Sunday Night
Bloodied and beaten by her partner of five years, Melissa George thought she had hit rock bottom as he stood over her and taunted: ‘Now you’re a real actress, now you’re a real actress.’
From that moment, she knew her ‘fairytale’ relationship with wealthy Frenchman Jean David Blanc – ‘one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever met in my life’ – was irrevocably finished.
Vomiting in pain and fear after fleeing the couple’s Paris home, at first the stricken star could not even speak when Uber driver Owais Atique took her to the police.
‘She had fallen on the ground. She was crying and shocked. I could see blood everywhere,’ he says. ‘She said my husband hit me and I have two babies in the apartment.’
Owais offered to go and get her sons – Raphael, three, and Solal, 15 months old – but Melissa said they were OK and with the nanny.
The humiliation and heartbreak was bad, but worse was in store. Days later, the nanny disappeared for hours with Melissa’s two little boys, leaving the anxious mother alone and desperate to breastfeed her son.
‘I called her 15,000 times,’ the Heartbeat star says emotionally. ‘If you ever want to see a woman that is close to ending her life, you take two babies away from a mother… and the father’s just [been released from police custody] and the passports of your children are gone. So what do you imagine?’
Melissa is aware that speaking out is risky, with French courts still to finalise custody and financial issues. But breaking down in tears, she explains:
‘I have no other choice… I’ve got nothing [except] my story.’
Isolated in Paris with only her mother for comfort, the Hollywood actress is unable to leave the country to seek work, and accuses Jean David of refusing to support her or their children.
Melissa’s lawyer strongly denies recent claims that the Home And Away star knowingly tried to flee France with her boys in a borrowed private jet soon after the couple’s bust-up, despite court orders forbidding overseas travel.
Jean David says his ‘crazy’ ex-lover has bipolar disorder and struck him first, forcing him to retaliate in self-defence. According to him, much of her story is simply made up, faked by an award-winning performer.
Melissa hits back with allegations that his family and staff have spied on her and stolen valuables, including her passport and those of the children, from her dressing room. It’s a far cry from the ‘happily ever after’ marriage of her dreams.
For the full story, see this week’s New Idea – out now.
You might also like…
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
