Geri Halliwell’s VERY star-studded exes amid her marriage crisis with husband Christian Horner: From lesbian romp with Mel B to Robbie Williams romance and Russell Brand fling
Geri Halliwell previously said ‘I think we all know that relationships haven’t been one of my strong points’.
The Spice Girl, 51, is now facing the biggest crisis of her nearly 10 year marriage to the Red Bull Formula One boss, 50.
On Thursday, a series of humiliating text exchanges between the F1 boss and a female subordinate were leaked after he was cleared of misconduct and inappropriate behaviour allegations following a probe into his alleged relationship with the employee.
Horner told Sky Sports on Thursday morning: ‘I’m just pleased that the process is over, I can’t comment about it.
‘The focus is very much now on the Grand Prix and the season ahead and to defend both of our titles.’
When asked if he felt this was the end of the matter, the Red Bull chief replied: ‘I can’t give you any further comment but the process has been conducted and concluded. I’m pleased to be here in Bahrain and look on to the season ahead.
‘The unity in the team has never been stronger.’
Friends close to Geri, who stood by her husband resolutely throughout the internal probe, revealed she is ‘having the meltdown to end all meltdowns’.
The Spice Girl had planned to fly out to the Grand Prix taking place in Bahrain this weekend to reunite publicly with Christian, but those close to the former popstar have said it is now ‘highly unlikely’ she will join him.
Instead the mother-of-two has been left ‘feeling humiliated’ after the messages were spread ‘so widely out there’, a friend added.
As their marriage comes under pressure, we take a look of Geri’s past love life which include a string of famous exes and engagements.
Geri Halliwell is now facing the biggest crisis of her nearly 10 year marriage to Red Bull Formula One boss Christian Horner, 50 – here we take a look at her exes
Mel B (1994)
In 2019, Mel B, 49, made the shock admission she had sex with Geri Horner during the height of their fame in the nineties. Geri has never commented on Mel’s claims (pictured in 1997)
Who: Geri’s Spice Girl bandmate Mel B
When: In 1994
The romance: In 2019, Mel B, 49, made the shock admission she had sex with Geri during the height of their fame in the nineties.
Bisexual singer Mel made the shock admission while filming for Piers Morgan‘s Life Stories.
She said: ‘We were best friends. It just happened. She (Geri) is going to hate me for this because she is all posh in her country house and her husband, but it’s a fact. It just happened and we just giggled at it and that was it. She had great boobs.’
Geri has never commented on Mel’s claims.
Giovanni Laporta (1997)
Who: Giovanni Laporta, a Porsche-driving, double-glazing salesman from her home town of Watford, three years her senior.
When: Three weeks in January, 1997, at the beginning of the Spice Girls‘ runaway success.
The romance: Geri, then 25, was said to be ‘crazy’ about Giovanni, who ran a firm called Elite Windows. They met in a nightclub. A friend said at the time: ‘He loves the fact that Geri is a Spice Girl.’
She dumped him a few days after the romance became public saying she was ‘too busy’ for love.
Jamie Morrison (1998)
Polo player Jamie Morrison, son of Bryan, a pop publishing tycoon who also owns the Royal Berkshire Polo Club was the first of many high-society squeezes for Geri
Who: Polo player Jamie Morrison, son of Bryan, a pop publishing tycoon who also owns the Royal Berkshire Polo Club was the first of many high-society squeezes for Geri.
When: They met in 1998 when Geri rented a castle in County Wicklow for Christmas, it belonged to one of Jamie’s friends and he came over to visit.
The romance: Jamie invited her horse-riding. ‘I’m very happy with Jamie,’ Geri said. ‘It’s early days, but we have lots in common. He likes music and, believe it or not, I actually like polo.’
Friends of Geri’s said that he was ‘too dull’ for her. In her autobiography, she later noted they had ‘very little in common’.
Chris Evans (1999)
Chris and Geri had a romance back in November 1999. She said of it: ‘It was as authentic as relationships go, in my shabby experience of relationships’
Who: Chris Evans, now 42, radio DJ and TV star
When: At the peak of his fame two weeks in November 1999.
The romance: At this point, Geri had left the Spice Girls and had just released a solo single, Lift Me Up. She was seen entering and leaving Chris’s London flat in a blaze of publicity that many believed had been cooked up by PR spinner Matthew Freud, who had both of them on his books as clients.
The pair took part in a televised mock marriage on Evans’s TV chat show, TFI Friday. Asked if she would take the presenter to be her husband, Geri said: ‘Will it help me sell more records?’ before replying: ‘I do.’ Chris said: ‘Will it get me in the papers?’ before adding: ‘I do.’ Geri’s single went to No 1.
Chris moved on to date actress Anna Friel, and Geri was left apparently devastated, and insisted soon afterwards it had not been a stunt.
‘It was as authentic as relationships go, in my shabby experience of relationships,’ she said.
Robbie Williams (2000 – 2001)
Robbie and Geri enjoyed a romance together in the early noughties and spent a lengthy vacation in the south of France but they split after Robbie thought she tipped off the paparazzi
Who: Singer and former Take That boyband member
When: Between 2000 – 2001
The romance: Robbie and Geri enjoyed a romance together in the early noughties and spent a lengthy vacation in the south of France with Robbie’s songwriting partner, Guy Chambers and his wife Emma.
The Take That singer explained their relationship started whilst he was going through Alcoholics Anonymous and he was warned against getting into a relationship with anybody at a time of fragility.
Robbie openly stated in his Netflix documentary that it was the happiest he had been in ten years, but his paranoia got the better of him.
He said: ‘We really got on really well, it was fun, and we were just a little gang that were sharing a very magical moment, in a magical place.’
Rumours emerged that Geri was calling the paparazzi on the pair of them whilst they were trying to enjoy their time together, and Robbie said he believed them at the time and so split from Geri.
He reflected: ‘Now I don’t think that’s true for one second, but at the time I did believe it. It just goes to show what being in the spotlight can do to your psyche, when you can’t trust anybody.’
Bobby Hashemi (2001)
Geri dated Bobby Hashemi, the charming Iranian-born founder of the Coffee Republic chain, worth around £45 million for three months in 2021
Who: Bobby Hashemi, the charming Iranian-born founder of the Coffee Republic chain, worth around £45 million.
When: Three months in 2001.
The romance: The pair were introduced by Hashemi’s sister, Sahar, who had the same yoga instructor as Geri. Ginger Spice adored Hashemi, a polo enthusiast, and took lessons in the sport and watched him play at Cowdray Park in West Sussex.
Bobby was reportedly horrified when she suggested they should move in together, which brought a hasty end to things.
Demian Warner (2002)
Demian Warner, a former drug addict and son of a wealthy Chicago businessman was with Geri for five months in 2002
Who: Demian Warner, a former drug addict and son of a wealthy Chicago businessman.
When: Five months in 2002.
The romance: They met at the Cottonwood rehabilitation clinic in Arizona, where Dermian was being treated for drug addiction and Geri was receiving counselling for an eating disorder. Within a few weeks they moved in together in Los Angeles.
When Geri came to the UK, to be a judge on television show Popstars: The Rivals, he came with her and they were inseparable. They got engaged within a few weeks of meeting.
A friend said at the time: ‘Geri is over the moon that Demian has asked her to marry him. She’s very much in love.’
The first hint of any trouble came when she shouted at him after he got chatting to another woman during filming. Demian then went back to the U.S. and she dumped him by email.
It was reported at the time they had argued over her insistence on a pre-nuptial agreement. It later emerged he called her ‘Shorty Spice’ and felt pressured by her into proposing marriage in the first place.
She said later that year: ‘I think becoming famous arrested my development. I was emotionally immature and, as a result, unable to have strong, intimate relationships with men.’
Duncan James (2004)
Duncan James and Geri were rumoured to be a thing in 2004, with the Blue boyband member later revealing he felt relieved of the rumours as he was struggling to express his sexuality (pictured in 2004)
Who: Blue boyband member
When: The summer of 2004.
The romance: The intimacy sprang up after they were asked to present music festival Party In The Park together.
In late 2004, James had a fling with former girlfriend Claire Grainger resulting in daughter Tianie-Finn being born the following year.
Duncan came out as bisexual in 2009 before confirming he was gay in 2017.
He said of the romance rumours with Geri in a previous interview with The Mirror: ‘I remember when I was in Blue the first time around, there were all these rumours I was dating my friends Geri, Martine and Tara [Palmer- Tomkinson] and I used to feel relieved.’
Geri, meanwhile, was also linked to Duncan’s Blue boyfriend member Lee Ryan.
Jerry O’Connell (2004)
Geri had a short fling with the actor in 2004 which ended in October of that year after they had been dating for barely a month
Who: American actor Jerry O’Connell, now 50
When: A short fling with the actor in 2004 which ended in October of that year after they had been dating for barely a month.
The romance: Geri is said to have told friends she thought Jerry was ‘The One’.
She met his parents for dinner, and even discussed house-hunting for a property with him in the Hollywood Hills, while hinting that they were considering starting a family.
But weeks later, the relationship was over, with Geri’s ‘friends’ going on the publicity offensive with claims that Geri had called off the romance with the then 29-year-old because he was ‘too laddish’.
Sacha Gervasi (2005)
Sacha is well connected and met Geri socially. Their fling was over by the time she realised she was pregnant by him with their daughter Bluebell (pictured in 2012)
Who: Sacha Gervasi, a heavy-set screenwriter based in Los Angeles.
When: Six-week fling in the summer of 2005.
The romance: Sacha, who spent time in rehab in the early Nineties for an addiction to heroin, is well connected and met Geri socially. Their fling was over by the time she realised she was pregnant by him.
He is now married to banking heiress Jessica de Rothschild.
Geri spoke about raising Bluebell, now 17, as a single parent in a candid interview last year.
‘Being a single parent, mother you don’t have to answer to anyone, but it’s all on you. And that can be quite stressful and you have to be responsible. All the responsibilities are on you in every way,’ she said.
‘Broad shoulders are needed and sometimes it’s lonely. So I’ve experienced that. And then, you know, having the blessing of having a lovely husband or partner, which I’ve experienced. That’s amazing.
‘So it’s not all on you, but then you’ve got to compromise, we might have, you know, we’re all different in the way we think things should be done. So learning to be a team, which has been a challenge for me.’
David Walliams (2007)
Geri and David Walliams were rumoured to have had a six-week dalliance in 2007, but they have never spoken about it (pictured in 2007)
Who: Comedian and former Britain’s Got Talent judge, 52
When: A six-week dalliance in 2007.
The romance: The pair had known each other on the celebrity circuit for years, but struck up a discreet romance in January. A source said at the time: ‘They are very tactile with each other and he’s such a gent. Geri just can’t stop smiling.’
They never got around to making any public comment about the relationship.
Ivan ‘Flipz’ Velez (2008)
Geri fell for Flipz after he was assigned to be the man who held her aloft when she sang It’s Raining Men. Towards the end of the Spice Girls tour in 2008
Who: Ivan ‘Flipz’ Velez, a backing dancer on the Spice Girls reunion tour.
When: Seven months in 2008.
The romance: Geri fell for Flipz after he was assigned to be the man who held her aloft when she sang It’s Raining Men. Towards the end of the Spice Girls tour, their friendship started to intensify.
They conducted their romance in Los Angeles and, in the UK, and he reportedly became close to Bluebell.
Ivan was ‘surprised’ when Geri reportedly broke up with him over the phone, having apparently realised he wasn’t quite the man of her dreams.
Fabrizio Politi (2008 – 2009)
The singer met Italian tycoon Fabrizio in a nightclub in Florence, Italy, and Geri was delighted to announce their engagement just one whirlwind week later, complete with a £150,000 ring
Who: Fabrizio Politi, Italian shipping tycoon.
When: Four months from 2008 into 2009.
The romance: They met in a nightclub in Florence, Italy, and Geri was delighted to announce their engagement just one whirlwind week later, complete with a £150,000 ring.
Fabrizio, equally delighted, said he had been waiting for 15 years to find his ideal woman, and knew at once that she was the right one for him.
But they split in 2009 with Fabriozio saying Geri suddenly got cold feet about marriage. He said: ‘Out of nowhere there was a very bad situation between us.’
Still, he called the liaison ‘the happiest three months of my life’.
Henry Beckwith (2009 – 2012)
Geri was in a two year relationship with Henry Beckwith, socialite and heir to the property fortune made by his father, Sir John Beckwith from 2009 – 2011
Who: Henry Beckwith, socialite and heir to the property fortune made by his father, Sir John Beckwith.
When: On and off for two years from 2009 until 2011.
The romance: It was an easy-going affair at first. But, as time went on, Geri became deeply fond of Beckwith and the couple were even said to be secretly engaged.
Split when Geri decided that she ‘didn’t trust him’.
Ginger Spice and Henry split amid rumours that his wealthy family did not approve of the relationship and his eye had begun to wander.
They remained on good terms and were pictured heading to events together after their split.
Russell Brand (2012)
The couple initially bonded over their ‘spiritual connection’ and mutual love of yoga in 2012, but Geri put the breaks on the relationship amid claims Russell was ‘too intense’ for her
Who: Comedian and presenter Russell Brand, now 48
When: 2012
The romance: The couple initially bonded over their ‘spiritual connection’ and mutual love of yoga, but Geri put the breaks on the relationship amid claims Russell was ‘too intense’ for her.
The comedian apparently put off Ginger Spice after turning up to her house in North London, with a DVD of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads to watch.
After being spotted together on a series of dates over the past few weeks, Geri was reportedly flummoxed by thecomedian’s ‘exhausting intelligence’ and planned to call time on the fling before he returns to Los Angeles
A friend of the Spice Girls star claimed at the time Geri was just enjoying the attention dating a notorious ladies’ man brought with it, and was never really attracted to the funnyman in the first place.
A source told the Sunday Mirror at the time: ‘Things are already cooling off. Russell’s way into very intense spiritual readings that are just too much, even for Geri. He is way too intense, full stop.’
Christian Horner (2014 – now)
Christian first met the Spice Girl at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2009. They began dating in February 2014 and married a year later
Who: Christian is a British motorsport executive and former racing driver. Since 2005, he has been team principal of the Red Bull Formula One team, winning thirteen world titles.
When: Christian first met the Spice Girl at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2009. They began dating in February 2014
The romance: Christian and Geri’s relationship came under fire after the Formula One boss left his long-term partner Beverley Allen six months after the birth of their daughter, Olivia.
The pair are said to have briefly split while he attempted to rescue his 14-year relationship with Beverley.
Beverley had been by his side throughout his astonishing ascent while he acted as a stepfather to her two sons from a previous relationship, Kieron and Liam
Ginger Spice and Christian announced their engagement in 2014 with an advertisement in The Times, nine months after they began dating.
‘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.’
Afterwards Geri wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Christian and I are delighted to announce that we are engaged! We’re both very happy’.
Geri and Christian married at St Mary’s church in Woburn, Bedfordshire in 2015.
They have a son together named Monty, six. Christian also has daughter Olivia, nine, from his relationship with ex Beverley.
