Former Manchester United and Wales star Ryan Giggs threw his then-girlfriend out of a hotel room while she was naked, a court has heard.
Mr Giggs, 48, is on trial accused of controlling behaviour and assaulting his former girlfriend Kate Greville and her younger sister Emma.
In an interview heard by the jury, Ms Greville, 36, told detectives Mr Giggs was her “best friend and her soulmate” but he became “abusive and nasty”.
Mr Giggs has denied all the charges.
He is charged with controlling and coercive behaviour against Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.
He is also charged with assaulting Kate Greville, causing her actual bodily harm, and common assault of Emma Greville at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on 1 November 2020.
Manchester Crown Court heard a police interview given by Ms Greville weeks after she alleged the former Wales manager headbutted her in November 2020.
Prosecutors allege this happened when Mr Giggs came back to his house as she was preparing to move out.
“He just came at me from nowhere, grabbed me by my shoulders and head butted me in my face,” she said.
She said her lip instantly swelled, she fell backwards and she could taste blood.
Ms Greville added that all the other times he had hurt her were different – this time he looked into her eyes and it was “with intent”.
He then asked her to think about what had happened, and think about his career and his kids, she said.
Explaining her decision to end the relationship, she said: “I needed to do something for me. I had everything taken away from me. I needed to take a bit of control.”
She told detectives that months before the alleged assault in November 2020, she found evidence that Mr Giggs had had relationships with eight other women over the previous six years.
‘The whole life was a lie’
She said she was going to “disappear” from his life and had written him a letter, but events took over and it was not sent.
A tearful Ms Greville told police: “The whole life was a lie.”
She told detectives Mr Giggs had once “flipped” in a hotel room after she confronted him about messaging another woman.
She said he squared up to her, grabbed her wrist “hard” and “literally dragged” her naked across the floor and threw her and her belongings into the corridor.
Ms Greville added that she was left feeling “humiliated and embarrassed”.
Giving evidence to the court from behind a screen, Ms Greville described an incident in February 2020 that left her with bruises on her wrists and her knee.
She said while on a trip to Dubai, after the pair has been out for a few drinks, Mr Giggs accused her of being drunk on the way back to the hotel.
“I went quiet. I felt constantly attacked by him, I didn’t know where it had come from,” she said.
“He said I was just like his ex-wife and he called me her name. It wasn’t the first time. It was like his ultimate insult.
“He knew it would upset me. He would say it quite a lot. He used to say she would make his life hell, she had a problem with alcohol and I was just like her.”
She went on to describe how he asked her to leave and make her own way to the airport the next day.
However, she said as she tried to go, he stood in her way and grabbed and pulled her bag, causing her to fall and bruise her arm and knees.
When Ms Greville returned to the UK after the trip, the relationship with Mr Giggs resumed, prosecutor Mr Wright asked her why.
Ms Greville said: “Because he made me feel like I was so alone, so isolated.”
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, told Ms Greville he would ask her about a selection of some of the thousands of messages they had exchanged, including Whatsapp and email exchanges.
He read out an exchange of messages in March 2019 in which Mr Giggs asked Ms Greville to unblock him, promising he would not send anymore naked pictures.
Ms Greville explained that Mr Giggs had randomly sent her a naked picture of himself.
He went on to send an email entitled “Blackmail” with a video attached.
She told the court: “I thought it was a video of a sexual nature that he would then send to the [work WhatsApp] group.”
Mr Wright asked: “How did that make you feel?”
She replied: “Like violated. I had no control of what he could do or his actions. Just helpless, I guess.
“I just had to do what he wanted all the time. I had to pander to all his needs.”
She said she felt Mr Giggs was threatening her career again, and added she deleted the message sent on her work email and never opened the video.
‘Completely irrational’
Mr Giggs also sent Ms Greville an email to her personal account in June 2020, the court heard, with a very offensive term being used as the title.
Mr Wright asked: “How did you feel about receiving an email with that title?”
Ms Greville replied: “It was quite normal to get that from him, the thing he was referring to did not warrant that response, it was completely irrational. Not acceptable.
“It was shocking to get something like that when you don’t think you have done anything to deserve it.”
‘Two people’
In her police interview Ms Greville said that she saw early “red flags” in the relationship and it was “almost like he was two people”.
She told detectives both she and Mr Giggs were married when their affair started and she was in an unhappy and controlling marriage.
“He would tell me about his marriage and he was not happy, I would talk about mine,” she said.
She said things “developed” from that point on and she left her husband two months later.
“He was like a best friend, a soulmate, he was the one to save me from that marriage,” she added.
‘You are a whore’
During their affair, she said Mr Giggs kept promising he would leave his wife after she had ended her own marriage, but it did not happen.
At one point she stopped speaking to him and ignored his messages and calls, she said.
Ms Greville told police that Mr Giggs turned up at her apartment but she ignored him prompting him to shout: “You are a whore. Have you got somebody in there?”
He went on to threaten her that he would tell her boss about their secret affair, she said.
Rumours began at Ms Greville’s workplace about the pair but she lied about it because she was “ashamed I was seeing a married man”.
Mr Giggs would message her saying the marriage was over but again she discovered it was not, she said.
“It was just complete mind games. That went on for ages,” she added.
The affair became public in May 2016, the court heard, which she said was “horrendous” as she was “hounded by the paps (paparazzi, or photographers)”.
‘Like I was addicted to him’
It continued to be an on-off relationship, despite her blocking him at times on her phone and emails, the court heard.
“It was literally like I was addicted to him. I couldn’t get him out of my head,” she said.
As their relationship went on, she said he would tell her he had left his then-wife and had moved in with his mother.
“Then I found out he had not. That went on for about nine months and then I decided he is not going to split up with [his then-wife], that is not happening,” she said.
Eventually, Ms Greville said she gave him an ultimatum but nothing changed and she decided to move to Abu Dhabi to “get away from him”.
Mr Giggs stood down in June as manager of the Wales national team following a period of leave since November 2020.
During his time at Old Trafford, Manchester United won 13 Premier League titles, two Champions League trophies, four FA Cups and three League Cups.
He won 64 caps for Wales and is co-owner of League Two side Salford City.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
