James Haskell has claimed his estranged wife, Chloe Madeley, was ‘groped’ by a well-known rugby star while he was just yards away from her.
The 39-year-old ex-England flanker and fitness guru, 37, were together for over 10 years and married for five before announcing their separation in October 2023.
While neither has elaborated on the reasons for their split, Haskell has shared some insight into their marriage and one particularly disturbing situation they allegedly had to deal with during a night out in a London club.
Opening up in his new book, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, the star claimed Madeley was ‘groped’ by a well-known rugby player, whom he did not name, while another allegedly made drunken advances toward her.
‘I recently had a call from a supposedly squeaky-clean rugby great who was getting up to all sorts of mischief in a notoriously hedonistic European capital,’ he wrote in the book.
The Sun reports Haskell continued: ‘But I wasn’t at all surprised, because the same guy had propositioned Chloe a few years earlier while I was DJ’ing a few feet away, and his teammate, another supposedly squeaky-clean rugby great, was groping her a**e.’
The book goes on to quote a source who was at the club at the same time as the alleged incident, claiming: ‘Chloe was the only girl present when it happened. She was shocked but didn’t make a big thing of it. There had been a fair amount of drinking. Her and James left straight after.’
Haskell, who played for England in both the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups, did not explicitly name the rugby players who were allegedly involved in the incident.
His comments are included in his recently released book, which he co-wrote with Mike Tindall and Alex Payne.
The fitness trainer, daughter of Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley and former This Morning star Judy Finnigan, first began dating Haskell in 2015 and went on to wed in 2018.
After welcoming their daughter, Bohdi, in August 2022, their marriage appeared to hit breaking point. Just over one year later, the pair separated but continued to live together until this summer.
Speaking out about their split for the first time in January during an appearance on Loose Women, Madeley had nothing but kind words to say about her estranged husband and admitted they get on better separated than when they were romantically involved.
‘We get on better now that they’re not romantically involved,’ she admitted.
‘I’m happier now than I’ve ever been, I wish people would stop writing online that that’s a dig at James because it’s not, he’s happy too.
‘Again, can we just stop painting so much drama on it, we’re both happy.
‘I’m happier than I’ve ever been, I’m full of energy, I feel like I’ve got rocket fuel every day.
‘It’s crazy that I didn’t realise that happiness and energy are completely intertwined, but evidently they are.’
The former couple continue to co-parent and remain close friends.
Metro has approached Madeley and Haskell’s representatives for comment.