Beckham faces new rash of 'kiss-and-tell' headlines | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Beckham faces new rash of 'kiss-and-tell' headlines

PTI | ByAFP, London
Apr 14, 2004 08:36 PM IST

David Beckham faced a new rash of lurid headlines on Sunday as "kiss-and-tell" stories alleging affairs with two women were splashed across British newspapers.

David Beckham faced a new rash of lurid headlines on Sunday as "kiss-and-tell" stories alleging affairs with two women were splashed across British newspapers.

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A second woman joined his former personal assistant in alleging a steamy fling with the Real Madrid star, whose love life and marriage with pop star Victoria has become the focus of a media frenzy here.

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The footballer's former PA Rebecca Loos spilled the beans in an interview published a week after the allegations first surfaced that she had bedded Beckham.

"What happened between me and David was more than just sex," Loos told the News of the World, which reportedly paid her 350,000 pounds (530,000 euros, 640,000 dollars) for her story.

"He needed a woman to be with him and to help him through a difficult lonely spell in his life," said 26-year-old Loos, who claims to have slept with Beckham on four occasions.

The England captain, reputedly the world's best-paid footballer, has denied the allegations.

A second woman meanwhile came forward claiming to have had an affair with the former Manchester United star.

Malaysian-born Sarah Marbeck, 29, who now lives in Australia, alleged she had an affair with the father-of-two for up to two years, after meeting in Singapore in July 2001 when he was on tour with Manchester United.

"Sleeping with David Beckham was a momentous day for me, not just a one-night stand," she told the News of the World.

"I certainly didn't take our affair lightly and nor did he. This is probably the most famous father, family man and husband in the world and he changed my life," said Marbeck, described as a barrister's daughter.

Loos meanwhile met Beckham while chaperoning him in Madrid, where the midfielder plays for giants Real Madrid.

Beckham's wife Victoria, a former member of now-defunct British band The Spice Girls, continued to base herself in England in order to pursue her own career, fuelling media speculation that their marriage was under strain.

"His wife was thousands of miles away all the time and was no support to him at all," said Loos, the daughter of a Dutch diplomat.

In a statement issued via his agent last Sunday, Beckham said the initial allegations by Loos were "ludicrous" and that he had a "wonderful wife and two very special kids".

Meanwhile Victoria told The Sun tabloid the next day: "We have been through a lot worse than this, and we're definitely going to get through this."

Beckham, who moved from United to Real last July in a 25 million pound (45 million dollar) deal, spent a short holiday with his wife and two sons, Brooklyn and Romeo, at the French ski resort of Courchevel earlier this week but has since returned to Spain.

He is expected to play for Real against Atletico Osasuna later Sunday.

And England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson says he was confident his skipper would be at his best for the Euro 2004 finals this summer despite the allegations about his private life.

Eriksson said that the newspaper coverage was part of the package for top footballers like Beckham who are constantly in the public eye.

"All international players in England realise they have to live with this kind of thing. He is very strong," the England chief told the Mail on Sunday.

"They know how the English media works. They are not too worried about what people write."
Beckham reputedly nets around 20 million dollars a year in wages and sponsorship deals, dwarfing the earnings of his wife who is trying to revive her pop career.

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