Simone Callahan shines!
Celebrity news The former Mrs Warne has turned to yoga, after struggling to cope with her ‘repressive’ time in the spotlight
Shane Warne’s ex-wife is the happiest she’s ever been after transforming her body and mindset with yoga, since splitting with Australia’s King of Spin more than a decade ago.
Opening up, Simone Callahan says she struggled to cope with the attention that came with being part of one of Australia’s most famous couples and found their marriage “repressive”.
“I didn’t really enjoy that time in the spotlight... The person I wanted to be was suppressed a little bit, through everything that happened,” the 48-year-old, who shares three kids, Brooke, 21, Jackson, 19, and Summer, 16, with Shane, told A Current Affair. “I tend to shy away from all of it.”
It’s no secret that Simone’s 10-year marriage to Shane was fraught with heartache thanks to the cricketer’s extramarital antics.
As well as a series of highprofile affairs, Warnie was famously sacked as vice-captain for sending a string of “dirty texts” to a British nurse and allegedly asked another woman for a foursome with England batsman Kevin Pietersen, all while married with two children.
After divorcing Shane in 2005, Simone briefly took him back only to have her heart broken again when he sent a flirtatious text message to his wife that he intended for another woman.
FINDING PEACE
But now all those years of heartache are well and truly behind her. Thirteen years on fromher from her divorce, Simone has found peace through yoga, teaching the ancient discipline six times a week at a studio in Melbourne’s Brighton.
“I just used to see yogis... and thought they looked so peaceful and calm, and I wanted to feel that way. It’s been very good for me, for calming myself,” says Simone who first took up the workout regimen 15 years ago, when she started “going through stuff with Shane and I wasn’t really coping”.
In fact the practice, which originates in India, has even helped Simone forge a strong friendship with her ex-husband, allowing her to let go of the hurt and anger she was holding on to.
“It instils a lot of good in you through the poses and the shifting of energy and not holding on to stuff,” she says.
The former WAG even recently travelled to India’s Rishikesh, the birthplace of yoga, to deepen her knowledge. As well as feeling mentally stronger, Simone has never looked better. Swapping the red carpet for yoga is clearly paying off, as her 8000 and counting Instagram followers can attest to. She regularly posts pictures on social media to show off her incredible flexibility and motivational videos, which have a profound effect on her fans. “You are an inspiration to us 40-50 year old mums! You are sensational and humble and beautiful inside and out,” one fan commented on a video of Simone performing Iyengar yoga poses.
While another agreed: “You’re an inspiration, I’m 49 as flexible as a steel pole and never thought yoga did anything for you but after [seeing] how Gorgeous and fit you look, I will give it a crack. GOD help me. Thank you for sharing your videos they’re as wonderful as you.”
As Simone says, “I can stand on my head for 15 minutes and come down and feel amazing. It’s an overall feeling of feeling good... there’s no ego with yoga, no judgement...”
‘The person I wanted to be was suppressed a little bit’