Page 3 lady whose boobs ‘fascinated Prince Harry’ had coronary heart damaged by Premier League icon
A Premier League legend was embroiled in an alleged love triangle with a Page 3 girl turned Playboy model, who previously had a fling with Prince Harry
A former Page 3 girl who had a nightclub fling with Prince Harry found herself embroiled in an alleged love triangle with a Premier League icon.
Chelsea icon Michael Essien, who turned 42 last week, had a glittering career at Stamford Bridge, signing for a then club record £24m fee under legendary manager Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2005 and going on to win the Premier League in his debut season.
The Ghana hero would lift the title again in 2010, along with the Champions League in 2012, plus three FA Cups and a League Cup, before reuniting with Mourinho at Real Madrid. But away from the pitch, he also made plenty of headlines for his dalliance with Cassie Sumner, who had previously grabbed the British media spotlight over a royal fling.
The brunette, from West Sussex, was a Page 3 model and lads mag favourite named one of Britain’s Hottest 100 Girls by FHM magazine.
Her appearances in the likes of Loaded, Zoo and Nuts were followed by naughtier stints for Playboy and Penthouse, while she also starred in the ITV reality show WAGs Boutique.
Yet it was her claims about Prince Harry and a nightclub encounter that really set tongues wagging, as she reportedly partied with the then 19-year-old at London’s Chinawhite nightclub alongside fellow Page 3 girl Lauren Pope.
Back in 2004, the Sunday People reported the teenage royal was allegedly spotted kissing and cuddling with the pair as they partied at the venue.
The report claimed that “moments after snogging Page 3 girl Lauren Pope, he was knocking back powerful Sex On The Beach cocktails with busty Cassie Sumner”.
Sumner also opened up on the experience, with Prince Harry reportedly inviting them to his private table inside the club. She revealed the young prince nuzzled her earlobes and ran her fingers through his hair.
He also invited her to continue partying elsewhere, claimed Sumner at the time. “He was undressing me with his eyes,” she explained.
“I knew he’d been snogging Lauren earlier in the night but after she left he just homed in on me. He seemed fascinated with my breasts, because he spent more time looking at them than he did my face when we talked.”
She told The Mirror: “He made eye contact as I stood at the bar with friends and he invited me to join his private table. Lauren had left so I thought, ‘what the hell’.
“I plonked myself down next to him and it wasn’t long before he began cuddling up to me. If I’m honest I didn’t really fancy Harry.
“I prefer more muscles on a man. But he came across as a lovely lad who was just enjoying a normal night out like any red-blooded single 19-year-old.”
Cassie subsequently embarked on a romance with Essien, which got off to a stormy start. The midfielder’s former girlfriend, another glamour model, Lurata Murati, claimed Essien cheated on her with Cassie during their own seven-month relationship.
Lurata stormed: “He’s a lying, cheating b******. He thinks because he is this big football hero he can treat women with contempt.
“When I asked him about this girl he just kept saying ‘It’s rubbish, it’s rubbish’ while laughing down the phone as though it was no big deal.
“I can’t believe I’ve been sleeping with this man who was happy to see such a trollop. Now I just want to put Michael Essien out of my life.”
Blonde Lurata, a 6ft personal trainer, said Essien had wooed her with champagne in nightclubs and gone wild for her 34E boobs and corsets during romps at her flat, but never invited her back to his Surrey mansion.
Lurata, who said she first met Essien at a posh Knightsbridge restaurant and shared hot texts between them with the press, said they broke things off when she confronted him over Cassie.
The Mirror reported he had been seeing Cassie, lavishing gifts on her including a flashy BMW, and she “virtually moved into his Surrey home” – the mansion Lurata said she was never invited to.
Lurata said she was glad to have found out about his other woman, who Essien had supposedly already been dating for months, “otherwise he would have been stringing me along for ages”.
The Mirror reported that when their reporter tried to question Essien about Lurata and Cassie, he replied “What are you talking about? No. Sorry,” before putting the phone down.
Cassie meanwhile, who once dated comedian and actor Russell Brand, later gave a scathing assessment of what she said was 17 months seeing Essien, saying sex with him “wasn’t fantastic”.
In her book ‘Cassie Sumner: Loving it’, she told how Essien “broke her heart” and ended their relationship after the footballer denied they had even been a couple.
She said: “It’s ludicrous. He welcomed me into his life and his bed.”
And she told OK! magazine: “I swore to God after Michael that I would never date another footballer. It took me two and a half years before I dated one again.”
However, that vow didn’t last long, as she is now happily married to former Southampton star Jose Fonte, after meeting the defender in 2009 when he was playing for Crystal Palace and going on to have two children with him.
Cassie said: “I didn’t know José was a footballer when we met in a local bar. But José is different from other footballers I’ve met – he’s actually a nice guy!”
She was even spotted on the pitch with Fonte and the Henri Delaunay trophy when Portugal triumphed in Euro 2016.
After leaving Southampton, where he won back-to-back promotions to the Premier League, Fonte also played for West Ham, before captaining Lille as they pipped Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title in 2021. He now captains Primeira Liga club Casa Pia, living in Portugal with Cassie and their family.
Essien meanwhile had a short spell at AC Milan after his time in Spain, before an injury-laden time with Greek side Panathinaikos ahead of moves to Indonesian club Persib Bandung and Sabail FK of the Azerbaijan Premier League.
He is now a coach for Danish Superliga club Nordsjaelland.
