Phoebe Burgess took a secret swipe at Lisa Wilkinson when The Project host commented on her marriage to then husband Sam as the NRL star was engulfed in a sexting scandal.
The onetime magazine journalist hit out at Wilkinson in an essay she wrote but did not have published at the time of the alleged sexting incident.
Phoebe singled out Wilkinson among commentators who had written 'personally skewed media articles questioning the state of my marriage'.
The social media influencer also took aim at Wilkinson's husband, newspaper columnist and author Peter FitzSimons, calling him 'our favourite looney toon in a red bandana.'
Wilkinson wrote an opinion piece for the 10 Daily website after several South Sydney players were revealed to have engaged in lewd video calls with a 23-year-old woman.
Phoebe Burgess took a swipe in an unpublished 2018 essay at Lisa Wilkinson when The Project host commented on her marriage to then husband Sam as the NRL star was engulfed in a sexting scandal. Phoebe and Sam, who split the following year, are pictured
Phoebe singled out Wilkinson among commentators who had written 'personally skewed media articles questioning the state of my marriage'. She called Wilkinson's husband Peter FitzSimons 'our favourite looney toon in a red bandana.' Wilkinson and FitzSimons are pictured
The players were never publicly identified but the May 2018 calls were made through Burgess's Facebook account, although he denied 'sexting' with the woman.
Leaked screenshots featuring one player exposing his genitals and another showing his naked backside during the chats were revealed in September that year.
Phoebe did not comment publicly at the time but Sam said he was fortunate to have a 'strong wife' who was upset by 'what's out there'.
Three days after the images were published Phoebe, who was 27 weeks' pregnant, shared a picture of herself on Instagram captioned 'Moments in the sun with our babies'.
The next day Wilkinson referred to famous wives supporting their husbands amid public sex scandals in a 10 Daily piece which began, 'And so here we go again, with the all too familiar scenario.'
'Prominent man faces allegations of sexual impropriety,' she wrote. 'Wife stands by him loyally. Speculation swirls as to the state of their marriage.
'Closer to home we've had Phoebe Burgess who has, to this point, kept a dignified silence as her football playing husband Sam Burgess is all over the front pages linked with lurid allegations... '
Three days after images of Souths players engaged in lewd video chats with a 23-year-old woman were published Phoebe, who was 27 weeks' pregnant, shared this picture of herself on Instagram captioned 'Moments in the sun with our babies'
Wilkinson noted that Phoebe was pregnant with the couple's second child and since the alleged sexting story broke had cancelled a number of public engagements.
She further mentioned Phoebe had posted the picture 'apparently taken by husband Sam' of her 'blossoming' belly while on a picnic with daughter Poppy.
'So Phoebe appears to have made her support for Sam clear... ' Wilkinson wrote. 'The truth is yet to come out, and he may be cleared, but she's still had to weather the media storm.'
Wilkinson observed public sympathy was increasingly with women who accused men of sexual misconduct, rather than the men being accused of such behaviour.
'It means that while standing by your man through hell and high water used to be an admirable end in itself, the public mood is changing,' she wrote.
'Now, more than ever, the public wants to know of the wife: did she know? Could she have done something to stop it? And in standing by her man is she part of the problem?
'Or, and plenty will think this, is it none of our damn business how a couple navigates through such murky marital waters?'
Phoebe certainly thought her marriage was none of Wilkinson's business.
Phoebe wrote an essay at the time of the 'sexting' incident in which she claimed the woman, who she named, had flashed her breasts at the players in 'a game of mutual group peek-a-boo'
The day after the Wilkinson commentary was published Phoebe penned her own first-person piece in which she discussed why footballers might expose themselves to a woman.
'My father always said - when I took offence at behaviour - to go to motive,' she wrote.
'And it's helped me tremendously over the years to navigate bitchy women in all female office environments, tough bosses, and more recently personally skewed media articles questioning the state of my marriage by the likes of Lisa Wilkinson.'
'Married to our favourite looney toon in a red bandana. Shall we start dissecting all the choices you have made in your marriage? No, it's your road to walk together regardless of the fact you are both opinionated public figures.'
Wilkinson's piece had ended: 'Whatever happens, Phoebe, I wish you all strength.'
Phoebe Burgess originally described an alleged sexting incident which embroiled her then husband, former NRL star Sam
