"I regret hurting my children. I'm embarrassed and hurt that I let them down as their father and as a husband to Simone (Callahan) I wasn't very good. The whole book is fact. I do (love sex). It's true. If I didn't love sex that much I probably wouldn't have got myself in half the trouble I have,” the 49-year-old said
London: Not only was Shane Warne an exceptional bowler, he also had a tabloid-worthy personal life owing to his multiple relationships over the years.
To end the speculations and myths about his life and the surrounding media attention, the Australian spin legend has come out with his autobiography, “No Spin”.
Ahead of the book launch, Warne has been giving interviews and he recently met former England captain Michael Vaughan and opened up about his life off the field and controversies surrounding his divorce and relationship with British actor Elizabeth Hurley which was particularly distressing to his children.
"I regret hurting my children. I'm embarrassed and hurt that I let them down as their father and as a husband to Simone (Callahan) I wasn't very good. The whole book is fact. I do (love sex). It's true. If I didn't love sex that much I probably wouldn't have got myself in half the trouble I have,” the 49-year-old said.
“I've enjoyed being a father, I love being a father and I think I'm a good father. The kids are my number one priority, I've shown them that. They've said some wonderful things in the book and I didn't sit with them when they did that," he added.
Warne, who took over 1,000 international wickets, said his kids were “brutally honest” about him.
"They were asked, 'tell me what you think about your dad?' And they were brutally honest. They don't pull any punches. I've had to live with that. Live with that guilt that I let my children down and it's led in a way to a great relationship now because we talk about so much stuff. Any time we have an issue we have a thing where we say, 'assume the position' and we all sit and say, 'right, it's my turn to speak' and we all listen. They ask me any questions they like and I have to answer them truthfully," Warne, the second highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 708 scalps, said.
"The real me is preferring to be on the couch with my kids, in tracksuit pants. The other stuff is a bit of fun but I much prefer the quiet life. But it's about balance. Too much couch time and chilling and you crave a bit of social stuff and too much social stuff and you crave being at home," he went on to add.
Of all his 708 Test wickets, the one closest to him is the “Ball of the Century”, which Warne bowled to dismiss Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes series.
Warne, however, tags it as a fluke that spelled change for him. "It was the perfect leg break," he said.
"To do it first ball in an Ashes series, I look back and say, 'yes' it was a fluke but I think it was meant to be. It changed my life. I was 23 and I didn't know how to cope with the attention off the field. I'd walk out of the hotel with the whole team and there'd be 20 photographers taking pictures of me," he explained.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.