Out netball star Ash Brazill says Israel Folau’s wife congratulated her on her wedding day
International netball star Maria Folau congratulated Ash Brazill's wedding to Brooke Grieves in 2016
By Steve Brown
Israel Folau’s wife, Maria Folau, congratulated a same-sex wedding despite her husband’s anti-gay stance.
Last year, the devout Christian rugby player caused outrage after posting a series of homophobic Instagram posts and his anti-gay tirade did not stop and this year, he posted an image saying that gay people will go straight to Hell.
Following this particular post, Rugby Australia suspended the Wallabies star for his homophobic and disgusted comments.
But it seems that his wife, netball star Maria Folau does not hold the same homophobic stance as her husband.
When out netballer Ash Brazill married her partner Brooke Grieves, Maria reportedly sent a message congratulating the pair and ‘liked’ all the social media posts.
While speaking to The Saturday Paper, Brazill said: “I can only talk about the way Maria’s been with me and she’s always been lovely.
“When Brooke and I got married I got a message off her saying congratulations, and she liked all the [social media] posts.”
Brazill also went on to say how it would have ‘broken’ her if her idol, Australia’s most-capped netballer Liz Ellis, was posting the same homophobic comments that Israel does.
She said: “I think about how I would have felt as a 17 year old if my idol had written that. It would have broken me.
“I think we are very fortunate to be able to use our public profiles to put out messages and it’s disappointing when people use that in a negative way.”