With legal bills mounting, former cricket star Chris Cairns, 44, is out working for his family ... any work.
He is driving a council truck and water-blasting bus shelters around Auckland for $17 an hour, his best friend, Dion Nash, told The Diary.
"He's trying really hard and supporting his family the best way he can. He's not moping around, he's showing guts and doing hard work by cleaning bus shelters. All I can do is support him, but as a friend it is really hard to watch his name being dragged through the mud with no conclusion in sight. He's a champion guy and he will come through this stronger," Nash said.
The manual labour is a far cry from the glitz and glamour of Dubai where the former high-flying Black Cap worked in 2010 as a diamond trader, using his skills to purchase the 3.2 carat rock with which he proposed to his third wife, Mel Croser.
This week, the mother-of-two told a women's magazine that her husband had resorted to taking the cleaning contract because "he has no choice, he has to provide for his family ... We have bills to pay like everyone else. We don't own a house, we're paying rent like many other people and getting by is a struggle".
Cairns and his 34-year-old wife, who works fulltime in a project management role, live in exclusive Herne Bay, Auckland's most expensive suburb, where neighbours include Karl Urban, David Cunliffe and best friend Nash.
The father-of-four has steadfastly denied all cheating claims and patiently awaits resolution to the official investigation.
On Friday night, at a Britomart hotspot where newsreader Wendy Petrie was holding court, The Diary observed Cairns at the bar.
He bowed out graciously, apparently after hearing some taunts and mockery from other patrons.
His best friend says he knows he'll just have to cop it until his name is cleared.
"I'm sure he feels like an outcast, and people don't make things easy for him," said Nash.
"But does he go someplace where no one knows him? Until he proves his innocence he just has to soak it up and work hard."
