Review of the book by Cathrine Mahoney -ex-wife of Andrew Johns- in the Australian

The ‘mid-life’ memoir of a high-profile former NRL WAG has been ripped apart in a brutal review by an author who questioned why she married a man ‘with whom she had almost nothing in common’.

Currently, Between Husbands is the recently published memoir by Cathrine Mahoney, the ex-wife of NRL Immortal Andrew Johns.

The former entertainment publicist turned podcast host and self-confessed ‘oversharer’ offers an eye-opening look at the ups and downs of her 12 years with one of Australia’s biggest stars, and recounts the details of their high-profile split.

Published by publisher Simon and Schuster, the memoir was criticized by Italian-Australian writer and singer-songwriter Antonella Gambotto-Burke in a scathing review of the book published in the australian weekend.

The UK-based writer didn’t hold back in her thoughts on the book, which she says is aimed at a middle-aged audience of “preferably disgruntled wives, ex-wives and girlfriends who define themselves by their partners.” .

Gambotto-Burke takes aim at Mahoney’s ‘ruthless superficiality’ and questions why the breakdown of their marriage was really so ‘unexpected after he entered the marriage with his eyes wide shut’.

“When she talks about Johns, it’s more in terms of what he did for her and what he accomplished rather than any particular attribute, for example, intelligence or spiritual depth,” he wrote.

She then took a photo of Mahoney’s memory of her ‘damn hard and monotonous’ maternity leave with her son while suggesting she didn’t ‘rock’ being a mother.

The piece then went on to criticize Mahoney’s concerns about his younger life as a high-flying publicist for Sony, where he asked if he “just used up all my fun coupons.”

“This love of ‘fun’ goes some way to explaining her choice to marry a man with whom she had almost nothing in common,” writes Gambotto-Burke.

He ended the scathing review by stating that the title sums up the market value of the author and his target audience.

“It also captures that purely prosecco-fueled humorous verve that these women use to mask what devaluation desperation really is, and in this sense, there are absolutely no surprises in the book: no ambiguities, no revelations, no denouements,” Gambotto . Burke wrote.

“In the end, what seems like ruthless superficiality makes Mahoney’s devaluation seem deserved.”

The scathing review was flooded with comments.

‘What a savage critic. Hit the book and the author hard. Probably quite accurately,” one reader wrote.

Another added ‘Wow! It seems that this review is more readable than the book.

Several comments were as brutal as the review itself.

‘I just wasted time I’ll never get back,’ wrote one.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted both the publisher and Ms Mahoney for comment.

A self-confessed ‘oversharer’, Mahoney says her memoir would at one point be called ‘I don’t really like cricket or blowjobs!’ before the current title ‘she saved the day and any blush’.

The book charts everything from fashion mistakes and childhood crushes growing up in Wales, to her years working with some of the world’s biggest stars at Sony Music, navigating life and love as a single mother. ‘, and agreeing to go big. 40

Mahoney was a publicist for Sony when he met the newly single Johns in 2002, after the breakup of his first marriage.

They later began dating before Johns popped the question to Mahoney during a mid-season getaway to Lord Howe Island in 2006.

The couple married in a private ceremony in 2007, just months after Johns’ rugby league career ended abruptly and prematurely due to injury.

At the time of the wedding, the Newcastle Knights premiership star had recently rocked the rugby league world by admitting to drug use, mental illness and his battle with bipolar disorder during his career.

Mahoney and Johns welcomed a son, Louis, in 2009 and briefly separated in 2011.

The couple reconciled a year later before splitting for good in 2014.

Announced as Immortal in 2012, Johns is now in a long-term relationship with yoga instructor Kate Kendall, with whom he shares daughter Alice, who is now almost four years old.

He also has a 21-year-old son from his first marriage to Renee Chapman.

Mahoney, who previously had a high-flying public relations career, now appears on two successful podcasts; one she does called ‘So I Quit My Day Job’, and one with Sarah McGilvray called ‘Not Another Parenting Podcast’.

“For me, what I loved writing about in the book is that you’ll read a lot about my meeting him, our dates, falling in love, our mishaps, our wedding – it was lovely to write about being in love with someone, because for 13 years we were madly in love the each other’, writes Mahoney in his memoirs.

Andrew wrote a book when we were together, and in it he wrote a chapter about me and I wrote a chapter about him. Our son Louis came home one day and said, “I read Dad’s book and what he wrote about you, and he said when you walk into a room, you light it up.”

“I just thought that I want, when Louis is old enough, to read that we were very much in love and that he is a boy who has separated parents but is very loved,” Mahoney said.