By Alison Boshoff and Katie Hind and Arthur Parashar
21:39 01 Mar 2024, updated 22:20 01 Mar 2024
- Horner was previously cleared of misconduct by an independent investigation
Geri Halliwell is facing the ‘biggest decision of her life’ over whether to leave her husband Christian Horner amid the text leak scandal, friends have revealed.
The Red Bull boss, 50, had been cleared of allegations of ‘coercive behaviour’ on Wednesday, but 24 hours later flirtatious text messages apparently exchanged between him and the female complainant were divulged to 149 F1 figures.
Halliwell, who married Horner at a star-studded wedding in 2015, touched down in Bahrain on a private jet on Thursday night to meet her husband ahead of this weekend’s Formula One season opener in the Middle East.
The Mail understands that the former Spice Girl left the UK before the leak and went ‘into meltdown’ when she arrived. Friends say that they are ‘deeply concerned’ for her and that she appeared ‘fragile’ some weeks ago when they saw her.
Halliwell, 51, will most likely now return to the couple’s country house in the Cotswolds and take her time to decide what to do about her marriage behind closed doors.
She knows she is facing the biggest decision of her life, one of her close friends has told Mail+. ‘She acts on impulse a lot,’ one friend said. ‘She has a temper on her, that’s for sure, and doesn’t Christian know it.
‘But the question now that her inner circle is asking is whether Christian will be sent to the dog house for a few days or whether this is it for good. She worked hard for all of this, she jumped through hoops to get him, so will she dump him?
Friends of the star say it would ‘break her heart’ to end her marriage to Christian — the man she sees as the ‘Prince Charming’ she has longed for since she was a little girl.
It’s believed that the scandal has put the couple’s marriage ‘in question for the first time’.
Halliwell has not yet been seen in the paddock since arriving in Bahrain – where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen attempted to take the spotlight off Horner by taking pole position in qualifying.
The world champion was 0.228 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second, while Mercedes’ George Russell came third and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton had to settle for ninth.
As it stands, Halliwell is planning to be at tomorrow’s Grand Prix in a public show of solidarity.
The plan is that she will be at Horner’s side on the pre-race grid, alongside his major ally on the Red Bull board, Thai billionaire Chalerm Yoovidhya, who owns 51 per cent of the energy drinks company.
One insider told Mail Sport ahead of the GP: ‘She [Halliwell] took off before the email landed. I don’t know whether she will be at the race but it will be mayhem if she is.
‘It would be nuts. She may even be flying home.’
As she arrived, her husband was pulled from the pit wall into a meeting with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
The couple had breathed a collective sigh of relief on Wednesday when Red Bull cleared Horner of misconduct and inappropriate behaviour allegations following a probe into his alleged relationship with the employee.
But the complainant fired back today, as a source close to her told MailOnline that she was ‘very unhappy’ at Red Bull’s decision to clear the F1 boss.
A relative of the female employee said: ‘My reaction to all this is that it is disgusting. In the words of Red Bull, Christian Horner has been cleared but I think many people look at that answer and can’t quite fathom out the truth behind it.
‘It’s obviously not going to rest now because of these leaks. I wasn’t aware of the messages prior to them being picked up by the media and I have no idea at all who is responsible for the leak.
‘You always believe your own, don’t you? I haven’t read the text messages but there was never any relationship between her and Christian – God, no. She doesn’t discuss that sort of stuff with us.
‘If you work for a person like him, you live with many pieces of information that are not to be disclosed. She certainly hasn’t spoken to me about it.’
The source went on: ‘We speak every day and she’s very unhappy – of course. In her way of thinking it’s all very one-sided and she’s been crucified.
‘Are the Red Bull investigation team independent? Who knows? They’ve made comparisons in the newspapers about Christian being grilled for 12 hours or so…well how many hours was she grilled for? They don’t ask that question, but it is a lot more than that.’
On Thursday, a series of WhatsApp texts and photographs were released to dozens of journalists and key figures in sport, throwing the scandal back into the public into the spotlight once again.
Horner vowed to fight on within hours of the scandal deepening, and was today pictured in his Red Bull gear ahead of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
It comes as friends close to Halliwell, who stood by her husband of nine years resolutely throughout the internal probe, revealed she is ‘having the meltdown to end all meltdowns over the leaks’.
The mother-of-two has been left ‘feeling humiliated’ after the messages were spread ‘so widely out there’, a friend added.
Hundreds of intimate WhatsApp exchanges purportedly between Horner and the colleague were released via an anonymous email account.
Horner was only cleared by Red Bull’s Salzburg-based parent company – and told he could stay on as team principal of the world-championship on a £8million-a-year-salary – 24 hours before the texts dropped.
Halliwell had told friends that she was ‘relieved and elated’ that the claims against her partner, with whom she shares seven-year-old son Monty, had finally been dropped.
Friends of the Spice Girl told the Mail she thought the scandal had ‘finally gone away’ but have warned the appearance of the intimate messages – to which there are 79 screenshots – could ‘destroy’ her.
One said: ‘All along Christian promised there was nothing in it.’
Another said he now fears for how the star, who has been left mortified at the embarrassing fall out, will be able to comprehend such a public humiliation.
He said: ‘Geri has been living in this happy, happy bubble for so many years now, she thought she had her prince and her knight in shining armour but now this.
‘She thought that it had all gone away, she was delighted and over the moon when she learned Christian had been cleared.
‘Geri was pilloried when she got together with Christian because he had just had another baby with another woman but she has worked hard to rid that image of herself and Christian, and in particular that she is a homewrecker.
‘Now it has all come crashing down. The tears stopped when the judgment came in on Wednesday, now they absolutely will have started again.
‘This will destroy her. All along Christian promised there was nothing in it.’
One source close to the star said that she ‘wasn’t sure what to believe’ throughout the saga but was determined to get through it with their marriage unscathed.
‘Geri is no fish wife but she finally got the man she wanted and she won’t want to let him go. This could end up being a big dilemma for her,’ the source said.
The tranche of messages were sent to FIA president Mohammad Ben Sulayem and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali. All the team principals were copied in, along with star driver Max Verstappen’s father Jos.
Earlier this month Halliwell had briefly unfollowed world champion Verstappen on Instagram after the allegations against Horner first came to light. Sources close to the star said last night that this was an ’emotional reaction’ which she thought would go unnoticed.
Reigning world champion Verstappen was quizzed ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday over whether Red Bull’s probe into Horner had impacted or altered the team’s preparations for the season.
The Dutchman, insisting that his focus has not been altered, replied: ‘It doesn’t. I’m very focused on just the performance of the car and myself.
‘Hopefully it will be resolved very soon. It’s a whole team effort that everyone has to stick together and work to more success, so that’s why it’s important to get everything resolved very soon.
‘(Horner) is very important otherwise he wouldn’t have been in that position for such a long time.’
The intense spotlight on Horner in recent weeks had already started to take a strain on the couple’s home life – which they split between their farmhouse, and stables, in Oxfordshire and a home in North London.
A source close to the pair said last night the last few weeks had been ‘hell for Christian and his family’ and he had always branded the claims as being ‘nuts’.
‘Geri is devastated and has been struggling to eat and sleep. Her family and fellow Spice Girls are worried about her,’ the source said last week ahead of Horner being cleared.
‘I hear Christian is trying to pep her up to stay positive, but she has gone to ground in the way she did after she left the Spice Girls. She’s not speaking to anyone.’
Shortly after the leak yesterday, Horner released a statement which read: ‘I will not comment on anonymous speculation, but to reiterate I have always denied the allegations.
‘I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way.
‘It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister, and it has concluded dismissing the complaint made. I remain fully focused on the start of the season.’
Announcing its conclusion on Wednesday, the company said: ‘The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed.
The complainant has a right of appeal. Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial. ‘
Horner, who has won 13 world championships since heading the team as a 31-year-old in 2005, had previously thanked his ‘very supportive wife’ for her backing during the accusations.
Halliwell and Horner mixed in social circles before they struck up a romance, having first met each other at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2009.
‘[Geri] was a guest of [former CEO of the Formula One Group] Bernie Ecclestone’s in Monaco one year and came down the pit lane,’ Horner previously told The Telegraph. ‘I remember [McLaren boss] Ron Dennis was standing next to me and Eddie Jordan was there as well.
‘She gave Ron a kiss on the cheek, and she gave Eddie a kiss on the cheek. So I thought, ‘OK, I’m on for a kiss on the cheek here!’ And I went to give her one and she shoved her hand out at me.’
Their relationship, however, got off to a rocky start, coming under fire after the Red Bull chief left his long-term partner Beverley Allen six months after she gave birth to their daughter Olivia.
While the couple took a short break to see if Horner could rescue his relationship with the mother of his child, just nine months later he announced his engagement to Ginger Spice in an advertisement in the The Times in 2014.
It said: ‘The engagement is announced between Christian, son of Mr and Mrs G.M. Horner and Geraldine, daughter of the late Mr L.F. Halliwell and Mrs A Parkinson.’
The former Spice Girl and Red Bull boss tied the knot at St Mary’s Church in Woburn, Bedfordshire, in 2015.
Halliwell’s A-line lace bridal gown was designed by British designer Phillipa Lepley.
Her nine-year-old daughter, Bluebell, whom she had with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi in 2005, also attended the wedding.
Guests included Geri’s former Spice Girls co-star Emma Bunton, radio presenter and singer Myleene Klass, and TV presenter Amanda Holden.
Christian’s parents were reportedly left devastated when the sporting professional left Ms Allen to be with the chart-topping star and therefore chose not to see the duo tie the knot.
A source close to the couple previously said: ‘Geri and Christian are disappointed that his parents aren’t coming.’
Horner has won 13 world championships since heading the team as a 31-year-old in 2005. He was then the youngest team principal on the grid, yet is now its longest-serving.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
