More than a decade after one of British showbiz’s most infamous scandals, Rhian Sugden has spoken out once again — insisting the fallout destroyed her life and career, while the man at the centre of it all simply moved on.
Rhian, now 34, exchanged explicit text messages with a married TV presenter over a four-month period. While she says the scandal devastated her family and derailed her rising career, she maintains that he “got away with it” — emerging largely unscathed.
The model, who was caught up in the notorious sexting storm involving Vernon Kay, has accused the broadcaster of “ruining” her life — while claiming he was able to apologise publicly and continue his career as if nothing had happened.
At the time the scandal broke, Vernon was married to Tess Daly, a revelation that shocked the public and placed intense scrutiny on all involved.
Speaking in an interview aired shortly before Kay, then 46, entered the Welsh castle for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Rhian said the impact was overwhelming.
“It was awful. My whole family must have been so embarrassed. And he just got away with it. It ruined everything for me.”
She added:
“I felt like my career was going up and up — and then that came along. I wish I’d never met him. He got to apologise on the radio and that was it. It still makes me feel physically sick.”
The pair first met in a nightclub two years before the scandal erupted. What followed, Rhian says, began as mutual attraction and escalated largely through text messages — many of them sent after drinking.
Later speaking in Channel 4’s documentary Page Three: The Naked Truth, she explained:
“There was an attraction there for both of us. I was a Page 3 girl, he was Vernon Kay — a good-looking bloke. It started when he came to Manchester and then it all snowballed, mostly bravado on text, especially when he’d had a drink.”
![Apology: Vernon was famously forced to make a public apology to Tess on BBC Radio 1 back in 2010 after the saucy messages came to light [Vernon and Tess pictured in 2015]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/06/17/07/29489370-8429329-Claims_Rhian_has_now_angrily_claimed_that_it_still_makes_her_fee-a-1_1592375565625.jpg)
Despite the storm, Vernon and Tess’s marriage survived. On his Radio 1 show, Vernon issued a tearful public apology, telling listeners:
“I’ve let down my wife Tess. I’m an idiot. I’ve been stupid and daft, but I’m not a sex pest.”
He went on to promise he would never repeat the behaviour, saying he hoped to “clear the slate and start again.”
Rhian later released her own apology, writing in The Sun:
“I deeply regret creating a friendship with Vernon and allowing him to speak to me the way he did. I should never have got involved with a married man… I can only apologise for my actions and wish you both happiness.”
However, years later, claims emerged that Vernon had contacted Rhian again. He admitted sending messages but insisted Tess was aware and that there was never any inappropriate intent.
By 2020, ahead of his jungle appearance, Vernon dismissed the controversy entirely, stating:
“It’s all in the past. We’ve moved on.”
For Rhian, the pain has never fully faded.
“That was 12 years ago,” she said, “and it still makes me feel sick.”
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
