Tess Crosley has confirmed her identity as Jules Neale’s former best friend who allegedly engaged in an affair with Brisbane Lions player Lachie Neale.
Crosley, who spoke on the matter for the first time on Daily Mail Australia podcast The Debrief, said she was ready to tell her side of the story and take accountability.
“I have made some bad decisions I deeply regret, but I believe that I’m not a bad person,” Crosley said.
The podcast comes a day after Jules’ tell-all interview about her marriage break-up, in which she claimed the AFL star cheated with at least two women, one being a four-month affair with her best friend, whom she did not name but who has long been speculated online to be Crosley.
After the scandal broke, Crosley claimed, the other parties involved told her not to speak about it, which she had agreed to until now.
On the alleged affair, Crosley said it was a friendship that “got way too close” and claimed she experienced love-bombing.
“Which I think definitely changes your brain chemicals, and I think back and just think that was not me during that time,” she said.
The backlash from the scandal left Crosley fearing for her and her family’s safety after receiving death threats online and in person, including from a former friend.
“I had a few death threats from people in the group as well. And it really did just silence me, because I just … I was legitimately just scared.
“I also think it’s important for people to understand I was a nobody in a high-profile scandal without all the high-profile help … I had to do it on my own,” she said.
Crosley also claims she was bullied by Jules when the scandal broke on social media and Jules posted a comment under a photo of Tess and Lachie that said: “Take these down, you idiot. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
When Jules and Lachie Neale first split in December 2025, Jules announced on social media that she experienced a “betrayal”. On seeing this Crosley said she also felt betrayed by her going public.
“I think that really hurt … but it explains a lot at the same time, because I always was thinking, ‘Why is there so much about me? Like, I’m a nobody.’ And then you have this person who was a high-profile person, and at the time I felt like there was no air time for him. It was all about me!”
Crosley also discovered friends were leaking information to the media.
“I upheld my end of the bargain by staying silent,” she said. “I’m more than just a headline, I am a human being at the end of the day, and everybody makes a mistake at some point in their life”
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Abby Seaman is a digital producer and lifestyle writer at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
