Melbourne Cup legend Michelle Payne has shared heartbreaking insight into the final years of her sister Bernadette’s life.

Bernadette, herself a former jockey, died in March this year aged 51.

In a candid interview with The Age on Saturday, Payne opened up on her sister’s mental health struggles, which stemmed from being addicted to painkillers after a riding accident when she was 21.

“She would have been numbing the pain, or numbing a depression, or maybe both. Probably both,” Payne said in a wide-ranging interview.

“But by the end she was unrecognisable — Who is this person? — and scary. I had an intervention order against her.”

Payne recounted one heartbreaking conversation with Bernadette that still stings.

“I just remember asking her, ‘What do you want?’ and the answer was

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