Most of us can recall a moment in our romantic lives when we had the wind knocked out of us. That emotional jab to the midsection that leaves you feeling physically ill. For me, it was seeing pictures of a long-term partner, just weeks after our separation, laughing wildly with a bikini-clad young woman on his lap. The images popped up in my Facebook feed out of nowhere and literally floored me.
It was that low moment, and the sick, sinking feeling that accompanied it, that came back to me as I watched our former deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, discuss his extramarital affair on national TV, complete with his young lover and their newborn son. Like many, my thoughts went straight to his estranged wife, Natalie, who I knew…
