 |
| Brett Favre |
Jenn Sterger, a former game hostess with the New York Jets, denied having an affair with the married quarterback and claimed she had never even met him.
She angrily refuted allegations she is a ‘gold-digger’ and tearfully told how she just ‘wants her life back’.
It is her first interview since the scandal broke and puts pressure on Favre to fully come clean about allegations he sent Miss Sterger lewd photos in 2008.
The 41-year-old grandfather was fined $50,000 for failing to co-operate with an NFL investigation into the scandal.
He has admitting leaving suggestive voicemails on Miss Sterger’s phone, but denied sending explicit pictures of himself from the waist down.
In the interview Miss Sterger, 26, claimed her life has been ruined by somebody she doesn’t even know.
She said: ‘We’ve never met, there’s never been an introduction, we’ve never been any closer than this (motioning to interviewer) and that was in passing in the tunnels before the game. I’ve never met the man. I’ve never met him.'
‘I just want people to know that I’m not a gold-digger, and I’m not a home wrecker’.
Sterger denied reports she had been paid $12,000 via a third party for the pictures and voicemails which sparked the scandal when they surfaced on the internet.
She said those who claimed she was just doing it to further her career could not be more wrong.
She said: ‘It’s never been my intention to play the victim. People would say I asked for it, that’s been a lot of the perception that’s been put out there. It couldn’t be farther from the truth.
‘I don’t want anything from Brett Favre. I just want to move on. I didn’t do anything wrong.’
Favre, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback, is said to have sent Sterger the lewd messages while she worked as a hostess for the Jets and he played for the New York football team in 2008.
She was 25 and had been given the ‘dream job’ after being plucked from the crowd at a football game. The break led onto modelling work with Maxim and Playboy.
Speaking to ABC News, Sterger said the first she knew of Favre’s interest was when a man with a Jets badge came up to her at work and asked: ‘How would you feel if Brett Favre asked for your phone number?’
‘I looked at him and said: "I like my job an awful lot and I’ve been told I look remarkably like his wife. Have a good day".
'I walked away and that was the end of it. I didn’t give him my number but somehow he got it.’
The texts and voicemails came soon after, including messages like: ‘I ‘d love to see you tonight, I’ve just got done with practice’.
At no point did Favre reveal who he was but Sterger guessed from the clues he was leaving.
She said: ‘It wasn’t flattering. He’s married and more than anything I feel like it was intimidating. He was like that guy at the bar who just could not get the hint.'
She said she did her best to ‘stave him off’ by telling him she was always busy.
Asked why she answered at all, she said: ‘When all of this happened I consulted several people and I said I don’t know what to do.
‘All of them said be quiet, just leave it alone. Don’t complain’.
‘I didn’t do anything that would make him think this was OK. I staved him off and did my job.'
By the end of summer 2008 the messages stopped and Sterger left the Jets. But she confided in a blogger friend who broke her confidence last year and published the story.
Fighting back tears, she said: ‘I didn’t want it to get out. I’d dealt with it and it was over. The story comes out and it’s like someone punches you in the stomach.'
‘When everybody knows, when it’s out there in the public there’s this perception of you that people automatically start to think: "She’s a gold-digger, she’s a home wrecker".
I never even met the man.
‘My life was turned upside down. I was trying to go to work, do my job, but how are you supposed to report on the news when you are the news. It was embarrassing.
‘I didn’t want anything to do with it... the only reason I feel like I have to give this interview is for me, my family. ‘
The scandal has already cost Favre what was left of his career and he has announced this season will be his last playing football.
Favre’s wife of 14 years, Deanna has spoken of how she is relying on her faith to get her through what she called a 'struggle.'
It is not clear if she intends to divorce him. The couple have two children together, Brittany, 21, and Breleigh, 11, and one grandchild.
Adding to Favre’s woes is a separate lawsuit brought by two massage therapists who claim they were fired after he sent them sexual text messages.
Christina Scavo and Shannon O'Toole said they lost their jobs with the New York Jets when they complained about what he had done.
They are seeking unspecified damages for sexual harassment and job discrimination.
Sources: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
