Renowned anti-vaxxer footy star Bryce Cartwright and his ex-wife Shanelle have sold the luxury home they owned together for $1.2 million.
The former couple received the six-figure loot for their three-storey home in Currumbin on the Gold Coast.
They originally spent $1,295 million when they bought the house in 2018.
The sale comes just over a year after their standoff with the NRL after they refused to get a mandatory flu vaccine.
Cartwright was ousted from the league last May for refusing to vaccinate following an intervention by the Queensland government – only to be reinstated after being granted a medical exemption.
Anti-vaxxer footy star Bryce Cartwright and his ex-wife Shanelle have sold the Gold Coast luxury home they owned together
The couple made a profit on their property in Gledswood Hills near Camden in south-west Sydney, which was sold in May, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Spending $575,000 on the property in 2017, the house and land package was sold for $690,000 through My Property Consultants.
Cartwright, 26, left the Gold Coast Titans in late 2020 to take a spot with Parramatta.
The NSW resident may be happy to be out of Queensland after hitting heads with the state government over his refusal to get the flu shot.
In early 2020, the NRL put in place strict biosecurity measures to get the game going again after the Covid hit.
One of the policies was that every player would be vaccinated against the flu – but Cartwright declined on ‘pro-choice’ grounds and signed a waiver.
However, the Queensland government would not give in to the flu vaccine demand and Cartwright was resigned from the Titans.
The couple’s joint Gold Coast apartment (pictured) has been sold for $1.12 million
He then handed over a medical certificate requesting exemption and was reinstated 10 days later — with a footy commentator calling the last minute of the doctor’s note an “attempt.”
In the months following the standoff, Buzzfeed reported that Cartwright’s social media followed suit, as conversation between followers focused on the vaccine debate.
Although he has rejected the “anti-vaxxer” label – he said in a fiery social media post that he does not disagree with vaccinations, but “stands for freedom to choose what goes into our bodies.”
His ex-wife Shanelle, 22, previously revealed that she converted her then-husband to her vaccine stance after letting him read a few pages of Dr. Suzanne Humphries’ controversial book.
She said neither of the couple’s two children had been vaccinated.
Cartwright is pictured with his eldest child and ex-wife Shanelle at his wedding in 2018
Cartwright will play for Parramatta after returning to Sydney this year
‘I remember [Bryce] was so defensive when I first brought it up and got mad at me for even suggesting we shouldn’t vaccinate,” Shanelle said.
“And then he read a leaflet and a few pages of one of Dr. Suzanne Humphries’s books and saw vaccines in a different light.”
Cartwright previously revealed that the couple had received abusive messages for their stance on vaccinations.
“At some point it takes its toll. I speak to a counselor every now and then to clear my head,” he said.
The Titans let him out of his $450,000 contract early so he could return to Sydney — for a pay cut — because they were concerned for his mental well-being.
The pair then split shortly after moving to Sydney, without confirming whether their difficult year at the center of the vaccine debate had played a role.
Cartwright was one of about a dozen players to sign flu vaccination waivers.
The NRL had previously ordered all 480 players from the 16 clubs to be vaccinated before the league returns to action on May 28, 2020 after the coronavirus shut down the match in March.
Others who refused to get the shot also included Canberra players Josh Papalii, Sia Soliola, Joe Tapine, Canterbury’s Sione Katoa and the Manly trio Dylan Walker, Marty Taupau and Addin Fornua-Blake.
This content was originally published here.
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