Ulrika's outrage at 'vile hypocrite' Collymore - How dare he preach about Twitter
death threats?
Brutal ex kicked me in the head and
said: I'll kill you
The former England ace, 43, beat up the TV beauty in 1998 — but has complained
about online death threats and abuse.
Ulrika, 46 — who was kicked in the head — said: “If he’s so against death
threats, why did he say he’d ‘f****** kill’ me? It’s a disgrace.”
She branded internet trolls “pathetic cowards” — just like bullying ex
Collymore.
Ulrika hit out after the former Liverpool striker complained to cops about
threats and racist abuse on Twitter.
She said: “It must be horrendous to be vilified for your beliefs, your colour
or your sexuality. In no way do I agree with trolling or abuse on Twitter.
“The people that do it are pathetic cowards. But Stan is too. He is actually
one of the people he’s criticising.”
Ulrika — who was kicked and punched by Collymore during a stormy relationship
— added: “If Stan is so against death threats, why was he so insistent on
making many death threats against me?
“In a public place, Stan shoved my face to his and said at least twice he
would ‘f****** kill’ me.
“But now he’s the poster boy against threats online. No one should give this
man a platform to claim he is a victim. With his history of violence, it’s
beyond ironic.”
Yesterday — his birthday — talkSPORT pundit Collymore went on countless TV and
radio shows to slam Twitter’s lack of action in tackling his abusers.
He was targeted after claiming Liverpool striker Luis Suarez dived to win a
penalty against Aston Villa.
He tweeted his 505,000 followers: “In the last 24 hours I’ve been threatened
with murder several times, demeaned on my race, and many of these accounts
are still active. Why?”
Mum-of-four Ulrika added: “In no way am I trying to belittle the message he is
putting across.
“Online abuse should be a criminal act. Every week there’s a story of a
teenager who’s been driven to suicide by cowards intent on making other
people’s lives hell.
“I don’t condone them or those idiots who’ve threatened Stan’s life.
“What I do take the greatest objection to is Stan — in the guise as a man
of the people — taking on this campaign without the briefest reflection on
his own behaviour.
“Everyone deserves a second chance but I’ve lost count of the chances Stan has
had.
“He still proves himself to be a callous bully.”
Ulrika said their relationship in 1998 was “fraught with psychological abuse”.
She added: “I never knew where I was with Stan. He would flip between claiming
he want to marry me, to calling me a ‘thick idiot’ and accusing me of
wanting to sleep with other men.
“He was a textbook abuser. He tried to cut me off from my friends, put me down
and made me feel insecure and stupid.”
The final straw came when he attacked her in a Paris bar during the 1998 World
Cup finals in France, dragging her to the floor and kicking her head three
times before being tackled by staff.
She said: “It makes my blood run cold to think what would have happened if
they had not stopped him.
“When I went back to our hotel room I found he had cut up every item of my
clothing.
“He even cut the wire on my hair curlers and ripped open my make-up bag. Those
were the actions of a malicious bully.”
Collymore said afterwards: “Petulance, jealousy and possibly having too much
to drink are the real reasons behind this regrettable and avoidable
incident.”
A year later he received counselling for depression at the Priory clinic,
South London.
Ulrika says: “Stan is full of self-pity. He has rarely, if ever, taken
responsibility for his actions.
“He blamed his physical abuse of me and the women who fell before me on
depression, saying he was ill and that if he had been a drug addict he would
have had more support.”
Another of Collymore’s partners, Lotta Farley, told in 1998 how she spent four
years “living in fear” of him.
In April that year magistrates in his hometown of Cannock, Staffs, cleared him
of assaulting his former girlfriend Michelle Green. She claimed he struck
her after a row over access to their son.
In 2004 The Sun exposed married Collymore for dogging sex sessions and he was
dropped as a BBC commentator. In 2007 he divorced wife Estelle Williams and
was held over claims he threatened to burn down her parents’ house.
The charges were dropped.
Ulrika, now married eight years to third husband Brian Monet, added: “Stan
loves to be a victim — whether it’s a victim of his own depression, racism
or now attacks from strangers on Twitter.
“He has a ‘poor me’ attitude. And it’s incredible how forgiving football is.
No matter what you do — beat a woman, sleep with a prostitute, have an
affair — football and its fans will forgive.
“There are always excuses made for players’ behaviour and Stan is no
different.
“By making himself a respectable spokesperson for this worthy campaign, he is
trying to excuse all the vile things he has done. But there is no excuse.
“I am a victim of Stan Collymore and his protests make me sick to the
stomach.”
Collymore — who was also racially abused on Twitter in 2011 — said yesterday
that kids as young as ten were being goaded by adults into posting abuse.
He accused Twitter of failing to check account holders’ ages and “hiding
behind” claims it cannot comment on individual cases.
Twitter insisted it was dedicated to stopping abuse. It added: “Threats of
violence are against our rules. We will take action if it is reported.”
Staffordshire Police is investigating. And talkSPORT said its staff would stop
promoting Twitter accounts, adding it was “dismayed”.
A spokesman for Collymore declined to comment.