REX Hunt yesterday told of his shame and sorrow after revealing to his family that he paid women for sex.
Hunt's guide to life
"It was an arrangement for money for sexual favours and as far as I'm concerned that was it," he told the Herald Sun.
"I am deeply ashamed and sorry that I have hurt my wife and children and close friends.
"The fact is, Lynne and I love each other very, very much . . . and I stuffed up. The buck stops with me."
Melbourne's top football broadcaster sat with his wife of 34 years and told the Herald Sun of the sex-for-money "arrangements" involving three women going back to the early 1990s.
"For private reasons between Lynne and I, I was desperate for physical contact," he said.
"I'm a man. I'm a family man. You reckon I'm proud of this? No, I'm not.
"You reckon I love my wife? Yes, I do."
Of the most recent arrangement, involving a Melbourne beautician, Hunt said: "I had a confidential arrangement with a woman whereby I paid her money in exchange for sexual favours."
He said he had agreed to end the relationship, which started in 1997, with a cash payment to protect Lynne.
Hunt, a former police officer, would not reveal how much, but the Herald Sun believes it was $50,000 cash.
"I paid money thinking that I would get confidentiality so that I could protect my wife from my wrongdoings," he said.
"The arrangement was mutually and satisfactorily finalised between my wife and myself with the woman 14 months ago.
"The finalisation included a confidentiality clause and a final payment to say that the arrangement is over.
"I signed that agreement through my stupidity, on the love of my wife and children."
Hunt said he thought then that he and Lynne had "dealt with this problem and moved on".
But rumours have been circulating about Hunt's activities, and in response to an investigation by the Herald Sun he decided to confirm he had led a secret life.
Hunt declined to discuss details, but sources told the Herald Sun he secretly communicated with the beautician in code.
His name for her was "Weather", and she called him "Uncle".
It is believed Lynne found out about Hunt's sexual encounters after she discovered the woman's name and mobile phone number in one of his telephone listings.
The entry referred to "Weather".
The arrangement ended early last year with the payment of cash handed over by Hunt's personal assistant Tim McLean, a former police colleague.
The Herald Sun has learned that until then Hunt had been paying her about $1000 a week for sex.
He said yesterday the three women he had sex with over the years were not prostitutes, "but were desperate for money".
Hunt has constantly declared his fidelity to Lynne.
: His public claims have been accompanied by lines such as: "I've known (Lynne) for 30 years and for 30 years I haven't had to get out of bed and go home." He has also been publicly critical of those, including his friends, he accuses of sexual immorality.
But yesterday, Hunt said his attacks were just "theatre".
"I make my living out of verbal diarrhoea," he said.
Hunt said Lynne knew about the payment to the beautician.
"We paid a certain amount of money because the arrangement ended so quickly.
"And we signed a confidentiality arrangement, which I'm not prepared to elaborate on because I've signed it.
"The payment had nothing to do with her silence. The payment was (to signify) that this is it, the business agreement is over, we want to move on.
"Lynne and I are in this together."
But he said their two children were opposed to the payment.
He said as part of the agreement, the woman had to "surrender all pieces of paper with handwritten notes on them, unsigned".
She also handed over a tape he claimed was "illegally taped of me in a private conversation but not identifying myself".
Asked if there had been other women, Hunt replied: "A long, long time ago, before this. (It was the) same situation of money being paid for sexual favours."
Were those women prostitutes? "No, not to my knowledge. Never, never any prostitutes," Hunt said.
"I'm sure the women would not want any of this to come out, but they were desperate for money.
"I was introduced to both of them, one way back in the early '90s and one in the mid-'90s.
"And then in 1997-1998 this relationship with this woman, who I paid a substantial amount of money, started.
"There have been three women, and never have prostitutes been involved.
"If it's the case that they were, then I was totally unaware of it -- because the arrangement that I made was not with a prostitute. It was with three women who were desperate for money.
"And for private reasons between Lynne and I, I was desperate for physical contact."
Hunt, who is also an international fishing identity and multi-millionaire businessman, said he could see how some people would regard the sexual arrangements as "unsavoury".
"This is about the love of two people and the bloke who f---ed up," he said.
"Did I commit a crime? No.
"Did I commit a moral atrocity? My bloody oath I did.
"But I've always faced the problems that I've had. And we're not bad people.
"I'm a bad person. My wife is the most beautiful person and I won't hurt her any more. This has come back to haunt us."
Hunt said the experience had drawn him and his wife together.
"Because we're going to walk down the street and we're going to just wave to everybody and say, 'Thank you very much. I stuffed up -- this is the reason I'm still on this planet.'
"Because you know what? Everyone makes mistakes.
"I made a mistake. Am I the first one that's ever made a mistake? I don't think so."
Hunt also spoke of the dark times of his wife's battle with bi-polar depression.
"I tell you what, I sit there when my wife is at her lowest.
"I cuddle her and I stop her from crying and I bloody well look after her.
"And when she's well, I get out there to the Brownlow (medal count) and we are fantastic.
"We'll wear this and we'll go on. You know why? Because the strength of the Hunt family will ensure the sun comes up tomorrow, and the next day.
"And we just move on."
Hunt met Lynne in 1968, when she was 18. He was 19 and about to start his second season with the Tigers. They married four years later.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,19161632%255E2862,00.html
