The loyal wife of former Australian Test cricket captain Tim Paine has stood by him for the past three years, despite knowing he sent lewd texts to a female staffer.
Bonnie Paine was aware of her husband's indiscretion back in 2018 when he was investigated by Cricket Australia and eventually cleared of misconduct.
The matter was kept secret until Friday afternoon, when Paine, 36, stepped down and tearfully apologised at a press conference for his behaviour.
Standing by her man: The loyal wife of Australian Test cricket captain Tim Paine (pictured with wife Bonnie) has stood by him for the past three years, despite knowing he sent lewd texts to a female staffer
It's believed his decision to go public and resign as captain was prompted by media outlets learning of the 2018 investigation.
Despite the devastating revelation, Bonnie has maintained the carefully crafted image of a picture-perfect marriage on social media in the three years since she learned of her husband's sexts to the woman.
Forgive and forget: Bonnie Paine was aware of her husband's indiscretion back in 2018 when he was investigated by Cricket Australia and eventually cleared of misconduct
She regularly shares loved-up photos with her husband of five years and their two young children, daughter Milla, four, and son Charlie, two, on Instagram.
As recently as November 2, Bonnie shared a cosy photo with her family and captioned it: 'The most perfect birthday'.
The couple regularly enjoy date nights together.
'My hot date. Does anyone else prefer having a quiet date night at home rather than going out? Or we the only boring oldies out there?' she wrote in July.
In April, the couple attended the Cricket Tasmania Awards Night, and in January Bonnie admitted she was 'devastated' at having to say goodbye to Paine when the pandemic kept them apart.
'Devastated that we have to say goodbye to our man today. Bloody Rona. En route back to Hobart far earlier than expected,' she captioned a photo of them together.
Resigning: The matter was kept secret until Friday afternoon, when Paine, 36, stepped down and tearfully apologised for his behaviour at a press conference
In December last year, she shared a heartfelt message to her husband on his 36th birthday, saying she was 'so proud' of him.
'Happy birthday to TP (I'd write a soppy, heartfelt message but I've sent him one via text instead). We love you so much, and we are so proud of the man you are. 36 never looked so good,' she wrote.
They enjoyed a 'staycation' together at the Crowne Plaza in Hobart in September 2020, a month after they had a 'mandatory parental weekend away'.
The couple attended the Australian Cricket Awards together in both February last year and February 2019.
They also spent the last two New Year's Eves in Sydney, and flew to Europe for a holiday in September 2019, visiting France and Spain.
In May 2019, they visited Melbourne for the Australian Cricket Society dinner, and jetted to Bali that same month.
Making art: The couple regularly enjoy date nights together, painting in September (pictured) and relaxing at home in July
Prior to that, they enjoyed a holiday in Cape Town in March 2018, with Bonnie sharing a loved-up photo of herself and Paine at the beach.
'Falling in love with Cape Town. Tim's love for the camera is about as subtle as a fart in an elevator. But when the background is THAT - you have no choice,' she wrote.
Paine on Friday stepped down as Australia's Test cricket captain amid a sexting scandal which saw him send a lewd photo and explicit messages to a female staffer.
He was investigated by Cricket Australia in 2018 after the woman complained, but was cleared of misconduct and the matter was kept secret.
Paine sent a photo of his penis to a female co-worker along with a stream of lewd text messages, many of which are too raunchy to publish.
'Will you want to taste my d**k?? F**k me, I'm seriously hard,' one of the messages sent to the Cricket Tasmania employee read.
Pushed into admission: It's believed Paine's decision to go public and resign as captain was prompted by media outlets learning of the 2018 investigation
Paine, who has led the team since the Sandpapergate scandal in 2018, held a press conference at 2.30pm on Friday where he tearfully apologised and announced he would step down.
'It's an incredibly difficult decision, but the right one for me, my family, and cricket,' he said.
Paine is available for selection for The Ashes, but his place in the team hangs by a thread.
The lewd messages were sent on November 22 and 23, 2017, the eve and morning of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Cricket Australia was not aware of the messages until after Paine was appointed Test captain in March 2018 in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal.
