/ 13 April 2004

‘David Beckham said he loved me’

The Australian-based model who claims to have had an affair with English football superstar David Beckham said on Tuesday that she had put her life on hold for two years after he told her he loved her.

Malaysian-born Sarah Marbeck (29) released a statement that also claimed her relationship with the Real Madrid midfielder and England captain had changed her life forever.

”In response to many questions about my motives, the reason I decided to go public with details of my relationship with David Beckham is because for two years my life was on hold while I waited for him,” she said in the statement released by Melbourne-based lawyer Michael Brereton.

”He said he loved me and I slept with the phone by my bed waiting for it to ring,” she said.

”But in that time my life changed forever, and there is no way back for me. I am not a celebrity seeker, and I am not interested in extra fame, but I have found myself at the centre of a media storm, and I am shocked by the intense level of public interest in my life.”

Marbeck said she had finally ”accepted that my relationship with Beckham was over” and decided to move on.

Marbeck is the second woman to claim to have had a fling with the former Manchester United captain, whose personal assistant Rebecca Loos went public last week with revelations of an affair.

An article published by Britain’s News of the World, quoted Marbeck as claiming to have had her affair with Beckham while he was in Singapore as part of Manchester United’s pre-season Asian tour in 2001.

But Sydney’s Daily Telegraph published a story on Tuesday quoting unnamed ”friends” of Marbeck as saying she was obsessed with Beckham, describing her recent behaviour as ”erratic” and treating cautiously claims that she had slept with him.

One told the paper that Marbeck, affectionately known as ”Kiki”, had a snapshot taken with Beckham during a chance encounter with him at Singapore airport in 2001. She had claimed to have had sex with him hours later.

”She is doing it for the money,” the paper quoted one ”pal” as saying. ”She must be desperate for the attention.”

She was also reported to have worked recently as a shop assistant in Melbourne.

A Perth-based modelling agency, Vivien’s Modelling Management, meanwhile said Sarah Marbeck had been signed with the agency for ”a couple of years”, but had not done any work for it ”for some time”.

In her statement, Marbeck denied that she was a ”celebrity seeker” and said she had decided to get on with her life after her relationship with Beckham.

”I am not proud of everything I have done, but there is more of my personal story to come in the News of the World next week,” she said.

The statement also included a quote from her mother, Elizabeth Marbeck, saying: ”I was aware of Sarah’s relationship with David Beckham and supported her decision to tell the public about it.”

Beckham has decribed allegations he cheated with Loos and Marbeck as ”absurd”. — Sapa-AFP