MELBOURNE, June 18: Shane Warne’s former wife has changed her name and moved out of the family home in a bid to put her troubled relationship with the Australian spin wizard behind her.

Simone Warne told Australian gossip magazine New Idea that from now on she would be known as Simone Callahan, saying she needed ‘closure’ from her failed marriage to Warne, which produced three children.

“It's my name. It's my identity and it is symbolic to me that I'm my own person,” she said in an interview to be published on Monday.

“This is who I am, not who I was.”

The couple split last year after she lost patience with Warne when British tabloids reported details of his alleged infidelities on Australia's Ashes tour of England.

It was the latest in a series of scandals involving the world’s leading Test wicket taker, including accusations that he bombarded women he met in nightclubs with lewd text messages.

Earlier this year, Warne said he had been ‘an idiot’ and put the extra-marital escapades down to the loneliness of being on the road touring for months at a time with the Australian cricket team.

He also described Simone as the love of his life and said they remained ‘like brother and sister’ even though they were in the midst of a divorce.

However, Simone said she had not consulted Warne about changing her name and moving out of the luxury home they built together in Melbourne.

“I haven't spoken to Shane about it but, to be honest, his opinion doesn't really matter to me anymore,” she said.

The ex-model has become a minor television celebrity since her split with Warne, appearing on a reality television show called ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Meanwhile, Britain's tabloids continue to revel in Warne's sex life, with the News of the World last month reporting he had romped with two models and a blow-up doll.

“Shane's a stallion and very willing to experiment,” model Emma Kearney told the newspaper. “He loved playing around with the inflatable and was up for anything.”—AFP