Pretty law student Veralie Dela Ackumey today tells how
Chelsea
star Essien, 25, cheated on her at least FIFTY TIMES throughout a
torrid three-year relationship in which he NETTED women on dating
websites.
And the 25-year-old beauty reveals the tactics the philandering
midfielder used time and time again to dribble his way back to
her... WEEPING and even getting his MUM to apologise for
him.
"He has lied through his teeth to cover up what went between us,"
Dela tells the News of the World. "He may
be a successful footballer, but as a person he is a
failure."
"He cheated on me so many times—more than 50."
Loyal Dela even spotted pictures of one lover, ex-£3,000-a-night
hooker Cassie Sumner, semi-naked in Essien's manbag while he was
fishing around for change for a CHURCH COLLECTION.
But the final whistle came after a mesmeric performance even by
Essien's
Chelsea
standards—when he was juggling 25-year-old Cassie, Ghanaian actress
Nadia Buari AND blonde personal trainer Lurata Murati, 28, behind
her back.
Yet all looked rosy when Dela met the
Ghana
international in their home city
Accra
in 2003.
She says: "He wasn't that famous back then and I knew nothing about
football—but we talked about the world and what we wanted from
life. It was natural when we made love and everything clicked
between us."
During their passionate romance he whisked Dela off to live with
him in
Lyon
where he played for the top French side.
It was then that Dela started getting the first inklings of what he
REALLY wanted from life.
"He was getting messages from girls all the time—one from a Ugandan
flight attendant he picked up after an international match," she
says. "I found text messages saying ‘I miss you'. But when I
confronted him he made a great show of how bad he felt about
cheating.
"He cried and begged me not to leave him. He always did that. He
knew how to appeal to my better nature by crying until I pitied
him. He would tell me he desperately wanted to change—that only I
could understand him."
Essien also got his mum
Aba
to help smooth things over whenever he was found out.
"Aba
was well aware what Michael got up to but she'd call me and say
‘Have patience, he will change'," says Dela. "So I stayed patient.
I wanted to help him."
In August 2005 Essien landed his £25 million dream move from
Lyon
to
Chelsea,
taking Dela with him.
"We stayed for the first months at the
Chelsea
Hotel
at
Stamford
Bridge,"
says Dela. "I saw Jose Mourinho there a lot. He was a nice guy. I
found myself standing next to Michael and him at a press conference
live on Sky TV."
But it was a rare appearance as £90,000-a-week Essien made sure
Dela stayed in the background. She admits she wasn't much of a
WAG.
"I went to the matches but I didn't meet any of the other players'
wives or girlfriends," she says. "I just wanted to study law while
they were more interested in shopping."
The couple moved to a £1.5 million home in Cobham,
Surrey,
near
Chelsea's
training ground. But soon Essien's womanising worsened—and he
started using internet dating sites.
Dela recalls: "Michael spent a lot of time on the internet and I
later discovered he was using a dating website called highfive.com
and another more pornographic one. He would call to say he had
something important to do with one of the other
Chelsea
stars. It was the perfect cover for Michael to meet other
women."
Whenever Dela found out and confronted him, he would blame his
friends for leading him astray and beg for forgiveness.
If Essien got into really hot water he would send Dela simpering
letters begging her forgiveness.
One said: "Baby am really really sorry for what has happen, please
forgive me I didn't mean to hurt you. please, am on my knees
pleading for forgiveness. Please find a place in your heart and
forgive me, I promise it will never happen again."
But then came his hat-trick of shame in 2006, World Cup year. First
he got Dela out of the way by sending her back to
Ghana
on business "I was there supposedly representing Michael in a deal
with Nike when I found out about him and personal trainer Lurata in
February," she says. "He has never given a proper reason to my face
for her.
"She later called him a ‘lying, cheating bastard' in a newspaper.
She couldn't have been more accurate."
While Essien was seeing Lurata he took up with 25-year-old actress
Nadia Buari—the woman he's dating now.
Dela says: "He started playing around with her just after the World
Cup. A mutual friend was keeping me updated on what Michael got up
to.
"Again he denied everything to me. He said he'd spoken with Nadia's
sister to warn her to keep away from him."
But while he was seeing both these women, Essien was also hitting
the net with glamour girl Cassie—even moving her into his home.
Although he made sure she was gone whenever Dela
returned.
"My clothes and belongings were always where I'd left them and he
said he missed and loved me," says Dela.
"But he was sleeping with both Cassie and Lurata while I was
away.
"I first knew about Cassie when I wanted Michael to donate some
money for the collection at church. When he opened his bag I saw
three pictures inside of her semi-naked. Yet again, he lied to me.
This time he said a team mate had put them in there. It was typical
of him."
"In fact, he'd pretty much moved Cassie into our house. She had
even been wearing my clothes."
The betrayals got too much for Dela and the couple split in late
2006. Dela, who now lives and studies in
London,
says: "I believe in forgiveness, but it's not fair that he should
use and discard other people in the way he does.
"His fans should know what he's really like."