After decades of fielding controversy both on and off the pitch, David and Candice Warner are set to face the ultimate test in their marriage as they attempt to start a new life away from the headlines.
At David’s massive retirement bash in Sydney recently, Candice, 38, was seen beaming as she entered on the arm of her cricket champion husband, 37, clearly happy to be waving goodbye to an era that’s seen them face intense public scrutiny throughout his 12-year Test career.
The Warners hope to see their story on screens in 2025.
(Credit: Getty)“When I’m thinking about his retiring, it’s not so sad,” she bluntly told the media following his last Test cricket match on January 6.
“I say to him: ‘There were tough times and you made it. Your back was against the wall on so many occasions.’ I think if other players or people were in the same situations, I’m not sure if they would have been able to push through and break that wall down.”
The pair are set to enter an interesting new phase in their marriage as David – apart from a few matches peppered throughout the year – will take a step back to focus on spending more time with his family, namely their daughters Ivy, nine, Indi, eight, and Isla, four, while Candice will, in a way, take the reins in the public arena as she continues to juggle her highly rated Triple M breakfast show along with her TV commitments.
It’s a shift that Candice admits is “magic”.
He’ll now get to spend more time with his three daughters.
(Credit: Getty)“David will be able to take the girls to cricket and take the girls to soccer on a Sunday,” Candice added excitedly of his freed-up schedule.
“The girls just absolutely love when their dad’s home and he gets to pick them up from school – the little things like them running up to David with their big backpacks on and they just give you the big cuddle and talk about the day.”
“It’s been difficult for David not being able to be there for the girls.”
In 2021, Candice laid bare the consequences David’s high-flying career had on their family, even referring to herself as a “single mum” after COVID-19’s travel restrictions meant she only saw David for three months of the year.
“I’m building a house, homeschooling… it has been a juggle, and it’s been really tough, to be completely honest,” she told the Not Another Parenting Podcast at the time.
“It’s kind of not what I signed up for.”
As well as battling a long-distance relationship, the couple have been met with a series of professional and personal scandals across their revered but polarising careers.
Sandpaper-gate put the family under intense scrutiny.
(Credit: Getty)Most notably, there was the infamous ball-tampering saga in 2018, where David, blamed for orchestrating the scandal, was not only suspended from the game for a year but banned from holding any leadership position for the rest of his cricket career.
Candice, who battled her own media storm in 2007 after she was caught in a bathroom stall with rugby star Sonny Bill Williams, says the backlash they continuously faced as a family was “intense”.
“It hasn’t been easy,” she says. “Sometimes it has taken a lot of courage to front people or to just walk outside the house.”
“But David and myself, we are very resilient. We’re strong.”
