After months as an open secret in Canberra, news the Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals Leader had moved in and was expecting a child with former staff member and ex-journalist Vikki Campion was today exposed.

The revelation “devastated” and “hurt” his wife of 24 years, Natalie, but it’s far from the first time Mr Joyce’s work life had led to a family crisis.

Before announcing his separation with Mrs Joyce in December, Mr Joyce had frequently spoken about his wife and family in public.

In a revealing interview published just over a year ago, he spoke about the guilt he felt as a father when he let his family take a “back seat” to his political career.

Speaking with The Weekend Australian Magazine, Mr Joyce, 50, revealed how little time he spent with his family.

His diary at the time showed only two days over the months of February and March last year that he would sleep at home in his own bed.

His four daughters, Bridgette, Julia, Caroline and Odette, all now in their teens and 20s, had suffered as a result of his career, and he described feeling “guilty” that he wasn’t always there for them.

“I hate it,” he said. “In the end they give up on you. They just don’t think you’re going to be there.”

Mrs Joyce, who was also interviewed for the piece, also commented on the toll Mr Joyce’s absence took on the family.

“Families take a back seat,” she said.

“We’re probably lucky, and maybe not so lucky in a way, that they were so young when he started so they really don’t know any different.”

The couple’s youngest, Odette, was only 18 months when Mr Joyce was first called to Canberra.

“Every time he’d come home (Odette) actually wouldn’t go near him because he hadn’t been home. It’s taken a long time to get that father-daughter rapport,” Mrs Joyce said.

Up until his most recent political fight, the Joyce women and girls had consistently rallied around the family patriarch, supporting him publicly in election campaigns.

As recently as the 2016 federal election campaign, Mr Joyce’s four daughters were photographed posing with corflutes encouraging votes for their dad, and wearing bright T-shirts with his name on them.

When Mr Joyce was campaigning to reclaim his seat of New England after being ousted in a High Court decision over his New Zealand citizenship, his daughters were nowhere to be seen.

The campaign was dogged by rumours of the now exposed relationship. Before the by-election Mr Joyce was hounded about his family situation in a New England. The heated verbal clash was understood to have ended with Mr Joyce knocking the man’s hat off his head.

His daughters were never seen campaigning for their dad and there were even vicious rumours suggesting one of the young women had discouraged voters from backing him.

His mother accompanied him as he cast his vote — not his wife who had come along for the photo opportunity in previous ballots.

Similarly, there were no wife or daughters to be seen when Mr Joyce was sworn in December after winning the vote.

After being reinstalled in parliament, Mr Joyce announced his and Mrs Joyce’s separation as he made his contribution to the debate on same-sex marriage legislation, confirming at least some of the rumours that had hounded him throughout his campaign.

“I don’t come to this debate pretending to be any form of saint, but I do believe in the current definition of marriage, which has stood the test of time,” he said.

“I acknowledge that I’m currently separated, so that’s on the record.

“It is a special relationship between a man and a woman, predominantly for the purpose of bringing children into the world — if you are so lucky, noting that many people aren’t.”

Now that it’s been confirmed Mr Joyce is expecting his fifth child, his wife has expressed her devastation.

Mrs Joyce said Ms Campion, 33, had been a welcome visitor to the family home while the worked for Mr Joyce, and that the affair had been going on for “months and months”.

“The situation is devastating, for my girls who are affected by the family breakdown and for me as a wife of 24 years who placed my own career on hold to support Barnaby through his political life,” she told the Daily Telegraph.

“Naturally we feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved.”

According to the Telegraph, friends have said the politician is “madly in love”.

But neither Mr Joyce nor Ms Campion have spoken publicly about their situation.

Mr Joyce is expected to address the affair and pregnancy in a television interview tonight on the ABC’s 7.30.