It’s not often that a reporter writes the story behind a big story on the same day as he gets the big story, but that’s what the Daily Telegraph’s Matt Frilingos did today.

“Stretched on the couch watching TV, on the verge of drifting off to sleep, the last thing I expected late on Tuesday night was a call from Russell Crowe,” is how Frilingos starts this backgrounder today.

That phone call to Frilingos from a New York hotel room, following Crowe’s arrest after throwing a telephone at a hotel desk clerk, led to this front-page story in today’s Tele:

HOW MY BRAIN SNAPPED

EXCLUSIVE by MATT FRILINGOS

Shattered actor Russell Crowe has bared his soul to The Daily Telegraph, saying the violent incident that could see him jailed was entirely his fault.

In an exclusive interview, Crowe spoke of his shame over the altercation, but insisted he was “not aiming at” concierge Nestor Estrada when he threw a telephone in the lobby of an exclusive New York hotel. He conceded that the incident may not only see him locked away in a New York jail, but could prevent him from ever working in the US again.

He blamed his state of mind on “the combination of jet lag, loneliness and adrenalin,” having just returned to the US after a flying visit to London for the Kostya Tsyzu fight, without wife Danielle. “I’m at the bottom of a well. I can’t communicate how dark my life is right now,” Crowe said. “I’m in a lot of trouble. I’ll do my best to solve the situation in an honourable way. I’m very sorry for my actions.”

Read the full story here.