Shane Warne's son Jackson reveals his dad's final message: 'Clearly remember'

Shane Warne's son Jackson has spoken for the first time about the moment he found out he lost his father and the final message he received from him.

Jackson appeared on Ant Middleton's podcast Head Game, where he shared the heartbreaking details of the last year and a half since Shane's passing of a suspected heart attack at the age of 52 in March 2022.

Ant, who first met Jackson when he appeared on SAS Australia in 2020, asked him if he remembered the moment he found out his dad had died, with the poker player saying he doesn't think he'll ever be able to forget it.

"Definitely, I don't think I'll ever be able to probably forget where I was or what I was doing," Jackson shared. "Because all you get is a phone call. And then when you hang up the phone call, your life that you've been living, your entire life, everything you ever knew sort of was like this just gets whooshed [flips hand upside down], just completely flipped upside down."

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He continued, "Because you're like, hang on, who am I going to ask for advice now? Well, hang on, you’re telling me I can never see him ever again. Oh, hang on, hang on. Your mind does 100 million thoughts an hour, and you're like, what? Like you're just in complete shock that after you have all these thoughts, and you let the tears out, that you just sit in silence."

Jackson shared that he was with his girlfriend, his sister Brooke and her partner, and his mum Simone Callahan when they got the call, saying they "just sat in silence for hours".

"But I can still very vividly remember, you know, seeing my phone and who was calling I'm like well hang on, he's with my dad, very weird that he would be calling me and not my dad. So I answer it and then yeah, s**t, it's real," he said, saying he was in "complete shock".

Jackson added that he was "convinced" that he'll have another conversation with his dad again, telling Ant, "I'm confident I'll at least have one conversation with my dad again, like I don't know, whether it be in a dream or somewhere, I'm convinced that I'll be at least talking to him one more time, because there's no way I won't be able to talk to him about you know, poker, or St Kilda Football Club or any of our hobbies that we used to do all the time. There's no way I won't be able to talk to him about it."

He then shared what he believes was his last message from his dad, "I can tell you about a dream that might sound bizarre, but it would have been maybe two weeks or two and a half weeks after dad passed and I was driving my car, he was driving his car."

Jackson said that he and his dad used to jokingly race alongside each other when Shane was alive, but he would always lose because his dad's car was better, and he was a better driver.

"So he always beat me, all the time, all the time, and this dream I had was I was driving my car, he was driving his car, we're both looking each other left and right and driving and driving. And then all of a sudden, our cars merged, and I was in the driver's seat of his car, and then I looked to my left, and he wasn't there. And then I woke up, and I can really vividly remember that dream. Everything about it, I can remember.

"And I sort of looked at that as he was sort of giving me the permission to be in charge. Now he’s like Jackson, 'I'm giving you the driver's seat. You're the one that's you know, going to be making the tough decisions. Now you're the one that has to step up for the family. I'm not here anymore, you have to be,' and I can really, really clearly remember that dream. And I don't think it was a dream. It sounds crazy, but I don't think it was a dream. I think it was, you know, Dad sort of given me a sign of saying, 'You're the boss now. You're in charge.'"

Jackson described his dad as his best friend, who "really, really, really loved his kids" and "was the best dad I could have ever asked for".

Ant shares message from Shane about Jackson

After Jackson's time on SAS Australia, Shane and Ant became friends, with the Brit telling Jackson, "I was privileged enough to strike up a couple of year relationship with your dad."

He then shared a text exchange between himself and Shane, saying, "This is how it all started. 'Hello Antony, I hope you don't mind me dropping you a message and saying hi. We’re loving SAS Australia and what you and your team have done for my son Jackson. He absolutely loved it. Very, very proud of him for having a crack at the show. Cheers, and sorry to take up your time, Shane.'

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"And I put, 'Hey, Shane, you can reach out anytime, no worries. Out of all the recruits, your son developed and grew the most, literally in front of my eyes. It's the very reward that keeps me doing what I do. Hopefully, we've given him some tools to use to help him realise his potential, and if he should work with them, it could be off the scale.

"'We have been commissioned a second series, so when I'm over next time, we should all catch up over some good food and a couple of beers. Regards to the family, stay positive and enjoy the rest of the show.' He put, 'That's fantastic mate! And thank you... I am indeed so proud of him for having a crack and putting himself in that position to be judged and out of his comfort zone. Too hard for me mate hahaha. And yet they've already asked me, but you're too brutal.'"

Speaking about his final phone call with his father, Jackson shared, "The last phone call I had with him was him saying, 'I’m so proud of you, I love you so much.'"

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