Arlene Foster 'humiliated' by rumour of affair with security guard, court hears

Arlene Foster has described her “humiliation” after a celebrity doctor shared an unsubstantiated rumour that she was having an affair with a security guard.

The tweet sent by Dr Christian Jessen from the Channel 4 show Embarrassing Bodies in December 2019 was followed up with other “aggravating” tweets, High Court in Belfast heard during libel proceedings.

David Ringland QC, acting for Mrs Foster, said the tweet was a “huge publication” after it was shared to Dr Jessen’s 311,000 followers and was retweeted 500 times.

The DUP leader told the court on Wednesday that the rumour of an affair with a close protection officer had been circulated by anonymous accounts before the tweet by Dr Jessen.

She said that the comments were meant to “destabilise me at a critical time” when she was involved in talks to resurrect power sharing in Northern Ireland.

Mrs Foster said that she had to tell her teenage children and her 85-year-old mother that the rumour was not true.

"It was not a conversation that I would like to repeat,” she said. Asked how she felt about it, she replied: "Very very upset."

"Having to speak to my husband and explain to him what had happened, because this gentleman has a large following, so this was going to go quite far and wide," she added.

"It was very humiliating, I have to say, to see that the relationship that is most important to me had been trashed, if you like, and got put out there in the public domain in that fashion.

"There wasn't much sleep on the night of December 23.

"I spoke to my husband and we decided we needed to take action because this was only going to continue to grow.”

Giving further details of the rumours about her, Mrs Foster told the court that the rumours even alleged that she had moved out of the family home and that she was living in a hotel.

"Those closest to me of course knew that it wasn't true, but they were asked questions by other people," she said.

The court heard that Dr Jessen, in response to a tweet by a solicitor alerting him to its content, replied with “lol” on December 24. He then deleted the tweet two weeks later after an email from the solicitor.

The court heard that Dr Jessen, pictured below, sent a further “aggravating tweet” on December 26 when he compared himself to Barbara Streisand saying "this gay boys life cannot get any better."

Mrs Foster also told the court that she gets “very distressed” when she is referred to as homophobic after being questioned on her views during the proceedings.

Dr Jessen in December 2019 referred to Mrs Foster as “the sanctity of marriage preaching woman” , adding: "It always comes back to bite them on the arse in the end."

The DUP has opposed attempts to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, with Mrs Foster telling the High Court in Belfast that she took the “traditional view of marriage” between a man and a woman.

"Yes, I take the traditional view, the church-based view, yes," she responded.

"I get very distressed when people do actually call me a homophobe because that's something I am not.”

Mr Justice McAlinden said he will produce a written judgment on the libel case.