Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales has been candid concerning the errors of his previous — even placing them down on paper for the world to dissect.
Dave, 44, and his spouse, Lizzy Canales, coauthored a ebook titled “This Marriage? The Query That Modified Every part,” revealed in 2022.
“I used to be dwelling a secret life,” Dave wrote, admitting that he would usually lie about his marital standing when out in public.
“I might be out with my buddies and take my ring off, performing like I used to be single relying on who was round,” Dave continued. “This didn’t occur on a regular basis, however I left a crack within the door for deceit.”
Dave was additionally candid about his historical past of infidelity, which he mentioned began shortly earlier than the couple walked down the aisle in 2006.
“I cheated on Lizzy for the primary time at my bachelor occasion one month earlier than we acquired married,” he wrote. “From the beginning of our relationship, I used to be binge ingesting and going out with my buddies, with out Lizzy. Earlier than I used to be ever untrue to her, I used to be already there in my thoughts. Unhealthy habits mixed with dependancy made it onerous for me to withstand temptation.”
Dave added, “Irrespective of how onerous I attempted by going to church, studying my Bible and praying. I at all times had a secret, darkish place that was simply mine.”
The soccer coach confessed to his spouse at a wedding convention. Lizzy recalled asking Dave a particular query about his infidelity.
“I’ve one thing onerous to ask you,” she wrote within the ebook. “Was any of your sexual exercise unprotected?”
“Sure,” Dave remembered answering. “Lizzy, I’m so sorry.”
After confessing, Dave and Lizzy each took STD assessments, which each got here again destructive. Shortly after, Lizzy discovered she was pregnant. (Dave and Lizzy share 4 kids: Ashby, Ben, Bea and Amaya.)
Lizzy needed specifics about Dave’s dishonest, together with the ladies he slept with.
“She nailed each occasion,” he mentioned. “I advised her what occurred and with whom. A few of the girls I used to be concerned with had been near dwelling and a few far-off. I advised her the darkest and ugliest secrets and techniques of my life — some so darkish I don’t need a single different particular person to know.”
Dave added, “Lizzy known as out our damaged marriage and I made some fairly darkish confessions,” Dave wrote. “I wanted to cease pursuing intercourse outdoors of my marriage and I wanted to cease ingesting as a lot as I used to be. … An enormous half within the severed intimacy that I used to be experiencing with Lizzy was as a result of I used to be hooked on pornography. It was like a gateway drug for me, creating pathways in my mind that allowed me to make use of intercourse coldly for my very own profit.”
The couple determined to get brutally trustworthy about their relationship within the hopes of serving to different relationships in related peril.
“We needed to actually take into consideration how uncovered we might be as a pair who already existed in a really public occupation,” Dave wrote within the ebook’s preface. “Sharing our scars meant being keen to inform individuals the reality of how our marriage failed.”

