Gladys Berejiklian wasn't the only person wincing when she faced the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Monday as details of her private life were exposed to the world.
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You'd have a heart of stone if you didn't feel a flicker of discomfort at the way this very private person had the lid lifted on a relationship she'd had with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire.
There'd hardly be anyone who hadn't at some stage of their life been involved in a relationship with someone who was not who they made themselves out to be.
And so what some may have thought damaging in the extreme to the NSW Premier might just end up working in her favour. After all, most of us can relate to being dudded at one time or another in our love life.
Suddenly on Monday we saw the human face of our Premier, who has been so busy dealing with multiple crises this year she sometimes seems machine-like.
Whether or not there is any kind of smoking gun or wrongdoing evident in the testimony she gave the ICAC on Monday will be determined by the commission.
What can't be denied, however, is that at her press conference after the hearing Ms Berejiklian handled herself with grace, dignity and purpose. Straight up, she said it had been the toughest day of her life. She admitted she had made mistakes in her personal life, said how difficult it was for such a private person having all that out on display.
Most importantly, she said she had no intention of resigning. She had not been accused of doing anything wrong.
Politicians will debate the Premier's fitness for office over the weeks to come. Mud will be slung, angry words will be yelled across the floor of the legislative assembly. We only hope that it doesn't distract our lawmakers from the critical issues facing them right now: COVID and its associated recession.
Gladys Berejiklian has shown through this most challenging year, an energy and determination that would be the undoing of most mortals. Like her Victorian counterpart she has fronted the cameras every single day to keep the population informed, scolding at times but always rock steady. She has not taken a single day's leave all year.
It would be tragic beyond measure if the good achieved in her public life was undone by a lapse of judgment in her private life.