REBEKAH Vardy’s ex-husband claims he didn’t force her to speak out about the size of Peter Andre’s manhood – despite her court claims.
The mum-of-five told the High Court she’d given an interview comparing the singer’s private parts to a “miniature chipolata” because she was ordered to by Steve Clarke.
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But Mr Clarke has now hit back – and says she made the decision to speak to reporters after spotting a newspaper ad for stories about contestants on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Mr Clarke told the Mail on Sunday he’d met “fun and pretty” Becky at work when she was Rebekah Nicholson. She had become the talk of the office after telling co-workers of her one night stand with Peter.
The gossip would later form part of the blockbuster Wagatha Christie case between Rebekah and Coleen Rooney after Wayne’s wife publicly accused her rival of leaking stories.
Coleen’s barrister David Sherborne told the court Rebekah is a “highly unreliable witness” and accused her of lying under oath.
And he quizzed her about an interview in 2003 when she alleged Peter has “the smallest trouser equipment I’ve seen”.
In the witness stand, Rebekah said: “I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this. It is something that I deeply regret.”
But Mr Clarke said his then-girlfriend decided to do the chat herself after turning to him and saying: “I should tell them about Peter Andre.”
He told the Mail: “I asked her why she would want to do that and she replied that it would be a bit of money for her and it would be funny.
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“I told her she should do whatever she wanted to do.”
Rebekah made the arrangements to talk to a reporter, and Mr Clarke said his only involvement was to drive her to a photo studio and pick her up after.
He claims she later told him she’d “stayed respectful”.
Rebekah had a brief fling with Peter in 2001, shortly after she got a job with Mr Clarke’s firm in Oxfordshire.
Mr Clarke and Becky began dating in 2001, while she was separated from first husband, electrician Mark Godden. They wed in 2005 but split acrimoniously a year later.
PETER’S PAIN
Mr Clarke, now 57, has denied any cruelty towards Rebekah, and told the paper he was “never abusive” or controlling.
“She did what she wanted, when she wanted and I never raised a hand to her either,” he said.
“The false claims against me have been upsetting me, my family and friends.”
Rebekah’s spokesman said of Mr Clarke last night: “Mrs Vardy is all too aware of the harrowing truth about this individual and no amount of misogynistic victim shaming will change this.”
The Wag has already apologised for making the comments about Peter.
The false claims against me have been upsetting me, my family and friends
The 49-year-old star said he has been mocked about his manhood for 15 years.
In an emotional video, he said: “Just think if I had said this about her anatomy and made up something unflattering, there would be outrage…
“The only one who sits there and takes hit after hit about it, is me. Think about how it would feel if it was the other way around.”
And Jane Atkinson, the journalist who conducted the interview about Peter, said Rebekah told her “weeks” after the chat “it had been her then-boyfriend who suggested she speak out”.
“Not her idea – but she went along with it,” Jane said.
“She has since apologised to Peter. As have I. He is an utter gentleman.
“I interviewed him years later and, to his credit, he didn’t hold a grudge and was warm, understanding and friendly. He has even publicly joked about it.”
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