The torment of McKenna
The legendary self-help guru was accused by his ex of a drug-fuelled spiral into porn and prostitutes. In a mesmerising encounter, he breaks down as he puts the record straight
THEY were devastating allegations – especially for a man who has made millions from helping treat phobias and addictions. Hypnotist and lifestyle guru Paul McKenna had sensationally been accused of taking cocaine in industrial quantities, drinking from early in the morning, cavorting with prostitutes and, bizarrely, talking to extra-terrestrials and Jesus.
But last night, after a year of fighting the extraordinary claims made by a woman who was both former fiancée and business colleague, McKenna finally spoke out in his own defence in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, branding his accuser a ‘greedy woman’ who had tried to extort money from him through the courts.
The 52-year-old author of bestselling books such as I Can Make You Thin and I Can Make You Rich says he has finally reached a settlement with 51-year-old Clare Staples, a former model, following an acrimonious legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic in which she maintained she was the business ‘partner’ responsible for his global success.
And while he has conceded on a number of points, including property in America, today he is claiming victory. She has, he says, completely dropped her demand for 50 per cent of his estimated £40million fortune. The case is over.
‘She wanted half of everything I had and would ever earn,’ he says. ‘I can only believe it was extortion – pure and simple, based on her wish to destroy me. I consider that her actions were based on greed, spite and jealousy. But in the end she had to back down because we had the evidence to prove she was lying.
‘It has, however, been a monstrous betrayal and I’m still reeling from the shock of it. I can’t believe that this is someone I’ve known for a quarter of a century. It has caused me to question my friendships, my judgment – everything.
‘You think you know someone, but you find that they have lied and cheated not just you but other people you know. It has crushed me.’
Staples had claimed that she had watched McKenna become trapped in a ‘downward spiral’ of addictions to cocaine, alcohol and prescription pills that made her fear he might harm himself or others.
In court papers filed in the US, she argued that his erratic and volatile behaviour had started to impact negatively on his career.
Equally dangerous for a man who has made his fortune helping people regain control over their lives, Staples claimed he was also addicted to pornography and prostitutes and had psychotic episodes that caused him to hear imaginary voices.
McKenna, a close friend of Simon Cowell and whose celebrity clients have included David Beckham, Robbie Williams and Russell Brand, vehemently denied the allegations and countersued in London’s High Court. Even now, McKenna – not usually given to emotional outbursts – is visibly distressed and tearyeyed as he recollect what he calls the ‘nightmare’ of the past year.
‘My mother had to read all this trash about me being some cokefuelled party animal, cavorting with prostitutes or talking to extraterrestrials and Jesus. If it wasn’t so damaging it would be funny,’ he says. ‘At the moment, I feel very emotional, but three months ago, I couldn’t get out of the house. I didn’t want to see anyone because everywhere I went it was all people wanted to talk about. Even if they were being sympathetic, it was hard to hear.’
The claims, he says, have also put enormous strain on his new marriage. ‘It feels like someone has ripped my heart out. It will take a very long time and all my skills to trust like that again. My wife has been in floods of tears about this. We have, however, emerged stronger for what we’ve been through and I’m just grateful Kate was already in my life when this all blew up.’
Staples sought a large chunk of McKenna’s £40 million fortune, including half of his £4.3 million Hollywood mansion and ownership of an £800,000 Californian ranch. The pair had been in a personal and professional relationship for nearly 25 years until 2013. She settled for the ranch and a 15 per cent share of the mansion, according to her lawyer.
Staples has said that she first met McKenna when she attended his show in London in 1990. He called her on stage and hypnotised her. The two met after and began dating. Within a year, they were engaged and she claims to have used her showbusiness and PR contacts from her time as a model to ‘class up his act’. She began working as his manager, publicist and spokeswoman.
McKenna recalls things differently. He says they met when she was working as a hat check girl at Morton’s private members’ club in
Mayfair and he was already a household name.
Although they split up romantically in 1995 – after he says she had cheated on him – they continued working together, publishing 16 books and releasing countless selfhelp tapes as money rolled in for lucrative personal appearances, stage and TV shows – until the summer of 2013. Staples was still living in the Hollywood mansion.
By then, the pair were living the high life – including parties where Mckenna accepts some showbusiness guests took cocaine. But he insists he has not touched drugs since his college days when he smoked ‘a couple’ of joints.
McKenna says that about five years ago he started to noticed that Staples had developed terrible mood swings that he suspected were due to her drug use. He told her she should seek help.
But he says he was staggered when their relationship suddenly fractured three years ago after he told her that he was romantically involved with his personal assistant Kate Davey, who he has since married. ‘Clare went ballistic,’ he recalls.
‘She started screaming and swearing. She was angry that Kate was going to live with me in the main house. She acted as if there was some kind of power struggle, even though we had both dated different people over the years. She said she wanted half of everything I had ever made and was going to make.
‘I told her she was mad and she replied, “OK, then I’m going to ruin you. You were nothing before I met you and you’ll be nothing by the time I’ve finished.” I was so shocked that I was shaking. I couldn’t believe it.’
It was only last year that she filed her sensational claims in the LA Supreme Court. They included allegations that McKenna drank Jack Daniel’s whiskey and Coke during a 10am talk show interview with one of America’s biggest TV stars, Ryan Seacrest, then became enraged and had to be ‘physically restrained’ from attacking a worker outside his Hollywood mansion.
She also claimed that McKenna demanded a female TV producer on the British Lorraine show be fired for asking if he was drunk during a phone call.
Staples said he was so ‘wasted’ during a £16,000 two-day private seminar at his London mews home that at least one attendee demanded – and received – his fee back; that he hosted booze and drug-filled parties at his Hollywood home and behaved so erratically that fellow self-help gurus discussed staging ‘an intervention’.
Staples, herself a former drug addict who is now in recovery, first claimed McKenna was an addict in court papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and reported by The Mail on Sunday last year.
This was followed by a 75-page court filing in which she stated: ‘Defendant [McKenna] has struggled to varying degrees for many years with addictions to cocaine, alcohol, various prescription pills and other addictions.’
McKenna now says: ‘It was so ludicrous that I have no doubt they would have been thrown out of court, but in the meantime the damage to my reputation and my business would have been done.’
‘If I was off my head as she claims, I would not have been able to run five corporations, write my books and work with scientists in America on treating people with post-taumatic stress disorder.
‘What she’s done is absolutely unforgivable, but I feel nothing for her now but pity. She deliberately inflicted huge damage on my business and personal life. She wanted to wreck my marriage. She has refused to admit they are lies, so my only other course now is to discredit her.’
The allegations have already affected his once wholesome brand. Who, after all, wants to spend good money on advice from a psychotic drunk and drug addict?
‘At first some people would say, “Isn’t he the bloke who’s been horrid to his wife?” They didn’t want to buy the products. So there was a decline in book sales immediately afterwards, but that has since bounced.’
He denies being an alcoholic or addicted to drugs or sex. ‘Look, I admit that I got very down after my father died in 2011 and was drinking more than I should, but in no way was I knocking back alcohol at 11am.’
McKenna, made his name by turning hypnotism into prime-time TV entertainment. At its peak, his show The Hypnotic World Of Paul McKenna, which began in 1993, pulled in 12million viewers.
His skills as a hypnotist have drawn widespread admiration, but it was the shift from light entertainment to therapy that made a multimillion pound brand.
He found fame in the US after hypnotising talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to give up cigarettes in front of a live audience and has sold more non-fiction books than any other author in Britain.
He has made so much money that he doesn’t charge his celebrity clients, instead suggesting they donate to a charity.
McKenna, who admits that as a creative person he did leave the business aspect of his life to others, says that he was careless and stupid to allow Staples to have so much control. ‘Although I’m really great at fixing other people, in this case I should have been more careful with my own affairs. My mistake was to trust.’
Staples said last night: ‘It is truly sad that just three weeks after agreeing to a substantial out-ofcourt settlement, Paul would give an interview filled with lies.
‘Paul settled our case before trial because he owed me a substantial amount of money and feared the truth coming out. I stand by every allegation in my complaint, which was supported by a mountain of evidence.
‘If any part of what Paul is now saying were true, he would have jumped at the opportunity to defend himself in a public forum. He didn’t – which speaks volumes. This is just a desperate attempt by Paul to revive his career without facing any of his real issues.’
Her lawyer, Howard Weitzman, added: ‘The evidence overwhelmingly supported Clare’s claims in the Los Angeles action, which is presumably why McKenna agreed to a lucrative settlement just seven weeks before the Los Angeles trial was set to begin.
‘Paul’s continuing efforts to defame and disparage Clare are as self-serving and pathetic as it gets.’
I’m still reeling from the shock of her betrayal I should have been careful. My mistake was to trust