Israel Folau says his ongoing employment dispute has been "extremely hard" on wife Maria, the ex-Wallaby praising her for "staying strong".
Appearing on Sky News Australia in an interview on Thursday, Folau spoke out about the challenges the pair have faced since his controversial social media post in April that said homosexuals, along with other sinners, would go to hell, unless they repented.
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Maria Folau, who is currently in camp with the Silver Ferns netball team, has been slammed by pundits for publicly supporting her husband's attempt to use a crowdfunding website to finance his legal battle against Rugby Australia.
Her actions saw major sponsor ANZ issue a statement saying it didn't support Folau's views.
"It's been a very tough time for myself, Maria and our families... but we are holding up really strong from the support,' Folau said in the interview with Alan Jones and Peta Credlin.
"She has been dragged into this situation unexpectedly and it's been very frustrating for her.
"I'm very lucky she is a strong woman. She is the same as me, convicted by her faith.
"She is continuing to march on and stay strong."
The sacked Wallabies player is hoping for an apology from Rugby Australia, when he meets with officials at the Fair Work Commission on Friday.
"I'm hopeful for an apology from them and admission that they were wrong. That would be something that I would like to get."
The 30-year-old also said Rugby Australia offered him money to remove the post that caused the issue, but he declined to do so.
However, Rugby Australia has refuted those claims.
"I couldn't do that, as a person that's convicted by my faith. I couldn't live with that.
"I felt like I was backed into a corner, into a boundary where I had to agree to what they were asking, but in the end, I couldn't do it, because my faith to me is what's most important.
"It certainly comes from a place of love and it's nothing personal."
Folau's personal GoFundMe page was pulled down the page on Monday - where Folau had raised more than AU$750,000 forwards the AU$3m needed.
But the Australian Christian Lobby responded by setting up its own campaign for Folau and 'religious freedom', raising $2 million in less than 48 hours, before putting the campaign on pause.
Newshub.
