Vanessa Parroncel pictured yesterday
There is a word the French use to describe women like
Vanessa Perroncel. The word is effronte, and it means barefaced, or
shameless.
One could think of a number of other adjectives to describe the
pneumatic Miss Perroncel, but 'shameless' is probably the most
polite.
Indeed, the moral charge sheet against Miss Perroncel -
including not only her betrayal of her former fiance; (Wayne
Bridge) but also her best friend (Toni Poole - 'Mrs John Terry') -
is almost as long as the list of Chelsea footballers she is accused
of bedding.
We have now been given the names of another two Stamford Bridge
stars who allegedly succumbed to Miss Perroncel's charms, bringing
the grand total to seven - four of whom were named publicly in a
red-top newspaper yesterday.
A source close to Vanessa last night told The Sun: "To say
she's a Chelsea Girl is a bit of an understatement.
Perhaps by the end of the week she will have been linked
to a full team of 11 highly paid Chelsea
footballers.
Even by the sometimes dubious standards which inevitably come
with being an England WAG (the so-called Wives And Girlfriends
club), the 33-year-old is in a league of her own: shopping and fake
tans are one thing; Miss Perroncel's predilections are of another
order.
Who else but Miss Perroncel could have had an affair with
England captain Terry, fallen pregnant by him, had an abortion,
wrecking God knows how many lives in the process, then touted her
story around Fleet Street - for a figure in excess of £250,000 -
promising to set the record straight as though she was the victim
of this shabby debacle which threatens to derail England's World
Cup campaign?
Of course, Terry's past, from his almost pathological
philandering to his regular displays of boorishness, is an open
book which has been examined in forensic detail over the past few
revelation-filled days.
But, until now at least, little has been known of Vanessa
Perroncel. "During each affair she was always a single girl. "But
by the time she got to John Terry she'd achieved her own
five-a-side football team." Revelations of Vanessa's flings will
heap further embarrassment on defender Terry, 29, as he comes under
pressure to quit as England captain.
Affair: John Terry and Wayne Bridge
She first came to our attention during the last World
Cup, in Germany in 2006. Perroncel - and three of her fellow WAGs -
armed with platinum credit cards tore through the boutiques of
Baden Baden, spending £4,000 in just under an hour on Gucci, Prada
and £500 sunglasses.
She was pregnant with Bridge's son, Jaydon, at the time and
proudly showed off her bump by the swimming pool. 'It's really
fantastic news,' she trilled, 'and we are both very excited about
it.'
It is one the many images that have now come back to haunt Miss
Perroncel. Her life as a WAG, complete with Surrey mansion and
Range Rover, is far removed from her humble upbringing in her
native France, where her family ran a struggling fashion
boutique.
Of course, as we know, poor Wayne was not the first Chelsea
player to fall for the French beauty.
Eidur Gudjohnsen, left, who has just joined
Tottenham, denies having an affair with Perroncel, who has also
been linked to Adrian Mutu
Let's go through the list. One of the stars, it is
claimed, was Eidur Gudjohnsen, who left Chelsea in 2006 after six
years - and has just joined London rivals Tottenham after spells
with Barcelona and Monaco.
Gudjohnsen, 31, and Miss Perroncel are said to have begun seeing
each other in 2003. The previous year Gudjohnsen, a married father
of three, was caught cheating on his wife; on that occasion, the
other woman was a blonde, not a brunette.
The Icelandic-born player is said to have visited Miss Perroncel
at her flat near Stamford Bridge, before sneaking out at 5am.
Gudjohnsen, who denies having an affair with her, is alleged to
have dumped Miss Perroncel.
Sources also claim she slept with shamed Romanian star Adrian
Mutu.
The fling came before the married striker was sold by Chelsea
and hit with a seven-month worldwide ban after testing positive for
cocaine in 2004.
There is also a fifth player, who cannot be named for legal
reasons. Our own inquiries have also linked Miss Perroncel to
another two current Chelsea stars.
One wonders what her family makes of it back in France. Her late
father, Jean-Claude, and mother, Annie, ran a fashion boutique in
Bandol, a picturesque seaside resort in Provence on France's south
coast.
Vanessa was their only child and the couple doted on her. But
the business struggled and the marriage was marred by constant rows
over money. Her parents would eventually split up, and Mrs
Perroncel moved to Paris with Vanessa.
Mr Perroncel did have other girlfriends, and even fathered
another daughter. But he never got over the split with his wife.
Aged 51, and racked with debts, he took his own life.
Affair: John Terry with wife Toni, who is busy shopping
in Dubai
'Obviously from an early age Vanessa realised the power
of money and the effect it can have on people's lives,' her uncle
Bernard Perroncel said last night. 'She saw what money problems had
done to her parents' marriage and her father, and she never wanted
it to happen to her.
'After her father's funeral Vanessa made the decision to leave
France and move to England because she wanted a better life.
'Certainly, she was very pretty and very charming, like her mother,
and she decided to use those attributes to her advantage.'
In any event, Vanessa finally arrived in Britain about ten years
ago. She began lodging with retired carpenter Rob Todd and his wife
Margaret at their modest semi in a cul-de-sac in Newington,
South-East London, where she rented a room for around £500 a month
- and travelled everywhere by bus.
Her vital statistics - she is 5ft 9in with a 34-24-34 figure -
and sultry looks meant she was never short of 'modelling'
assignments. The internet is awash with pictures of a scantily
dressed Miss Perroncel posing for this or that lads' magazine. In
one, a miniature JCB is driving over her naked flesh.
Break: Toni Terry strolls along a Dubai beach near
to where she is staying with her twin daughters and a
friend
But, although she was never short of work, it was not
particularly lucrative. After about three years, she was forced to
move out of her digs. 'Vanessa said she couldn't afford the rent
any more,' recalled Mr Todd. 'We were very sorry to lose
her.'
Of course, Britain, unlike France, offered a more profitable
career path for someone of Miss Perroncel's talent. But then the
modelling was only a means to an end. Bagging a rich and famous
boyfriend was the ultimate goal, if you can excuse the pun, for
Vanessa Perroncel and countless other girls like her.
Few, however, could have been quite as spectacularly successful
as Miss Perroncel.
Celebrity boyfriend Number One was not a footballer, however,
but the next best thing: a member of a successful pop group.
Relationship: Perroncel and Lee Latchford Evans,
former Steps singer, pictured at a film premiere together in 2002,
dated for two years
Lee Latchford Evans, the former Steps singing star, had
a two-year relationship with Miss Perroncel which ended in
2002.
Speaking for the first time about their fling yesterday, he
said: 'Vanessa is the type who likes to be looked after, to be
treated well. You have to have money to be able to do that.
'That's what she always wanted. That's what she is about. 'She
was always going to move on to bigger fish. I gave her a taste of
celebrity and she wanted more.
‘Footballers earn so much money. She knew how to climb the
ranks. 'She was always going to be with someone who could look
after her and who was very good at what they do. She found that
with me, and she's found that with other people.'
And so to the exclusive Elysium nightclub in London's Soho.
Chelsea players were regular visitors to the establishment's VIP
lounge, where up to £15,000 a night was often spent on Cristal
champagne.
Guess who ended up getting a job there, first on the door, then
as a VIP hostess?
Girls there earned only about £150 a week, but this bore no
resemblance to the money they could earn in tips.
Coincidentally, it was at the Elysium in 2004 that John Terry
met former porn star Karina Clarke, who claimed they had a
one-night stand (Toni Poole was then his long-term - and
long-suffering - girlfriend, not his wife).
And it was at the Elysium that Miss Perroncel was introduced to
Wayne Bridge, her future fiance; and father of her three-year-old
son. Of course, Bridge was not the first Chelsea player to fall for
the French beauty.
Did he know this? How could he not have done - the list, as the
Mail has been told, stands at seven.
One of them, of course was allegedly Eidur Gudjohnsen, who
warned his then team-mate Bridge not to get involved with Miss
Perroncel, according to a club source.
Indeed, her reputation, and 'romantic' track record was common
knowledge among the players in the Chelsea dressing room.
'Vanessa's ambition in life was to become a WAG,' said the
source. 'She worked at the Elysium knowing that she would bump into
players on a regular basis.'
Someone who met Miss Perroncel back in those days put it even
more bluntly. 'She was a real piece of work,' he said. Indeed, as
Miss Perroncel grew closer to the players and their wives, she even
joined the Chelsea Club, a private gym and fitness centre within
the Stamford Bridge development.
Either way, Bridge ignored the warnings of Gudjohnsen - and all
the others - and embarked on a relationship with Miss Perroncel in
around 2005. It was the start of a chain of events that would have
cataclysmic repercussions - which began to unravel when Bridge
moved to Manchester City last year.
In December, Bridge and Miss Perroncel announced that they were
splitting up. Shamelessly, Miss Perroncel blamed Bridge for the
break-up. 'Players and friends led him astray [in Manchester]. He
was going out more than he should have done,' she said at the
time.
We now know that Bridge's best friend, John Terry, had been
popping round to his mansion in Oxshott, Surrey, to offer 'support'
to Miss Perroncel. Terry and his wife Toni live just round the
corner.
It says something about Miss Perroncel that she could cheat not
only on her fiance; but also on the woman who was her best friend
and coffee morning partner. Under different circumstances, you
would not be reading any of this.
Terry took out an injunction to prevent a Sunday tabloid
revealing his disgraceful conduct two weeks ago. The judge
initially granted the gagging order.
The following night, Miss Perroncel was living it up at London's
Chinawhite nightclub with Elen Rives, the former partner of Chelsea
star Frank Lampard, who was celebrating her 35th birthday.
Miss Rives is believed to be one of the few WAGs standing by
Miss Perroncel.
Might the two have toasted the judge who ruled that John Terry's
dirty secret was to remain just that?
'Wayne (Bridge) was horrified that Vanessa and Elen Rives spent
that Saturday night drinking and partying at Chinawhite,' says a
friend. 'She was there throwing herself about on the dance floor,
flirting and thinking she had escaped.'
As we said, shameless.
