Shane Warne’s ex-wife Simone Callahan reveals the gut-wrenching moment she knew cricket legend was gone
Simone Callahan has broken her silence on the devastating moment she learned cricket legend Shane Warne had died.
Speaking with raw honesty on her son Jackson’s podcast Warnes Way, Simone recalled the surreal horror of that night in March 2022 when Warne died suddenly of a heart attack in Thailand, aged 52.
Simone, who lives in the seaside town of Somers, an hour outside Melbourne, was on her way home to pick up her daughter Summer when the messages started coming.
‘It didn’t feel real,’ he told Jackson.
‘We were having a normal Friday night. Then it all went down like this and I had to go back to Melbourne to pick up Summer and get a phone call on the way back.
I said, ‘Are you close to home? When I got that text I thought if they were asking me if I was home with Summer, that wasn’t good because they wanted us to be all together on the next phone call. In that moment our lives changed forever.’
Simone Callahan breaks her silence on the devastating moment she learned cricket legend Shane Warne had died
Speaking with raw honesty on her son Jackson’s podcast, Warnes Way, Simone recalled the surreal horror of that night in March 2022, when Warne died suddenly of a heart attack in Thailand at the age of 52.
In the chaotic weeks that followed, as the world mourned the death of one of Australia’s greatest sporting icons, Simone watched as her children – Brooke, Jackson and Summer – barely able to cope with their own grief, were thrust into the eye of the storm, tasked with organizing a funeral and memorial service.
He admits that much of that period remains a blur.
“A lot has happened because I was worried about you because you’re being pulled left, right and center to organize the funeral and the memorial service,” he told Jackson.
‘There was so much going on… I always felt guilty that you had to deal with this.
‘You were young, this was out of my control. It was hard for me to see all this.
‘I was so proud of the way you handled yourself and I knew you would do it, but it was so hard for me to watch and see you go through all of this.
‘It was really heavy and your hearts were really heavy and you didn’t even have a moment to truly grieve during that time.’
For Jackson, what kept him upright in the darkest days was the thought of making his father proud. But even though four years have passed, the tears have not fully flowed.
Shane Warne, known as the king of Spin, tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 52 on March 4, 2022, while staying in a luxury villa on the Thai resort island of Koh Samui. Pictured: A throwback photo with Shane Warne and his children Jackson, Brooke and Summer
Simone photographed with Brooke and Jackson
‘I felt a sense of duty because I knew my father would want me to do this,’ he said.
‘You are not a person who cries much, and my father is not a person who cries much either. I haven’t cried that much yet… some people say it’s years later or two or three years later or whatever.’
Warne shared three children with ex-wife Simone Callahan: Brooke, Jackson, and Summer.
Warne is regarded as one of the best cricketers in history after taking 708 Test wickets at 25.41 in 145 matches between 1992 and 2007.
The megastar cricketer turned pundit and businessman was found unconscious in a villa in the Koh Samui resort.
