tess has faced significant backlash amid links to Neale, and only last month was forced to deactivate her Instagram account because of abuse.
But she has also used the platform to defend herself from critics, previously hinting the public doesn’t have the full picture of the alleged affair, cryptically noting that there is “always another story” in the caption of a Instagram post.
She also told one user “I don’t think it’s any of your business” when asked about her recent split from husband Ben, whom she has a son with.
Meanwhile Neale also hit out against the furore that surrounded his break up with Jules.
“When it’s your personal lives and your private matters, you probably don’t think it’s newsworthy,” he told Triple M earlier this month.
“In a sense, I get it, I’m the captain of a footy club and a public profile in a way, but it felt over the top.
“It was pretty crazy there for a while, and it’s great to have the footy back on, which has taken over the headlines.”
I felt like I had let a lot of people down, so I wanted to redeem myself in a way, by the way I came back into the preseason and games, in particular,” he said.
“It felt like a year and a half wait for that [first game] during the preseason, but I was glad to get back on the field.
“I was itching to get back onto the field and do what I love.”
However Neale has not acknowledge the alleged affair with Tess, and neither responded to suggestions they attended the same bar in Brisbane.
