Speaking out after her ex-husband Anthony Stevens broke his silence on the affair that rocked the football world 13 years ago, she also said Carey ruthlessly pursued her for a relationship that she never wanted to start.

Ms Stevens told News Corp that in the days after news of their affair broke, the former Kangaroos captain begged her to leave her husband and his long-time best friend and start a new life with him.

"He rang me and said, 'Why don't we just come out and say we love each other? He even asked to speak to my parents to try and persuade them, too," Ms Stevens told News Corp. "But I felt it was all about him, because of his career."

Ms Stevens said Carey wanted to do a TV interview together but that she turned him down. "I had a young daughter," she said. "I just wanted that happy marriage back together, so he went back to Sally."

Ms Stevens said she never wanted to start the affair with Carey, as he claims, and that the former football star rang her constantly.

"He was pushing it, it wasn't mutual despite what he says," she said. "I had never felt like that before. It was exciting. No one had shown me this type of attention before.

"We both said we shouldn't keep going ahead, but we really enjoyed each other's company.

"We often told each other we loved each other."

Ms Stevens also accused Carey, 44, of lying in his autobiography that he yelled at her to leave the bathroom at the 2002 party where their affair was finally exposed. The pair were seen leaving a toilet together.

"He didn't tell me to get out of the toilet or anything like that," she told News Corp. "We were in there for two minutes at least. We were kissing, said 'love you', and went back to the party."

"I was actually just walking outside and saw him go into the toilet and without thinking just went straight in after him. It was a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing," she said.

She said the affair with Carey was a symptom of the strains on her marriage, including being married to a high profile footballer and difficulties starting a family, but admits the relationship was a mistake.

Speaking from her home in southern New South Wales, Ms Stevens labelled her ex-husband "selfish" for speaking publicly about the affair last week.

"He showed a real lack of thought. He doesn't seem to have any empathy," she said.

"It's like I've been thrown to the wolves again. It's been an emotional few days, it's like a nightmare that never stops."