Another day, another sordid tale of a weak man cheating on his intelligent, successful, drop-dead gorgeous wife.
Last week we had the kisscam-dodging tech bro at a Coldplay concert. This week Myleene Klass, 47, former Hear’Say pop star and classically trained pianist, revealed on the We Need To Talk podcast that she caught her now ex-husband in a clinch with another woman. At her very own birthday party. On a balcony in her very own house. Before they got married.
‘They weren’t having sex, but they were unzipping each other,’ she told podcast host relationship expert Paul Brunson. Her then future husband, bodyguard Graham Quinn, blamed the incident on his being drunk.
Myleene added that the woman he was groping, whom she declined to name, has since gone on to enjoy a high-profile career built on being a ‘family brand’.
She and Graham, who got together in 2001, married ten years later and Myleene admits that she considered backing out of the wedding the night before.
‘I was in the bath and I was just sobbing because something didn’t feel right… And my girlfriend… at the time said: “The car is outside.” Like Thelma and Louise, we could just go.’
The couple went on to have two children, Ava and Hero, now 17 and 13, but divorced less than two years after they’d tied the knot.
Myleene Klass told relationship expert Paul Brunson on his podcast that she’d caught her now ex-husband Graham Quinn in a drunken clinch at her own birthday party
The couple, pictured in 2005, married in 2011 some ten years after they first got together
Their split left her in financial difficulties, as she had refused to ask Quinn to sign a pre-nup so he was entitled to a share of her wealth. She also developed a drinking problem.
I am sure we all have two burning questions. One: Why, if Myleene knew he was a scumbag, did she go ahead and marry the damn fool? And two: Why bring all this up now?
Of course, there’s the embarrassment of cancelling a wedding. You have booked the venue, ordered the cake, posted the invitations and – being a celebrity – pre-sold the photos. As Myleene said: ‘I had two children, and I had this wedding… the cathedral and the priest…’ Women really hate to disappoint.
She probably thought that to call it off at the last minute would make her look a failure. We women are conditioned from childhood to smooth things over, not make a fuss, make the best of a situation, not let down family and friends.
The problem, too – even with independent, intelligent women – is that we believe we can persuade a man to change. We try harder, thinking: if we’re good enough, he won’t want anyone else.
I expect Graham mewed and begged and promised but, as Rachel famously told Ross in Friends: ‘Once a cheater, always a cheater.’
I always wonder why men do it. Who, frankly, would want to lose such an accomplished woman? My experience, having been cheated on before and after my marriage, tells me that men like Quinn cheat because their wife is wonderful. It’s a way of punishing us for making them feel small.
All the cheating ex-husbands – Myleene’s, mine – can do is whine in the press about losing so much money and the house. They accuse us of using our betrayal to boost our profile.
My experience, having been cheated on before and after my marriage, tells me that men like Quinn, pictured with Myleene, cheat because their wife is wonderful, writes Liz Jones
As Graham bleated on social media: ‘One day I hope you will put the interests of your children first and let them see their father, instead of focusing on what lies you can tell to boost your career.’ The career that doubtless gave him, a Pound Shop Kevin Costner, a lovely lifestyle.
But why bring up the betrayal now? Myleene is happily married to Simon Motson, a public relations expert. I wonder if he advised her not to bring out the bodies, especially given that her daughters are doubtless glued to social media, leaving them vulnerable to gossip and teasing about their parent.
Something Myleene said this week sums up why women, me included, cannot let it go, move on.
She explained: ‘I don’t agree with women or men having their lives turned upside down with lies and deceit because you didn’t think it was that big of a crime. You’re messing with people’s emotions and their lives. They have permanent repercussions.’
When you find out the person who was supposed to love you, support you, be your best friend, has seen you with your guard down and found you wanting is extremely hard to recover from. It destroys your self-confidence and ability to trust people.
While the divorce was going through, Myleene resorted to drinking, worried she would lose everything she had worked for (trust me, entering a talent contest and performing in a band is not for the faint-hearted).
I did exactly the same. You wake each night at 3am, thoughts spiralling. Even if you find happiness with someone else, you know the world isn’t safe. It’s called post-traumatic stress.
People tell you success and happiness are the best revenge, but you don’t believe them. Betrayal is a scab you pick at. It’s devastating.
That a strong woman like Myleene can still break down in tears, as she did this week, is testament to the devastation wreaked by sorry little men with fragile egos looking to hurt the strong women in their lives because they know they can’t compete.
