Paul McKenna with ex-fiancee and manager Clare Staples

Paul McKenna switched  from his Manager to his personal assistant- Now the floodgates of ‘tea spilling’ open
Ex Clare Staples, claims he was ‘hooked on prostitutes, porn and drugs and thought he could hear Jesus’
McKenna brands allegations ‘absurd and false’, threatens to counter-sue

 
Self-help guru Paul McKenna has made a fortune telling people how to sort out their lives,but if the dynamite claims in new court papers are true, he needs intervention, himself. His ex-fiancee and manager, Clare staples, 43,  has filed a 118-page lawsuit filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court alleging the former TV hypnotist is an alcoholic, addicted to porn and prostitutes.
The papers also allege that  McKenna, 52 had severe hallucinations and has battled with addictions to cocaine and prescription pills. McKenna denies all the allegations and plans to counter-sue his former lover.

Photo: Getty
McKenna denies all the allegations and plans to counter-sue his former lover

The case has been brought by his ex-fiancee and one-time manager Clare Staples, who is suing McKenna for a chunk of his £65million fortune. The claim includes his £4.3million Hollywood home, previously owned by Sean Connery, Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, and his £800,000 ranch in California.
McKenna strenuously denies all Staples’s “absurd and false” allegations and will vigorously defend the case. But if the court case goes ahead in LA, where Staples may be called as a witness, it could smash McKenna’s reputation to smithereens.

Photo: FJMGIV
Hanging out with best friend Simon Cowel

Photo: Rex features
Things have fallen apart. Paul McKenna and ex-fiancee cum manager Clare Staples

Former addict Staples, 50, who was in a professional and personal relationship with Londoner McKenna for almost 25 years, claims she turned him into a global star.
She says that while McKenna was making a fortune helping people fix their lives, his own was unravelling in a “downward spiral” of addiction.
In the papers, she says she “was frightened how out of control and vicious McKenna had become and by how his increasing alcohol, drug abuse and porn and (prostitute) addictions were impacting on his career”.
Her lawyers also allege McKenna — whose best friend is Simon Cowell and whose celebrity clients have included Robbie Williams, David Walliams, the Duchess of York, David Bowie, David Beckham and George Michael — suffered hallucinations.
They claim he said he heard Jesus and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard arguing at his ranch, where Staples still lives.
According to the court documents, she moved into the ranch in 2012 to “escape McKenna’s drug and alcohol abuse (and increasing porn and prostitution addictions)”.
They disclose: “During this period Staples became increasingly concerned that McKenna would hurt himself or someone else as he had repeatedly fallen while intoxicated and gotten into a car accident as well.
“McKenna was also hallucinating more frequently and in one frightening instance called Staples to let her know that Jesus Christ and L. Ron Hubbard were arguing in the living room at the ranch.”
There have also been claims that McKenna downed Jack Daniel’s and coke at 11am ahead of a talk show interview with high-profile US TV presenter Ryan Seacrest. Witnesses say McKenna turned up late on set, stinking of booze.

Photo: Getty
Former addict Staples was in a personal and professional relationship with McKenna for 25 years

Later that day his agent, Paul Duddridge, said he restrained McKenna from attacking a delivery driver who tried to turn his truck outside the star’s mansion in Hollywood.
McKenna, it is claimed, threatened to “f***ing kill” the hapless driver.
Duddridge, 49, who is also suing the star, said in a court statement: “It is my personal opinion, based on my observation of McKenna over the last several years, that he has a substance abuse problem which has made it very difficult for many people to work with him professionally.”
Another time McKenna demanded that a TV producer on the Lorraine show here was fired for asking if he was drunk.
And during a £16,000, two-day private seminar at his home in London’s Kensington at least one client demanded his fee back due to McKenna’s “mind-boggling” behaviour.
Last night Paul McKenna’s spokesman said: “These new allegations from Clare Staples are once again completely absurd and false.
“She threatened to make these further spurious claims against Paul McKenna if he did not give her half of everything that he has ever earned or will earn.
“He is counter-suing her for trying to defraud him of millions of pounds. If, as Ms Staples claims, Mr McKenna is unable to function because he is an alcoholic, a drug addict and has psychotic episodes, he would hardly have been able, in the last decade, to treat many war veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder, write 16 number one best-selling books, do hundreds of seminars, appear on radio and television all over the world, run a global corporate empire of companies, partake in an international research study into depression and speak at the United Nations.
“Mr McKenna is looking forward to trying the case in court on the facts and hearing how Ms Staples will answer the criminal allegations of perjury that she will face.”
Staples says she was “fired” by McKenna in 2013 but he insists their business relationship ended in 1996 and that she has been paid everything due up to that date.
McKenna, whose I Can Make You Thin

After using an Excel spreadsheet to find out who he truly loved, McKenna realised he belonged with his personal assistant Kate Davey

is the bestselling weight-loss book ever, believes his former lover is just after his money.
And there is a lot more of the green stuff to come. He has just signed a £7million deal with a US publisher to produce one self-help book a month for a year.
These will have titles like: I Can Make You Smarter and Change Your Life In Seven Days.
Staples’s lawsuit, with its bombshell revelations is not the first time that McKenna has been mired in controversy. In 1998 he was sued for £200,000 by stage volunteer Christopher Gates, who claimed taking part in McKenna’s hypnotism show triggered schizophrenia. McKenna won the case but said it cost him £4million.
Since then he has bounced back to become the go-to guru to the stars. He mentally prepared David Walliams to swim the Channel, helped model Sophie Dahl lose weight and encouraged Ellen DeGeneres to quit smoking.
The guru has helped celebrity clients including Robbie Williams, the Duchess of York, David Walliams, David Bowie, David Beckham and George Michael
The guru has helped celebrity clients including Robbie Williams, the Duchess of York, David Walliams, David Bowie, David Beckham and George Michael Times Newspapers Ltd
Roger Daltrey and Russell Brand are said to use his confidence CD to boost their live performances.
Three years ago, around the time Staples claims they split up, McKenna decided to choose his soul mate by computer.
He said: “I’ve dated a lot of beautiful women. A friend pointed out I didn’t actually like them and advised me to make an Excel spreadsheet to find out who I really loved.”
After entering all the data, his true love turned out to be Kate Davey, his personal assistant of 20 years — who looks a lot like Staples.
McKenna said: “I suddenly went, ‘Good God! I love Kate!’ I mean I’m nuts about her. I must be some pervy boss.” In October 2014 he hired a Maserati, alhough he already owned a £100,000 Bentley Azure, and drove Kate, 43, to Big Sur, where he proposed with a £1million ring. She said yes.
McKenna has said: “I see myself and Kate married. Living perhaps in the country. She likes to ride, so I can see a horse… I can see myself working on television occasionally. I’ll certainly continue to write books.
“I can see myself doing events. Probably not working as hard as I have been the last few years.”

 

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