reality tv

NRL WAG Arabella Del Busso is having a horrible time in prison.

Former reality TV star and NRL WAG Arabella Del Busso is having a horrible time in prison.

She's been behind bars for two months for stealing from a former employer. 

Appearing in court this week, she told the judge she feels "broken, defeated and helpless" after being threatened and targeted multiple times by other inmates. 

"Every day I feel such anxiety and fear about how I will just get through the day," she wrote in an affidavit.

The boxer and model was sentenced to 20 months in prison with a non-parole period of 12 months at the Sutherland Local Court earlier this year, after admitting to two charges of stealing as an employee.

She had been a receptionist at Integrated Specialist Medical Care (formally Rheumatology Specialist Care) in 2019 when bosses discovered she had pocketed $52,000.

Watch: Josh Reynolds And Arabella Del Busso 60 Minutes. Post continues below video.


Video via Nine.

Channel 7 reported she took over banking responsibilities for the company's two practices, in Kogarah and Randwick, when the manager was on holiday from late December 2019 until the beginning of February 2020.

Upon return, the manager realised the finances did not add up and ordered a full audit, revealing $35,785 was missing from the Kogarah accounts and $16,565 from Randwick.

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Del Busso was eligible for release in February 2025, but on Wednesday Judge John Pickering slashed her sentence to just five months on appeal.

As NCA Newswire reports, he took into consideration the fraudster’s mental health conditions and lack of criminal history, finding she was unlikely to reoffend. 

Del Busso's lawyer told the judge her client had been subjected to additional punishment because of the media coverage of her crime, and the "dredging up" of past embarrassments in articles. 

"I am conscious every day in jail is difficult, as I’m sure it has been for the appellant. But she put herself in that position," said Judge Pickering, pointing out that Del Busso actively sought out media coverage, and no one forced her to go on reality TV show SAS Australia.

Del Busso rose to fame during her high-profile relationship with former NRL player Josh Reynolds, during which she faked three miscarriages. She appeared on SAS Australia in 2020.

"Just because someone applies to be part of a television show … doesn’t mean they’re inviting everyone to tear every aspect of their lives apart," her lawyer retorted.

"The reality is that these are dishonesty offences and there are aspects of (Del Busso’s) prior history that involve dishonesty so there is a linkage in some respects," Judge Pickering said. 

She will be released from jail in July without any parole.

What happened between Josh Reynolds and Arabella Del Busso?

Reynolds and Del Busso, whose real name is Donna Preusker, met in 2018, and their relationship began after Del Busso claimed she was pregnant with twins following their one-night stand.

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She said she was looking forward to becoming a mother, and the couple even had a gender reveal party.

But, as Reynolds later explained to 60 Minutes, he felt things quickly turned a "bit fishy".

Reynolds also said he wanted to meet Del Busso’s obstetrician, but each time he requested to, she "shut it down". 60 Minutes found the obstetrician and discovered Del Busso had sought an ultrasound scan in November 2018. However, it was not because she was pregnant. She had told the obstetrician it was because she wanted to be an egg donor.

In January 2019, Del Busso told Reynolds she had miscarried.

"At that stage, I was so into this whole relationship, baby thing, that I was hurting so much. It broke me," Reynolds said.

Soon after in March, Del Busso told him she was pregnant again, but just weeks later she miscarried again.

In June, Del Busso announced her third pregnancy – twins, again – and the couple were once again over the moon.

Then Reynolds showed his friends Del Busso’s 12-week scan, and their reaction was not what he expected: They told him it looked to be fake.

"The scans she sent me were off," he said.

Del Busso admitted to showing him a fake ultrasound to be "spiteful".

Soon after their ultrasound argument, Del Busso told Reynolds her mother had died. 

Then came even more bad news: Del Busso told Reynolds she had a condition called placenta accreta, a serious pregnancy condition that occurs when the placenta grows too deeply into the uterine wall. She told him she could die from the condition.

The penny dropped when Reynolds visited Del Busso's supposed obstetrician, who said he had received no information from her.

"Is faking pregnancies normal? Is faking your mum's death normal? Making me go through all that. Is it? I would love an answer from her," Reynolds told 60 Minutes.

After they split, Del Busso took footage showing Reynolds verbally abusing her to police.

Former NRL player Reynolds was charged and later acquitted of domestic violence.

The media reports around his arrest led to 10 different men reaching out to him to claim they had been duped by Del Busso, under various pseudonyms. She had allegedly told them lies such as she had brain cancer, cervical cancer and her mother dying.

In 2018, one ex successfully sued her for fraud and obtaining money by deception, 60 Minutes reported.

Arabella Del Busso on SAS Australia.

Del Busso appeared on the 2020 season of SAS Australia. Channel 7 received backlash for casting her, as Del Busso's only notoriety at the time was due to her relationship breakdown with Reynolds.

During the series, she referred to her 'little white lies'.

"I have told a lie but the way that I see it a little white lie here or there is not going to hurt anyone," she told the show's directing staff.

"I'm sure we all do it, I'm honestly not the only person in the whole of Australia that has told a little white lie here or there. People will judge me no matter what but they haven't lived my life, they don't know the extent of things that I've been through."

She chose to leave the show the morning after her interrogation.

Feature image: Instagram.

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