Rhian Sugden says someone spat at her and smashed her car windscreen amid fallout from the 2010 messaging scandal with Vernon Kay.
The model has now described the frightening hostility and its lasting impact on her career. Speaking to Closer magazine, Rhian said she was once scared to leave home.
The 2010 sexting scandal involving Vernon resurfaced after he and Tess Daly announced their separation in May. Rhian hopes her forties will finally bring distance from a story that has followed her for years.
Rhian Sugden recalls frightening abuse
“I’ve been spat at in the face and had my car windscreen smashed. It was hell back then and I was scared to go out at one point,” she said, per Daily Mail.
She also said she had struggled mentally with the backlash surrounding the episode. Rhian believes people unfairly cast her as the other woman and presented her as the “villain.”
“I really hope my forties will bring a new chapter where the Vernon stories can be put to bed. For much of my life, I’ve been seen as ‘the other woman’ and painted as a villain,” she said.
Rhian added that the renewed attention was unfair to Tess and Vernon’s daughters, as well as herself.
What happened between Vernon Kay and Rhian Sugden
In 2010, Vernon publicly apologised to his then-wife, Tess, during a BBC Radio 1 broadcast. The apology came after messages involving Rhian and four other women became public.
Vernon maintained the exchanges were flirty banter and said he had never acted inappropriately. Further allegations in 2016 claimed he had contacted Rhian again.
In 2020, Rhian said the controversy had damaged her career while Vernon returned to presenting. She discussed the fallout during the Channel 4 documentary Page Three: The Naked Truth.
“He just got away with it. It ruined everything for me,” she said during the programme.
Rhian also said she wished they had never met. Her latest comments again focus on the personal and professional consequences she says followed.
Vernon Kay and Tess Daly’s split
Vernon and Tess announced their separation in May after 23 years of marriage. The pair described their separation as amicable and pledged to remain supportive parents to their daughters.
The old scandal then returned to public discussion, bringing renewed attention to Rhian. That focus has left her hoping the episode will no longer define her future.
Rhian is now married to Oliver Mellor, and the couple shares a son. She says her next decade should mark a new chapter, with the old headlines finally put to rest.
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