Beckham's 'lover' nets 800,000 pounds from claims

Rebecca Loos has made 800,000 pounds (1.2 million euros) from her claims that she had an affair with England captain David Beckham, her publicist has said. In an interview published Monday, Max Clifford told the sum includes 150,000 pounds for Loos's kiss-and-tell appearance on Sky One television.

Rebecca Loos has made 800,000 pounds (1.2 million euros) from her claims that she had an affair with England captain David Beckham, her publicist has said.

In an interview published Monday, Max Clifford told London's Evening Standard newspaper that the sum includes 150,000 pounds for Loos's kiss-and-tell appearance last Thursday on Sky One satellite television.

He also said he negotiated 350,000 pounds with the News of the World, Britain's top-selling Sunday tabloid, for the scoop that revealed Loos's reputed affair with the Real Madrid star.

Beckham rejected as "ludicrous" claims by Loos, 26, his erstwhile personal assistant, that they had sex together after he moved from English champions Manchester United to Spanish giants Real last July while his pop star wife Victoria stayed in Britain.

The furore intensified when Malaysian-born Sarah Marbeck, 29, told the News of the World that she had a two-year affair with Beckham that started during a Manchester United tour to Singapore in July 2001.

With his image as a family-friendly international soccer star on the line, Beckham asked lawyers to see what they could do to keep a lid on the allegations.

Nevertheless, on Sunday, a third woman, Celina Laurie, 27, came forward to claim in the People newspaper that she had sex with Beckham in August 2002 in the Danish city of Aarhus after a Manchester United game there.

Loos herself was to appear later Monday on a chat show on Britain's Channel Four, while Marbeck is reported to be in negotiations with other British media.

Clifford, who is Britain's best-known celebrity publicist, said he personally made 160,000 pounds from the Loos allegations, based on his standard 20 percent fee.

Interviewed in Marbella, southern Spain, Clifford told the Evening Standard that Loos had come to him fearful that she would no longer be able to work as a personal assistant.

"I explained that the money I could generate from this would mean she wouldn't have to work again," he said.