Vice-captain Michael Clarke has quit Australia's cricket tour of New Zealand to return home to Sydney for personal reasons.
A spokesman said Clarke had left the team in Hamilton on the eve of Tuesday's third ODI.
Clarke's fiancee Lara Bingle is suing AFL player Brendan Fevola over a nude photo she claims Fevola took without her permission and then later distributed.
Woman's Day magazine last week published the photo of Bingle in the shower which was allegedly taken while she and Fevola were involved in a secret affair during 2006.
It is not known at this stage how long Clarke will be away from the team.
Cricket Australia public affairs manager Peter Young told SEN it's clearly a difficult time for Clarke.
"It's not a happy day for us but these things happen and we understand that," Young said.
"Michael has asked that his privacy be respected ... he has come home to attend to personal issues and that's all he wants us to say and that is as much as we can say."
"We have had players have to leave the team before - I guess you would call it compassionate leave - from time to time over recent years."
"We understand that and we've given him a leave pass to come home."
"The reasons for his travel are not cricket-related and once we get out of the cricket domain it's a matter for Michael as to whether or not he wants to have a further public discussion."
Young said that Clarke was aware that his decision to quit the tour would create a lot of public interest.
"There was a discussion with Ricky (Ponting) and the team leadership, Andrew Hilditch, Tim Nielsen and the like before he came back and I think everybody understands that difficult moment that he's going through."
Selectors will be forced to decide on Tuesday whether to pick a back-up player to join the touring squad.
The Australian team has three of ODIs in its five-match series still to play, before a series of two Test matches against New Zealand.