The agonising truth about the mother who abandoned Reece Walsh: I've spoken to women who know her desperate story. Yes, it's easy to judge but the reality is beyond heartbreaking

7 hours ago 14

I won't pretend to be a die-hard NRL fan.

Frankly, I don't really understand the game, barely recognise the players, and only ever backed the Sydney Roosters because Bondi was home for two decades.

Now that I live in Melbourne, I was surprised to learn they even had an NRL team. (Safe to say I won’t be invited to any corporate boxes at AAMI Park...)

But when I saw Reece Walsh, eyes brimming with tears after leading the Brisbane Broncos in last weekend's NRL Grand Final, I felt a lump rise in my throat.

But not for the reasons you might think.

I've always liked Walsh; despite my indifference to rugby league, the Broncos fullback - whose name is known even to those who barely follow the game - has long held a soft spot in my heart.

Broncos fullback Reece Walsh is devoted to his daughter Leila (pictured together after Origin game 3 in July 2024). However, his relationship with his own mother is strained

Reece's biological mother, Kahuti Campbell, walked out on their family when he was two

Reece reunited with his ex-partner Freda Puru, with whom he shares daughter Leila, four, after the Broncos' stunning NRL Grand Final victory

It's not because he's good with a ball or easy on the eye. Nor is it because he's clearly a devoted dad to his four-year-old daughter, Leila, often spotted cheering him on from the sidelines.

It's because I know the story behind his tears - the pain Reece, now 23, has carried since childhood: losing his mother, Kahuti Campbell, to drug addiction.

In the days following the Grand Final - where the Broncos clinched a thrilling 26–22 win over the Melbourne Storm - Reece's father Rodney gave a candid interview to The Courier Mail. His words stirred something deep within me.

Rodney revealed that Reece's biological mother, Kahuti, had walked out on him and his two older brothers, Tyson, now 29, and Zac, 31.

'She just went out one day and never came home,' he said. Reece was only two.

And while Rodney went on to meet and marry Jodie - who became the boys' 'new mum' - the scars of their mother's abandonment cut deep, with Reece saying himself that he knew she was on drugs.

'I wouldn't say I have given up on her, but for a long time I would think, "Where is she? When is she going to come and see me again?"'

Reece didn't see his mother for 12 years. Can you imagine that pain? Forever waiting and wondering, the feeling of being unloved, unwanted and uncared for by the one person who is supposed to love you more than anyone else in the world.

Reece (pictured during his childhood) didn't see his mother for 12 years after she fell down a hole of drug addiction. 'Being on drugs, Mum probably didn't know what she was saying half the time,' he would later say

Reece's father Rodney Walsh (circled, left) is pictured with his superstar son (circled, right) and other family members

Reece raised his boys alone until he found love again with wife Jodie (pictured together)

As a mother, I could easily go down the path of judgement. Yes, marriages end - but what kind of woman walks out on her young children?

But I don't judge - because I understand addiction.

I've met many women like Kahuti. I've watched them sit quietly at the back of recovery meetings, weeping on plastic chairs, clutching tear-soaked tissues and drowning in shame. Women who never stopped loving their children, but were consumed by a disease that stole everything: their sanity, their health, their families.

So I urge you - set aside the fury and judgement towards a woman who walked out on her little boys, and hear me out.

Addiction isn't a choice. It's not the selfish act of a person who wakes up one day and decides to set fire to their lives, taking others down in the flames.

It begins with a glass of wine to unwind after a tough day, a line or two to feel alive again, a pill to silence the noise in your head - until one day, it's no longer a choice.

It becomes the thing you can't live without.

I don't claim to know Kahuti's personal story beyond what Rodney and Reece have shared publicly - but I know the stories of many women just like her.

Their addictions aren't glamorous - not like the designer-clad eastern suburbs types I routinely skewer, preaching wellness by day and snorting lines in restaurant bathrooms by night.

Instead, they live week to week, estranged from their families, clinging to the hope that, one day, their grown-up children might answer the phone.

Without exception, every mother I've met in recovery speaks of her estranged children with a heartbreaking mix of love, regret and hope.

I've seen them wail with shame and self-loathing over the milestones they've missed, the years of memories that they've snorted, smoked or injected away.

I beg you - see these women not as bad mothers, but as broken ones.

I met Sarah (not her real name), a 45-year-old mother of two who once ran a small suburban gym. She began drinking white wine to dull the loneliness after her husband left her for her best friend.

Within a year, the wine gave way to vodka, then to cocaine - and by the time her teenage son was begging her daily to stop, addiction had become a noose around her neck.

'I've met many women like Kahuti. I've watched them sit quietly at the back of recovery meetings, weeping on plastic chairs, clutching tear-soaked tissues and drowning in shame,' writes Amanda Goff

Her ex took their son, and while she has now been clean for over a year, the boy still won't see her. The hurt runs too deep.

Then there is Janelle (again, not her real name), who turned to painkillers after losing her baby to SIDS. Her daughter begged her to stop, but eventually left to live with friends. Janelle later got into rehab, but her daughter won't have anything to do with her.

I’ve heard countless stories like these - because addiction is far more common than most realise. So many women (and men) struggle in silence, weighed down by regret and self-hate, even years after they've stopped drinking or using.

I've faced my own struggles during a dark chapter of my life. It took hard work - and the support of those I love - to pull through. I know how lucky I am to have made it out. Many women don't have that privilege, or the help I did.

And that's why Reece Walsh's story hits me so hard.

Because for every child who has been abandoned by a parent due to addiction, there's a mum or dad sitting in a recovery meeting, a rehab centre, or tragically even on a park bench, wishing they could turn back time and do things differently.

I don't know if Kahuti saw her son lift up the trophy that Sunday night. If she did, I imagine it would have been with a heartbreaking blend of pride and searing pain.

Behind every addict - every 'bad mother' or 'terrible father' - is a parent battling demons that have torn their life apart. I hear their stories time and time again.

It seems that with age, Reece now understands that his mother was struggling with addiction and never meant to hurt him.

In June 2021, Reece said, 'She would float in and try and act like she would be there for me for a bit, then she would go off and do her own things and I wouldn't see her for ages...

'Now that I have grown up, it makes a bit more sense. Being on drugs, Mum probably didn't know what she was saying half the time.'

If he can find compassion for the woman who walked out before his third birthday, surely you can too.