James Haskell takes a swipe at estranged wife Chloe Madeley and claims he has no money to give her in their divorce because he’s been ‘cancelled too many times’

James Haskell hit out at his estranged wife Chloe Madeley and joked she won’t be getting any money when they divorce. 

The former rugby union player, 38, spoke out about his marriage as he appeared in Bath on Friday for the last of a 17-show run of World Cup Afterparty: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – a live version of his rugby podcast.

Joined by podcast co-hosts Mike Tindall and Alex Payne, the athlete opened up about his relationship with Chloe – whom he split in September – saying she is unreasonable, overly critical and insensitive, and unfair in arguments.

He went on to joke that he’s been hiding all this money offshore to avoid having to pay out to Chloe, 36, in their divorce before claiming that he actually had no money left at all for her because he had been cancelled so many times since the split.

James began the two hour show with a rant about the divorce, addressing the audience by saying: ‘First of all ladies and gentlemen. I can see some of you doing it already very unsubtly.  Please no filming of this show. I’m in the papers enough at the moment!’ 

He continued: ‘Please don’t film it, post it up on social media. What happens now is that whatever I say goes out of my mouth and into your own personal filters. And some of you, (you may) have had a bit of a troubled childhood, or get offended very easily. 

‘I don’t want you to reflect on what I say and think you’re offended and then posting that up. Because I need the cash because I am about to lose half of it.

‘It’s true. That is if she (Chloe) can find it. I always forget where I put it – the Cayman Islands, Switzerland. No, at the moment I haven’t got a pot to p**s in.’

Mike then jumped in to joke: ‘I love the fact you think you are clever enough to hide your cash,’ as James replied: ‘It’s just the stuff I bag under the bed. The amount of times I have been cancelled, I haven’t got a pot to p**s in.’

Moments later, James sets up an anecdote about his friend Mike – who is married to Princess Anne’s daughter Zara – seemingly with the sole purpose of having an unsubtle pop at Chloe again.

He began: ‘Mike’s personality, actually as Zara told us, is “annoyingly honest Mike”. He sounds like a great person, but he’s not. He comes out after eight bottles of rosé and three bottles of red wine.

‘Then he basically tells you everything that you have ever done wrong and where you have gone wrong with complete disregard for any sensitivity – or anything he has ever done wrong – and also is completely out of context. And he won’t be reasoned with and he will not be argued with, right.’

After a short pause for dramatic effect, James continued: ‘Sounds like my wife actually’. 

He then corrected himself to say: ‘Ex-wife actually,’ before adding: ‘No. It’s not official yet. Don’t put that in the papers.’

Later on, James recalled a story where he had ‘to go and meet a lawyer who is a friend of mine’ before adding ‘He’s now more of a business partner’ – a reference to the large amount of time he has recently spent with divorce lawyers.

While James had no issue making subtle jibes at his estranged wife, the pair have continued to live together while they co-parent daughter Bodhi, 16 months. 

Taking to Instagram this week, the personal trainer revealed they had enjoyed a pub lunch date as she shared a snap of the pair out with their daughter. 

Chloe announced in September that she and her husband had separated after five years, just days after their tumultuous relationship played out on her reality series, Chloe Madeley: A Family Affair.

Last week her father Richard Madeley, 67, said he was proud of how the couple have handled their split.

‘It’s a very civilised, grown-up situation,’ he told the Daily Mail at Christmas at Kenwood light trail in Hampstead, North London.

 We’re still family. The split between James and Chloe is all very amicable and they’re getting on really well.’ 

He added of his son-in-law: ‘He was round the house three or four nights ago having a drink, and we’re all having Christmas lunch together.’

Chloe told The Sun at the same event: ‘I’ve already booked all of the adults in our family to see The Nutcracker. We’re all spending Christmas together and James will be there.’

And despite the split, Chloe revealed she’s planning a second series of her ITV2 reality TV show, saying: ‘We’ve pitched it and are waiting to hear. While it’ll be focused primarily on me, everyone will still be involved, (my) parents and James because we co-parent very well.’