Kelly Landry vowed to her closest girlfriends that she would not see in 2017 remaining in an unhappy marriage, despite her now estranged husband, one of Sydney's richest men, businessman Anthony Bell, warning her of the "dire consequences" that would follow.
"He warned her exactly how it would play out if she went ahead with it, and everything he said has come true," PS was told on Thursday.
As for any jealousy Landry was accused of harbouring over her husband's friendship with Channel Nine personality and Sydney to Hobart crewmate Erin Molan, PS has confirmed that Landry did confront Bell about the friendship, though Bell and Molan have flatly rejected any impropriety and PS is not suggesting otherwise.
In fact, it was Landry who encouraged Bell to include Molan on his supermaxi crew when she first competed in the Sydney to Hobart the year before. In December it was Landry who took a make-up kit to Hobart for Molan to prepare herself before she fronted the media following their win.
A successful model before she met Bell, Landry became a devoted wife and mother throughout the six-year marriage, though friends admit she felt "pressured" to live up to her husband's ideal of a what a wife should be.
"They would argue if she wasn't wearing high heels," the friend told PS.
Landry's supporters say the statuesque beauty is "absolutely devastated" by what they describe as a "character assassination" she has been subjected too since details of an AVO to keep Bell away from her became public over a week ago.
"Compared to him she has no money or power ... it's Anthony with the famous friends and the resources at his fingertips, the powerful lawyers and spin doctors" PS was told, as reports surfaced elsewhere on Wednesday based on unsubstantiated claims that Landry and Bell argued after she had allegedly been drinking and accidentally banged their youngest daughter's head into a door frame when she attempted to leave the couple's $20 million Watson's Bay home.
"She had been to Catalina with friends and she had one champagne ... she is the most responsible mother I know. Nothing is made of Anthony coming in from a long lunch and being dropped off by his driver ... there seems to be a very public campaign to discredit," Landry's confidante told PS.
Indeed much of the damage was caused when Bell's solicitor, Chris Murphy, told Waverley Local Court last week that it was not his client who had the "alcohol problem" in the Bell household. Murphy also told the court the AVO, which his client agreed to without admission to avoid a "nasty court case", was based on a "pack of lies" and driven by "celebrity deprivation".
"That really hurt Kelly ... she went to the police to seek advice after she met high profile domestic violence advocate Kay Schubach, who encouraged and supported her. The police wanted her to make a statement but she didn't want into, instead they have pursued the AVO on her behalf because they believe there was sufficient reason to do so ... it is the police who are pursuing this," PS was told.
For more from Saturday's PS, click here.