Casey Donovan speaks about being catfished for six years

For six years, Casey Donovan believed she was in a relationship with a man named ‘Campbell’, only to discover her best friend Olga had been catfishing her.

And in a preview for Andrew Denton’s Interview on Friday, the 30-year-old revealed how she allowed the fake romance to continue for so long.

‘I was doing everything to prove to myself that he could be real,’ the Australian Idol winner said.   

‘I convinced myself that he was real’: Australian Idol star Casey Donovan, 30, spoke about being catfished for SIX YEARS, in a trailer for Andrew Denton’s Interview, shared on Friday

Dressed in a black top, trousers and a vibrant pink jacket, Casey got candid about her heartbreak, during a chat with the famed journalist.  

The singer-songwriter told Andrew how she created ‘this big ball of lies’ by pretending her boyfriend was real. 

In a press release shared by the Seven network on Friday, Casey said: ‘In the beginning I was like, this guy has to be real.’

Betrayal: Casey told Andrew how her best friend Olga [right] pretended to be a man named ‘Campbell’ who Casey would go on to date for six years, despite having never met 

‘And then as the months turned into years, I stupidly didn’t tell anyone that I’d never met this guy… I was just creating this big ball of lies,’ she added.   

Casey previously spoke of her heartache in her re-released memoir Big, Beautiful and Sexier last August.   

In an extract published in Sunday Life at the time, Casey explained that it was her manager Jason Williamson who prompted her to finally seek the truth.

It was after a particularly emotional performance where she came off stage and confessed to Jason that she had never seen Campbell in real life, despite years of ‘dating’.   

Fake boyfriend: Dressed in a black top, trousers and a vibrant pink jacket, the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! winner explained how she convinced herself that ‘Campbell’ was real 

Immediately, Jason had doubts of the existence of ‘Campbell’ and questioned whether he was really just Casey’s best friend Olga pretending to be him.

‘I started getting angry. Not at Jason, but at myself for being so stupid. I broke down, sobbing, the kind of sobbing that steals your breath away,’ Casey recalled of the eye-opening conversation.    

Jason informed Casey that they were going to Campbell’s house to see if he existed.

Support: In her memoir Big, Beautiful and Sexier, re-released last August, Casey revealed that it was her manager Jason Williamson who made her find out the truth once and for all 

With Jason’s partner Chris in tow, they headed to the apartments where Campbell supposedly lived, only to confirm Casey’s worst fears: her so-called ‘ boyfriend’ was not real.   

In 2014, Casey told Daily Mail Australia it had been ‘extremely difficult’ to get over the emotional trauma of the experience, but that she has now moved on.

‘That’s life, that’s moving on and growing strong as a person,’ she said. ‘Things happen, s*** happens and you can get stuck in it, or you can move forward.’ 

Moving on: Back in 2014, the songstress told Daily Mail Australia that while the betrayal has been ‘extremely difficult’ she can only ‘move forward’