Christie is father of two secret sons . . . with partner No 4!
LINFORD Christie has secretly fathered two children, taking his family to eight, it was claimed yesterday.
The former Olympic champion, who is starring in the Channel 4 show The Jump, is said to have had two sons with public relations worker Letitia Rathbone.
The eldest was born near the end of his long-term relationship with Mandy Miller, the mother of three of his children.
Christie, 55, regularly visits the boys, aged three and one, in Miss Rathbone’s West London flat and has given some financial support without publicly acknowledging paternity, it is alleged.
‘Her eldest son is nearly at school-going age and he will soon be asking about his dad,’ a source told the Sun on Sunday.
‘What is his mother supposed to tell him when that happens? She lives in a very small neighbourhood and Linford has been visiting for years, so it’s always been common knowledge that her sons are his.’
His first child Merric, 37, was born in 1979 when Christie was just 19 and in a relationship with Judith Osborne.
He also has twins Liam and Korel, 31, with
‘They had no idea what was going on’
Yvonne Oliver, and a daughter, Briannah, 18, another daughter aged 14 and a son aged 11 from his 26-year relationship with Miss Miller. Christie, who won the Olympics 100m in 1992, is said to have met Miss Rathbone in his office in 2009 and later persuaded her to go on a date.
The source said: ‘It was Linford who did the chasing. She wasn’t sure at first but he can be really charming. He won her over and they started seeing each other. It was kept very secret. He was still living with Mandy and the kids. They had no idea what was going on.’
He visited Miss Rathbone’s flat for two years but disappeared after she became pregnant in 2011. He returned after the baby was born i n June 2012 but would go home to Miss Miller and their three children in Buckinghamshire.
After Christie’s relationship with Miss Miller ended that year he moved out of the family home and rekindled his relationship with Miss Rathbone, who gave birth to their second son in November 2014.
He is said to visit her and the two boys every few weeks.
Christie was the star of British athletics f or a decade after sprinting to victory at the Barcelona Games. He also won gold at the World, Commonwealth and European championships.
But his career was hit in 1999 when he tested positive for the prohibited steroid nandrolone and was banned by the Interna- tional Association of Athletics Federations. Christie has always denied taking performanceenhancing drugs and was cleared by UK Athletics.
His son Liam was imprisoned for 15 months i n 2012 after letting two friends deal Class A drugs from his home in West Kensington, London. The court heard he had always ‘lived in the shadow’ of his father. His barrister, Fergus Malone, told the hearing: ‘Not necessarily through the fault of his father, he has ... not necessarily got the benefits he might have got through being the son of Linford Christie.’
At the height of his athletics career Christie earned an estimated £1million a year thanks to sponsorship deals and appearance fees.
Miss Rathbone declined to comment at her home yesterday. Christie did not respond to requests to comment.