SEE 6 AND 7
My nightmare with jungle Wag Becky
THE ex-partner of I’m A Celebrity star Rebekah Vardy today brands her Britain’s pushiest WAG and blasts: “I’m glad I am shot of her.”
Ten million viewers are set to tune in as Becky enters the jungle tonight – and troubled host Ant Mcpartlin makes his long-awaited return to TV.
But one person who won’t be among them is ex-lower league footballer Luke Foster – Becky’s partner before she fell for England star Jamie. Luke claims in an exclusive interview:
Becky had a relentless quest for stardom which left him skint.
She told him she’d “upgraded” by moving on to €90,000-a-week Leicester ace Jamie and wanted to be the next Victoria Beckham.
The WAG banned him from going to Las Vegas to celebrate promotion, saying: “It’s your mates or me.”
She made him drive an old Citroën while she drove his Mercedes.
He feels sorry for Jamie because Becky always likes to be in control.
Luke, 32, says: “For Becky, going on the show is not about money. This is all about becoming famous.
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“She’d always been reading celebrity mags and wanted the lives of Victoria Beckham and Coleen Rooney.
“If someone had a better car than us, she’d want to go one better.
“She’s now got the husband she always wanted, one who can keep her in the lifestyle she’s dreamt of. She’s got the shopping, the house, the car. She’s living her perfect life.
“Becky upgraded. She said that to my face. She said he’d treat her a hell of a lot better.”
Becky, who posts pictures of her family life on Instagram and has given a number of interviews, last night hit back at Luke for speaking out.
The 35-year-old, who sold her wedding to Hello! magazine and has said she was going into the jungle so her kids get a holiday to Australia, told Luke to concentrate on his own life.
Luke and Becky met in 2007 when he was a defender for Conference side Oxford United. Becky had daughter Megan – and she and Luke went on to have a son, Taylor, now seven.
Recalling their early days, Luke says: “We got on well. Becky looked after me. I was in digs on my own and she would feed me. We had a good laugh.”
They moved in together but cracks set in as they started to live beyond their means. He adds: “Becky liked the finer things in life. She wanted the biggest house on the street, expensive handbags. She drove my Merc, I had a Picasso. She wouldn’t even let me drive my own car.
“We got this stunning townhouse in Northampton. But the mortgage was extortionate. It was tough at Oxford because even though we were in the Conference we had a big stadium. She’d sit in the box with the other WAGS. She loved that.”
Things became more difficult when Luke transferred to League Two side Mansfield Town. He went on: “I’d pay for things I couldn’t really afford. I’d get another credit card... eventually it all came crumbling down.” Luke claims Becky’s interest in him waned when he failed to join a top side – switching instead to the likes of Stevenage, Preston and Lincoln.
STRUGGLE
He claims Becky even refused to work in the clothes shop they owned together. Luke – now a self-employed sports management consultant – goes on: “Becky was finding it a struggle. We weren’t doing that badly, in my mind – living in a five-bed house, driving around in a Mercedes.
“We couldn’t do everything that she wanted, but that’s life. When I moved from Preston to Lincoln my wages went down and Becky would say: ‘We can’t live on that.’ But it was still more than my mates earned as builders. I’d go ‘What planet are you on?’
“We had a shop: I put €11,000 in it, a loan from my dad. She refused to
work there, saying she wouldn’t do it for free and that it was boring. I decided to close it down. Maybe if I’d have been a bit stronger at the time I wouldn’t have got into the mess.”
The pair split in 2013 and three months later Becky found herself pregnant by England striker Jamie, 30.
Luke says, despite everything, the separation was “one of our most amicable times”. And of Jamie, he adds: “I was kind of relieved. I thought ‘thank God’, she’s off my hands.”
Ironically, Luke got Becky a job at the nightclub where she met Jamie – Viper, in Sheffield. The star had a birthday party there. Becky and Vardy
had daughter Sofia in November 2014 and son Finley in January this year. They wed in a lavish ceremony at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, with guests including One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson. Luke has met Jamie on a couple of occasions and says he “seems like an okay guy”. He adds: “I feel sorry for him because it’s all about control with Becky. It’s my way or the highway with
her. I fell out with my mum for six months while with Becky. It was over something trivial but I took Becky’s side. My mum was mortified.
“Becky stopped me from going out with my friends. I even missed out on going to Las Vegas with my Stevenage team-mates.
“We got promoted and the club were paying for us to go to celebrate and I was told I couldn’t go.
“She said ‘If you go, we are over.’ I
wanted to celebrate one of the pinnacles of my career but I couldn’t.”
Luke says he expects Becky to cope with I’m A Celeb’s famous Bushtucker Trials – but reckons she will rub other stars up the wrong way.
He adds: “I can see her having a row with another campmate. Becky’s very good at putting on a front but I think the other celebrities and people watching will see straight through it.”
janine.yaqoob@trinitymirror.com