Reports that David Beckham had an affair with a former personal assistant were splashed across British newspapers Monday amid speculation about the future of his marriage.
A media frenzy was sparked by a Sunday newspaper report that the soccer star had a sexual relationship with Rebecca Loos in Madrid between September and December while his pop star wife, Victoria, was in England.
Beckham issued a statement Sunday describing the story as “ludicrous” but stopping short of denying the allegations.
“During the past few months I have become accustomed to reading more and more ludicrous stories about my private life,” Beckham said Sunday in a statement through his agent. “What appeared this morning is just one further example.
“The simple truth is that I am very happily married, have a wonderful wife and two very special kids. There is nothing that any third party can do to change these facts.”
A series of sexually explicit phone text messages that Beckham and Loos reportedly sent to each other was published Sunday in the News of the World and reprinted in Monday’s tabloids.
Loos’ brother, John, was quoted in Monday’s papers as saying his sister had confirmed an affair with Beckham.
“If they’ve got text messages between the two of them, I don’t see how she could really deny an affair took place,” John Loos was quoted as saying.
Rumors about the state of Beckham’s marriage have abounded since he moved to Real Madrid last summer from Manchester United.
Beckham and Loos, the 26-year-old daughter of a Dutch diplomat and English mother, were photographed together in a Madrid nightclub last September. The Beckhams released a statement at the time denying any marital problems.
Victoria Beckham — formerly Posh Spice of the Spice Girls — has declined to move full-time to Spain as she tries to rekindle her pop career. She spends most of her time in England with the couple’s two young sons, 5-year-old Brooklyn and 18-month-old Romeo.