DUP leader tells of humiliation over TV doctor’s false ‘affair’ tweet

ARLENE FOSTER has described her “humiliation” after a celebrity doctor shared an unsubstantiated rumour that she was having an extramarital affair with a security guard.

The leader of the DUP said the tweet sent by Dr Christian Jessen from the Channel 4 show Embarrassing Bodies was meant to “destabilise me at a critical time” when she was in talks to resurrect power sharing in Northern Ireland.

The message sent in December 2019 was followed up with other “aggravating” tweets, the High Court in Belfast heard during libel proceedings.

David Ringland QC, acting for Mrs Foster, said the tweet was a “huge publication” after it was shared with Dr Jessen’s 311,000 followers and was retweeted 500 times.

Mrs Foster told the court yesterday that the rumour of an affair with a close protection officer had been circulated by anonymous accounts before the tweet by Dr Jessen.

She said that she had to tell her teenage children and her 85-year-old mother that the rumour was not true.

“It was not a conversation that I would like to repeat,” she said.

Asked how she felt about it, she replied: “Very very upset. Having to speak to my husband and explain to him what had happened, because this gentleman has a large following, so this was going to go quite far and wide. It was very humiliating, I have to say, to see that the relationship that is most important to me had been trashed, if you like, and got put out there in the public domain in that fashion.

“I spoke to my husband and we decided we needed to take action because this was only going to continue to grow.”

Mrs Foster told the hearing that the rumours even alleged that she had moved out of the family home and was living in a hotel.

“Those closest to me of course knew that it wasn’t true, but they were asked questions by other people,” she said.

The court heard that Dr Jessen, in response to a tweet by a solicitor alerting him to its content, replied with the short form “lol”, which means “laughing out loud”.

He then deleted the tweet of Dec 24 two weeks later after receiving an email from the solicitor.

The court heard there was a “further aggravating tweet” on Dec 26 in which Dr Jessen compared himself to Barbra Streisand, saying: “This gay boys life cannot get any better”.

This was described by Mrs Foster’s legal team as a “sneering tweet” as the DUP has opposed attempts to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

Mr Justice Mcalinden said he will give a written judgment on the case “as soon as possible”.