Claims by an Australia-based model that she had an affair with soccer star David Beckham were a "figment of her imagination," an escort agency boss said in an interview reported Thursday.
Sarah Marbeck who was described in Britain's The Sun tabloid as "a high-class hooker" after the owner of one Sydney escort agency said she worked for him, also worked as a call girl for a second agency, Sydney's "The Daily Telegraph" reported. David Wade, who told the Telegraph he employed Marbeck at the Miss Fleiss escort agency in Sydney, said: "I know how this girl works. She is vicious. She could extract the marrow out of your bones."
Wade's comments followed confirmation from Graeme Edwards, a spokesman for Sydney's Boardroom Escorts, that Malaysian-born Marbeck worked for the agency in 2001, the year she claimed she had a sexual relationship with Beckham, it was reported Wednesday.
Edwards was quoted by The Sun as saying that Marbeck had worked for him as a callgirl earning $1,200 an hour and been paid to visit "dozens of executive clients in their hotel rooms." Edwards did not return calls seeking further comment.
He also said he doubted that Ms Marbeck, 29, had slept with the soccer player. 'She is obsessed with celebrity and wealth,' Edwards, 35, told The Sun. 'She may well have been at the same party as David Beckham, but I very much doubt she had an affair with him.'
{{/usCountry}}He also said he doubted that Ms Marbeck, 29, had slept with the soccer player. 'She is obsessed with celebrity and wealth,' Edwards, 35, told The Sun. 'She may well have been at the same party as David Beckham, but I very much doubt she had an affair with him.'
{{/usCountry}}'She was a name-dropper. She used to boast about famous men but never once mentioned Beckham's name. The only reason she did it was to keep herself in designer labels and fancy shoes, and so she could travel,' Edwards told The Sun.
Marbeck was still believed to be holed up in an exclusive hotel in Port Douglas, northeastern Australia, avoiding media camped out in the normally sleepy resort town.
In Thursday's Daily Telegraph, Wade slammed Marbeck for allegedly lying about the purported affair.
"This is all a figment of her imagination," he said. "She is telling lies and everyone is going for Beckham and making out he was with her but he was never with her. She told me that." Wade was not immediately available for comment Thursday. The Australian lawyer representing Marbeck, Michael Brereton, also did not return calls seeking comment.
Beckham and his wife, Victoria, have denounced the claims by Marbeck and the England captain's former personal assistant Rebecca Loos as "ludicrous" and "absurd," and have been making a public show of unity. They were photographed Tuesday in Madrid on a shopping trip with sons Brooklyn and Romeo.
In a statement released Tuesday, Marbeck said she decided to tell her story "because for two years my life was on hold while I waited for him (Beckham)," she said.
"Finally, I accepted that my relationship with Beckham was over and I decided to move forward with my life. But in that time my life changed forever, and there is no way back for me," her statement added.
But Wade said in his interview with The Daily Telegraph that Marbeck told him she never had sex with Beckham.
Loos has taped an interview with Britain's Sky One channel, that was scheduled for broadcast Thursday night (2100 GMT). Sky refused to comment on reports in the British press that it paid 500,000 pounds (US$900,000) for the interview. She also was reported to have been paid a six-figure sum for her interview with the News of the World, the Sunday tabloid which broke the story. "People are calling me a liar and calling me names and, you know, at the end of the day these are the facts," Loos said in an excerpt from the TV interview broadcast Wednesday by Sky News. Loos worked for Beckham's management company SFX Group and acted as his assistant in Madrid until he cut ties with the firm in December.