Jules betrayed ME: Tess Crosley reveals what happened behind closed doors on the day her affair with Lachie Neale leaked: THE DEBRIEF

For almost a year, Tess Crosley has carried a label that was decided long before anyone heard her side of the story.

Cast as the villain in one of the AFL's most talked-about scandals, she became the target of relentless headlines, viral commentary and fierce public judgement after her role in the breakdown of Lachie and Jules Neale's marriage came to light.

But sitting down with me now, Tess says there is another side to the scandal.

• For the first time, Tess answers it all in an explosive interview with Daily Mail's The Debrief with Savanna Young. Watch the full exclusive when it drops this Thursday at 4pm on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

When I sat down with Tess for her first-ever interview since the drama erupted last December, she told me the story millions think they know is only part of the picture.

According to Tess, the deepest wound wasn't the online abuse, the media scrutiny or becoming public enemy number one.

It was the betrayal she claims happened behind the scenes.

When Jules publicly announced her split and told followers she had been 'betrayed' by Lachie 'in the most unimaginable way', Tess says she immediately knew the situation was about to explode.

Her blunt statement made it clear there had been infidelity on her husband's part. The only question remaining was: 'With whom?' 

Tess tells me that her reaction to Jules' Instagram Story was a sinking feeling of, 'Okay, I think this is going to go public now.'

From there, the scandal spiralled out of control. 

Jules soon doubled down by pointing the finger at Tess directly, commenting below one of her photos showing Tess and Lachie together: 'Take these down, you idiot. You're embarrassing yourself.'

It was a gut punch. Up until that point, Tess believed that everyone involved had privately agreed to keep the fallout away from public view.

'I thought we sort of made the unanimous decision not to make any comments publicly at all,' she says. Whatever understanding they had didn't last.

While Tess is unequivocal that she regrets her actions and takes responsibility for the hurt caused, she also feels like she was blindsided by the drama being made public so suddenly. 

Not only does she feel betrayed by Jules for making the scandal public in the first place, but she also accuses her of briefing reporters off the record afterwards. 

'Only a couple of months ago, I also learned that somebody from the parties was sending private information to the journalists,' Tess tells me.

'And that was really hard. I'd been staying silent out of respect.

'There's so much more to this story that people don't know, but I'm not going to bring others down just to make myself look better either.'

Heading into my interview with Tess, I made it clear I didn't condone her actions. But I firmly believe my job as a journalist is about hearing all sides of a story.

This, I feel, is particularly important when someone has spent more than a year being publicly defined by a single, regrettable chapter of their life.

Throughout our conversation, Tess does not shy away from taking accountability. She did what she did. Yet she admits to feeling that, in a way, she was the one who was betrayed, after details began appearing in the media that could only have come from someone deeply embedded in the scandal - namely Jules. 

'It almost did feel like a betrayal,' she says, 'hearing that people who wanted to keep things quiet weren't keeping things quiet by doing things anonymously.'

At the height of the media storm, Tess struggled to understand why she became the face of the affair while other involved parties were shielded from the same scrutiny.

'I always was thinking, "Why is there so much about me?"' she says. 'I'm a nobody.'

What was Tess really thinking when Jules went scorched earth on Instagram? How did she respond behind closed doors? Did she see it coming?

And why does she believe the public still doesn't know the full story?

For the first time, Tess answers it all in an explosive interview with Daily Mail's The Debrief with Savanna Young. Watch the full exclusive when it drops this Thursday at 4pm.