Best reveals truth about divorce deal
By Phil Taylor
GEORGE BEST last night revealed how he reached an 11th-hour divorce deal with wife Alex after she threatened to kill herself.
In an exclusive interview with the News of the World, he told how he received a desperate call from the I'm A Celebrity star before this week's court hearing.
The former Manchester United idol revealed: "Alex phoned me in a panic about a week before the case saying she was having a problem with drink.
"She was crying and told me, ‘I would rather commit suicide than go to court.'
"Alex wanted to take everything off me—both our homes and both our cars—and was demanding £100,000 every year for the next seven years.
Stupid
"But I warned her that if she didn't split it down the middle it would get very, very nasty in court
"I told her I was ready to reveal all her dark secrets.
"When Alex said she was going to commit suicide I told her, ‘Don't be stupid.'
"It was late at night and I said to her, ‘Do you want me to get a taxi and come and talk to you?' But she said, ‘No, no, no.'
"I knew then she wasn't going to do anything.
"If you are really going to do it, you don't call someone up and tell them you are going to do it. I've done that before!
"But when Alex has got the demon drink in her she completely loses the plot. And she was desperately worried about what I planned to reveal in court.
"She likes to make out I'm the devil and she is the long-suffering angel. But she is far from Miss Perfect.
"She knew it was going to get very mucky if the court hearing went ahead and agreed to the 11th-hour settlement."
Alex, 32, filed for divorce after the News of the World exposed Best's affair with blonde mother-of-two Gina DeVivo, 35, in 2003. Last year we revealed he was also having a red-hot affair with tycoon's wife Ros Hollidge, 37.
But 58-year-old George said: "I told her I was going to explain to the court why I had committed adultery.
"The truth is I found it necessary to go off with someone else for two reasons—because she didn't want sex with me and she told me she had slept with somebody else."
George revealed how he planned to accuse Alex in court of sleeping with Simply Red pop star Mick Hucknall, despite the singer's denial.
"Alex admitted to me while I was in bed with her that she had slept with Mick Hucknall," said Best. "I knew she had visited him. And we had text messages from him logged. One was nasty about me and advised her to ‘go for it all.'
"That's why—having been faithful to Alex throughout our marriage—I finally went off with someone else. It's called tit-for-tat.
"When I threatened to name Hucknall in court Alex claimed she only boasted she had slept with him to wind me up.
"I told her, ‘Well it f***ing worked because it ruined our marriage.'"
Alex hired Britain's most famous divorce lawyer Raymond Tooth—nicknamed Jaws for his name and fearsome reputation for celebrity divorce cases—to try to win the bulk of Best's dwindling fortune. Best said: "I told her I had already agreed to sell the Mini to a friend for £15,000. But she said she could get £70,000 for it because it carried my personalised number plate—G1 8EST.
"I told her she could have our house, Flint Barn, in Surrey, and the BMW and I would give her a £100,000 lump sum.
"All I wanted was my Mini and the flat in Cheyne Walk."
Revealing the secret settlement that finally ended their nine-year marriage, he said: "On Tuesday, the morning of what was due to be a three-day court hearing, I told Alex my final offer was £35,000 immediately and £35,000 in 12 months' time.
"I made it clear the alternative was all-out war in court. Now we have finally agreed a full and final settlement.
"I will give her £70,000 in total over the next two years, she gets Flint Barn which she plans to sell, and will keep her BMW.
"But I'm moving into the Chelsea flat and I get the Mini Cooper. So she has ended up with £30,000 less than I offered her seven months ago."
Drinking
Best insisted: "This could have been settled on day one. But because she tried to go for the lot, I've spent £60,000 on lawyers.
"The divorce, with all our legal fees taken into account, has cost me £700,000.
"Two years ago I planned to retire at 60 with two lovely homes to my name. But now, at 58, I've just got my one-bedroom flat and I'm going to have to start working regularly again.
"When the judge congratulated us on reaching a settlement we didn't even look at each other. I just wanted to get out of court as fast as I could.
"Afterwards Alex sent me a text message asking me how I was.
"I felt like I had been in a war and still feel s**t. But at the end of the day I think I came out on the right side.
"Reaching a final divorce settlement is a huge weight off my shoulders.
"My drinking has not been good lately and I haven't been feeling brilliant.
"But I can get myself back together, and get on with my life."
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