Anthony Newley not a paedophile, says angry Joan

ACTRESS Joan Collins has hit back at a claim yesterday that singer Anthony Newley – her ex-husband – was a paedophile.

The actress’s daughter Tara has also spoken out against the claim by her brother Sacha Newley, and said she is “deeply upset” by his allegations against their late father.

Artist Sacha said: “He was a paedophile. My father was drawn to youthfulness. He thought innocence was an aphrodisiac.”

Dame Joan, 84, said: “This is absolutely untrue. I have nothing further to add.”

Tara, 54, said: “I was shocked by my brother’s comments.

“From my end, I don’t recognise the man he is describing. I had an incredibly close relationship with my father and am deeply upset by these false allegations.”

Actor and singer-songwriter Newley, who died aged 67 in 1999 following a battle with cancer, was Dame Joan’s second husband.

They were married in 1963 but divorced seven years later.

Sacha, 52, said that his father’s 1969 film Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe And Find True Happiness? was “a confession of paedophilia”.

Newley directed and starred in the film as the leading character Merkin, while Dame Joan played the female lead Polyester Poontang.

Sacha – set to release Unaccompanied Minor, a memoir based on his childhood – and Tara appeared in the film as their children.

He added: “My mother was destroyed by that film. It was the end of their marriage.”