‘Cocaine Cassie’ Sainsbury opens up on post-traumatic stress, her toned new figure, plans to start a family and how she was spat on in the street when she returned to Australia

Convicted drug smuggler ‘Cocaine Cassie’ Sainsbury has opened up about the struggle she’s faced since returning to life in Australia. 

Sainsbury, 28, returned to Adelaide 12 months ago after spending years in a Colombian prison for attempting to smuggle cocaine out of the country. 

Since coming back she has been harassed in the street, diagnosed with PTSD and continues to face chronic stomach issues after falling sick in the notorious El Buen ­Pastor women’s jail.

In April 2017, Sainsbury was found with 5.8kg of cocaine in her suitcase while she was on holiday.

Sainsbury spent three years behind bars before being able to return to Australia, where she now lives with her wife Tatiana and routinely sees her therapist.

‘Cocaine’ Cassie Sainsbury, 28, has opened up about her traumatic experiences in a Colombian prison after she was found with drugs in her luggage 

The former fitness coach has said that the stint left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, and unable to find a job 

The drug smuggler told the Advertiser that it was her psychologist who told her that she had post-traumatic stress disorder.

‘I’d never really expressed emotion before, I just got through it,’ she told the publication. 

Sainsbury said that this method of coping took a heavy toll on her as she continued to adjust to life back home.  

Her experience in jail is an obvious cause of her disorder – she nearly died after a bacterial infection ravaged her stomach, causing her to lose almost 30kg. 

She spent two weeks in hospital and ended up weighing only 39kg by the time she was returned to prison.

The infection still affects her to this day in the form of irritable bowel syndrome.

But she said that Tatiana, who she met in a Colombian nightclub and married in March 2022, has helped her recover from the trauma of her prison sentence. 

Returning back home in Adelaide was a final hurdle for Sainsbury to overcome, which she said has been hard.

People recognise her when she walks down the street and work has been hard to come by. 

‘I had an incident in early January when someone recognised me in the street. They called me a murderer and spat in my face,’ she said. 

Sainsbury has also said that making new friends is a struggle because of her infamy as a convicted person.  

‘Some people recognise me, some people don’t. To be honest, I still keep to myself quite a lot. It is what it is,’ she said.

But now that life is returning to normal she has confirmed that she and Tatiana are excited to start a family and are looking towards new business ventures of their own.

Sainsbury and her wife Tatiana (pictured) are adjusting to life back in Adelaide, where the convicted drug smuggler says that someone spat in her face after calling her a murderer 

Sainsbury, a personal trainer who once owned a gym on the Yorke Peninsula, has recently launched her own online fitness program, Cassie Leigh Fitness.

She tests her rigorous workout regimes on herself before bringing them onto the platform.

The couple are also looking to start a new body sculpting business, based on a Brazilian technique that Sainsbury learned while living in Colombia. 

Sainsbury spent 27 months on probation in the country after leaving jail due to Colombia’s strict parole conditions.

The goal isn’t to get too muscular, Sainsbury says, but to help herself and others learn to love their themselves and their bodies.