Maxime Bernier's ex-girlfriend said her relationship with the former foreign affairs minister has left her "destroyed" and "humiliated as a woman."

Julie Couillard revealed the details in an interview with the French-language TVA network that aired just hours after Bernier submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday.

Bernier resigned after acknowledging that he left sensitive government documents out in the open -- apparently at Couillard's house.

"Maxime came to see me and he left a document behind (last April),'' said Couillard, adding that it was an accident.

Sources told CTV News the documents included classified information for last April's NATO summit in Romania. One sensitive document contained details about NATO's military strategy in Afghanistan.

"It was clear it wasn't a document for me, it was a document addressed to the Hon. Maxime Bernier, which is why I wanted to return it," she told TVA's Raymond Fillion.

Couillard said the fact that Bernier left the controversial document at her apartment shows he has a "lack of consciousness."

"He was unconscious of what he was doing and that lack of consciousness brought me into this media circus.''

Couillard said she contacted a lawyer after finding the document and was told that it was the property of the Canadian government.

"The document was given back,'' she said.

Biker connections

The revelations about the documents follow weeks of accusations from opposition members after it was revealed that Couillard had links in her past to Quebec bikers.

Couillard said she told Bernier about her past but he dismissed it.

"His reaction was like, well, these are hard things that you went through,'' she said.

Couillard dated Gilles Giguere, a Montreal crime figure, and she was also married to Stephane Sirois -- a member of the Rockers.

"She really agreed to do this interview with us on Sunday to restore her credibility," Fillion told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.

"She wants Canadians to know that she's a good woman."

Couillard told Fillion in the interview that she has never done anything wrong.

"I was humiliated as a woman,'' she said.

Couillard also said "it's like everyone has turned their back on me," later adding that her high-profile relationship with Bernier has "destroyed my life."

The former model and aspiring actress also explained why she wore a controversial low-cut dress to Bernier's swearing-in ceremony in August 2007.

"Literally the next day I knew I should've listened to my gut feeling and not worn that dress,'' she said. "(I felt) used. Because then I saw the reaction of Maxime and all the press it brought him. He didn't even hide the fact that was exactly what he wanted to do.''

Couillard said Bernier told her at the start of their courtship that even if things didn't work out "publicly speaking it was a year mandate."

He apparently told her:

"I can't switch girlfriends like I change shirts, so you have to be my official girlfriend for at least a year, in spite of what might happen between us."