A woman who claims she had a year-long affair with Vanessa Feltz's ex fiancé, then told the presenter about it by email, has broken her silence. In an interview with a national newspaper the woman explained why she revealed her relationship with Ben Ofoedu.
Feltz, 60, had been in a relationship with the Phats &Small dancer, 50, for 16 years but confirmed earlier this month that the couple had separated after she discovered his cheating on Christmas Day. Read more about that here. In an email to Vanessa, the woman said she was "hopelessly in love" after a number of meetings with her husband in Ibiza and Thailand.
The 59-year-old, who asked not to be named, described the dumped boyfriend as "an octopus who has no respect for women". She said she was speaking out because he had "peddled lies" about their fling.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said: "'I have been painted as a trollop, when in fact I have a successful career and I'm a single mum, who's worked hard all my life. As for the sex being a 'chore'? Up chores, Ben! I fell in love with Ben, and he went all out to seduce me, but once I became aware that he was in another relationship, I broke it off. I put myself in Vanessa's position and asked myself if I would want to know, and I decided it was the right thing to do. I had no agenda, I just wanted to tell her, woman to woman, and then it was up to her.
"I would never have gone public about this if Ben hadn't disrespected me once again, by trying to paint me as some kind of sl*t in the papers last week."
Television personality and This Morning regular Vanessa appeared on the ITV daytime show earlier this week to speak about the break-up saying that while she wishes people hadn't found out her personal news for a little while longer, she won't let her heartbreak "grind me down"'.
She told Holly and Phil: "I'm feeling just like anybody else would after the end of a 16-year relationship, which I had my heart and soul in. I believed wholeheartedly in it, so when you have to end a relationship, it's very very hard. I'm feeling it just like anybody else and I've had so many messages from people going through it and I wouldn't want to minimise in any way what it's like when you're heartbroken. It's horrible.
"People have been amazing, absolutely amazing and of course [support] helps a lot. And I can't sleep at all, so reading thousands and thousands of messages from lovely people on Instagram is something to do in the middle of the night. I'm really finding my real friends, my real family, people I don't know."
The pair met in 2005 following her divorce from Michael Kurer in 2000 when Vanessa was introduced to Ben by mutual friend Keith Duffy of Boyzone. While both in relationships at the time, their romance didn't blossom until they were both single some years later, reuniting at a Christmas party. Just one year later the couple got engaged and while over the years they had planned on getting married, they never made it down the aisle.
Ofedu said earlier this month: “I was wrong...I betrayed the love of my life.” He said the affair was “just sex – and a chore. I’ve broken her trust. She gave me another chance. I’ve gone and destroyed that.”
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