AFL legend Billy Brownless has a tight bond with his daughter Ruby.
The father and daughter duo were spotted recently enjoying a walk through Melbourne’s Albert Park and when Ruby tied the knot to her now-husband Josh Wallis earlier this year, Billy was right by her side.
“(It was) beautiful,” Billy later said about his experience of walking his 25-year-old daughter down the aisle on his radio show.
“I’ve had a couple of limoncellos so I’m a bit dusty. We got dropped off at this beautiful area and there was just limoncellos,” he continued.
“I didn’t think they had any alcohol in them and after about seven I had a look and they’re nine per cent!”
The Geelong great told his co-hosts the ceremony was “magnificent and emotional” and then he repeated the poem he’d recited during the speeches.
“When your daughters get married, it’s from the heart,” he said. “I’ll give you a bit of the poem. ‘Roses are red. Violets are blue. I love you from here to Timbuktu’.”
After her father lasted 16 days in the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here jungle in 2020, Ruby told the Herald Sun she was proud of him.
“It feels like it had been so long, he did so well,’’ she told the publication. “We weren’t surprised. We watched most nights and we were just really proud of him.”
“He lost a lot of weight and it was just a good experience to put everything into perspective,’’ she said. “He is actually a good eater, but he drinks a lot. It’s a lot of beer weight.”
In the same interview, she opened up about whether her father might be ready to start dating again after splitting from his wife of 18 years, Nicky, in 2015.
“I‘m sure one day he will, but we’re all really happy and I know he’s in such a good place,’’ Ruby said. “We hoped he would go a bit further but he said it’s a lot, mentally and physically.”
In 2018, it was revealed that Nicky was in a relationship with Garry Lyons, a close friend and former Footy Show co-star of Billy’s.
“It was um, public, very public, front pages and all that,’’ Billy said about his divorce during his time on I’m A Celeb. “We’d separated, which you know, surprised a few.
“She left me, really. She just fell out of love which happens. 18 years (we were married). And I didn’t expect it,” he continued. “You think she’ll come back and all that, but she didn’t. So that was a real kick in the guts.”
Billy said he got another “kick in the guts” when he discovered his ex was dating Garry.
“But then you know about a year later, she’s um, shacked up with one of my good mates,” he said. “And he’s in the media too.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” the AFL great said on the show. “I found out three or four months ago that something was going on. I had a hunch. I did some investigation myself, sat Nicky down, and we had a chat and she told me.
“My initial feelings were, like anyone – you get angry. You’re headless, you’re angry.
“I shot of a couple of texts to Garry and to Nicky which you wouldn’t want to repeat on this show. And then after a couple of days, you get embarrassed.”
Billy has since started dating a woman named Crystle Fleur.
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