Geri Halliwell has been left ‘extremely humiliated’ after a series of intimate messages her Formula 1 boss husband allegedly sent to a female colleague were leaked last night.
Friends of the ex-Spice Girl told the Mail they thought the scandal was finally ‘gone’ after Christian Horner was cleared of wrongdoing on Wednesday.
But now they warn the appearance of the intimate messages will ‘destroy’ Ms Halliwell, 51.
One said: ‘Christian promised all along that there was nothing in it.’
She represented the 50-year-old motorsport driver during an independent investigation by his company after he was accused of coercive behavior towards a female employee.
Friends of the ex-Spice Girl told the Mail she thought the scandal was finally ‘gone’ after Christian Horner (pictured in Bahrain on Thursday) was cleared of wrongdoing on Wednesday.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell pose after the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo di Monza on September 7, 2014
The messages come a day after Horner was told he would be cleared of a Red Bull investigation into his conduct
After being declared free to stay on as team boss of the world championship winning team on a salary of £8 million a year
The Red Bull boss was cleared of wrongdoing, allowing him to keep his £8m-a-year job and fly to Bahrain ahead of the season-opening Grand Prix on Saturday. Friends of his wife said she was “so very relieved” that her family could finally move on with their lives after Horner was in the spotlight for weeks.
But just 24 hours after he was formally acquitted, the Red Bull team boss’s career and marriage appear to have returned to chaos. Hundreds of WhatsApp conversations between Horner and the colleague, some of which were sexual in nature, were released via an anonymous email account.
There is no way to check the validity of the long and frequent messages that seem to switch between the mundane and the intimate.
The tranche of almost 80 screenshots – including a number of images – was sent to hundreds of journalists and key figures in Formula 1. A friend of the former Spice Girl said he now fears the star, who is mortified by the embarrassing row, will be able to understand such public humiliation.
He said: ‘Geri has been living in this happy, happy bubble for so many years, she thought she had her prince and her knight in shining armor but now this.
‘She thought it was all gone, she was elated and over the moon when she heard Christian had been acquitted.
Geri Halliwell is facing fresh torment this evening after WhatsApp texts and photos allegedly exchanged between her F1 husband Christian Horner and a female employee were leaked. Pictured: Halliwell and Horner together at the Monaco Grand Prix last May
Halliwell and Horner attend the gala dinner for the F1 Monaco Grand Prix on May 28, 2023
Halliwell and Horner at the Larkhill Royal Artillery Point to Point in Wiltshire on 27 January
“Geri was pilloried when she got together with Christian because he had just had a baby with another woman, but she has worked hard to get rid of that image of herself and Christian, and especially the idea that they are a is a housewife.
‘Now it’s all falling apart. The tears stopped when the verdict was handed down on Wednesday, but now they have definitely started again. This will destroy her. Christian promised all along that there was nothing in it.’
In recent weeks, Mrs Halliwell is said to have been ‘mortified and angry’ at her husband of almost ten years, with whom she has a seven-year-old son, for humiliating her.
A source close to the star said she was ‘not sure what to believe’ throughout the saga but was determined to make it through their marriage unscathed.
‘Geri is not a fishwife, but she finally has the man she wanted and she doesn’t want to let him go. This could be a big dilemma for her,” the source said.
Among those who received the file ahead of this weekend’s race were FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali.
The Spice Girls star said she is ‘very grateful’ that Christian Horner is her ‘best friend’
Horner and Halliwell in a holiday photo taken on an unknown beach at Christmas
The couple married in 2015 in a star-studded ceremony at St Mary’s Church in Woburn
All team leaders also received copies, as did the father of Red Bull star Max Verstappen, Jos.
Shortly after the leak, Horner released a statement saying: “I will not comment on anonymous speculation, but I repeat: I have always denied the allegations.
“I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and cooperated fully with it every step of the way. It was a thorough and fair investigation, carried out by an independent specialist lawyer, and the complaint was dismissed. I remain fully focused on the start of the season.’
The world champion team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH in Salzburg, had launched an investigation into the allegations against Horner on February 5.
The company announced its conclusion on Wednesday, saying: ‘The independent investigation into the allegations against Mr Horner has been completed and Red Bull can confirm that the complaint has been dismissed. The complainant has a right of appeal. Red Bull is confident that the investigation was fair, rigorous and impartial. ‘
Horner, who has won 13 world championships since taking charge of the team as a 31-year-old in 2005, had previously thanked his “very supportive wife” for her support during the allegations.