It was 2006, the entire nation was buzzing in the run-up to the World Cup, when one of the juiciest stories ever to hit the tabloids landed in my lap.
For almost two decades I’ve been wondering exactly what happened when Joe Cole – Chelsea midfielder with a boy-next-door image – ended up in a Page 3 girl’s bed. To cap it all, Joe – who was in a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Carly Zucker – emerged with a whopping black eye.
The perfect red-top tale, it ran for days. With all parties staying silent, speculation mounted. How did Cole get that shiner? How would Carly react and – most importantly – how would it affect our World Cup chances?
In the end, all was forgiven when Cole scored from 35 yards out against Sweden. But while he went on to marry personal trainer Carly (they are still happily together and parents to three children) we’ve been guessing what happened that night. Until now.
Finally – almost 20 years on – the Page 3 girl in question, Keeley Hazell, now 38, has revealed all in her autobiography, aptly titled: Everyone’s Seen My Tits, an extract of which exclusively appears in today’s YOU magazine.
As I grabbed an advance copy, my mind spun back to the mid-Noughties, when I was a showbiz reporter for a different paper. Naturally, I was familiar with both Cole, then 24, and Keeley, 19.
He was usually partying with his fellow Chelsea players, while Keeley would be surrounded by fellow Page 3 girls.
Their paths didn’t seem to cross until that night in January 2006. Of course, the presumption was always that Cole and Keeley had a fling, her boyfriend found them in bed and wreaked revenge.
Joe Cole, pictured playing for England at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, ended up in Page 3 girl Keeley Hazell’s bed in the run up to the tournament
Keeley, now 38, has revealed all in her autobiography, aptly titled: Everyone’s Seen My Tits
It was my job to get to the bottom of it, with my editor all but saying: ‘Don’t come back until you have found the story’.
But uncovering the truth proved impossible. The Sun was protective of Keeley, who regularly appeared on its Page 3. It whisked her away to a secret location, no doubt hoping she’d give the paper her story – though she never did.
And Cole, now 43, also vanished, not answering anyone’s door-knocks. Meanwhile, Keeley’s ex refused to confirm or deny whether he had given Cole that black eye. But now, at last, Keeley has spilled the beans – beginning the celebrity saga at Embassy, a Mayfair club. Usually wall to wall with footballers, that night Cole was there with his captain John Terry. Fatefully, also there were Keeley and her fellow Page 3 girls.
Following Chelsea’s 2-1 FA Cup win over Huddersfield, manager Jose Mourinho had given the lads two days off. So perhaps it’s no surprise Keeley found Cole ‘so drunk he couldn’t stand up’.
Realising the rest of the party had left, Keeley hailed a taxi. ‘JC jumped in and slurred, “PartttttttyYYYYY,” she writes. ‘I called my friend Nic, who we’d been with, to find out where everyone had gone, but her phone was off. I didn’t have anyone else’s number, and JC had lost his wallet. I said I’d drop him home and kept asking him where he lived, and he kept replying: “England!” I didn’t want to leave JC drunk in the middle of the street on his own.
‘We had the World Cup coming up. I couldn’t leave a valuable player stumbling around the streets of Mayfair.’
After failing to find Cole a bed at her friend’s boyfriend’s apartment, Keeley felt her only option was to take him to her home on a South London council estate.
Cole pictured with his wife Carly in 2006. He married her a year on from the incident at Keeley’s flat
‘I carried him out of the taxi over my arm and made him drink tons of water in the hallway,’ she writes. ‘Then, I walked him to my bedroom, took off his coat and shoes, and put him to bed.’
Meanwhile, Keeley called her friend Patsy to tell her Cole was there. Patsy arrived shortly afterwards. ‘We peered through my bedroom door at JC like he was some sort of exotic zoo animal,’ Keeley recalls. ‘We were both drunk and giddy with excitement.
‘Then, my phone rang. It was Theo – my boyfriend. “What should I do?” I asked Patsy. “What am I going to say about JC being in my bed?” “Don’t tell him.”
‘Theo’s car key was inside my house. He’d been waiting until I got back to collect it. He said he was coming over. I tried to find an excuse for why he should wait until morning, but all I had was, “Patsy is staying over.” He replied, “So?” Before I could mentally untangle myself, he arrived.
‘I kissed him hello, trying to act sane while freaking out at the very real possibility that JC could wake up at any moment, shuffle down the stairs, and, well, ruin my life.’
Although Keeley and Patsy had agreed not to mention their guest, Keeley couldn’t lie. Hoping it was a joke, Theo bounded upstairs. Keeley writes: ‘There was a loud bang from upstairs. We froze. There was the sound of a door opening, then voices. We rushed upstairs. That’s when I saw Theo on top of JC, throwing punches at JC’s head. JC’s arms flailed, trying to shove Theo off, but Theo kept pinning him down, landing punch after punch.’
Keeley screamed at Theo that he ‘was going to kill him if he wasn’t careful’. As she recalls: ‘This wasn’t some scrappy little bar fight; JC’s shirt had been ripped off; he was bruised and bleeding.’
Keeley continues: ‘I had no idea how to stop this horror, but, in miracle-like fashion, JC fought back. He hit Theo on the side of the face. Theo swung back and he ducked out of the way. The pair began rumbling around my room and then, at a speed I didn’t know was possible, JC zoomed past Patsy and me. Before any of us had moved, he was gone.’
In fact – as was rumoured at the time – Cole had jumped through the living room window. Bloodied and bruised and wearing only his trousers, Cole fled to the nearest minicab office where drivers initially failed to recognise him.
Unable to hide his bruises in the coming days, Cole eventually gave a tight-lipped interview. He denied any relationship with Keeley but said he’d feared for his life after ‘being assaulted by another man’.
Months later he got engaged to Carly and wed a year on. Today, they live out of the spotlight.
I’m sure Joe will wince that his unedifying night is being relived. But at least I’ve finally learned the truth. Thanks, Keeley!
