We had to read Jude Law the riot act: How Samantha Burke's family told him to face up to his responsibilities
02nd August 2009
The grandmother of the young model expecting Jude Law’s lovechild last night expressed her disgust at the actor’s behaviour and revealed that Samantha Burke’s angry father had called the Hollywood star to ‘read him the riot act’.
In an exclusive interview from her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Delores Burke said: ‘To say this family is mad at that man is an understatement. He has behaved as less than a gentleman. Samantha is a lovely girl but she is only 24 years old. At that age, you think you are a grown-up but you are still very young. He is old enough to know better. My son Denis is hopping mad. He feels that Jude Law took advantage of his little girl. He rang him up but could never get through on the number Jude gave Samantha. He kept leaving messages. In the end, some lawyer called up and then Denis did get to talk to Jude and read him the riot act. I think that’s what made him step up to the plate and promise to look after this baby. Denis is as mad as hell and wants him to be a man about this.’
It was revealed last week that the actor is expecting a child with Ms Burke – it will be his fourth – after they had a brief fling in New York last December during the filming of his latest movie, Sherlock Holmes. The baby, a girl already named Sophia, is due on October 6 and Jude was quick to state that he ‘intends to be a fully supportive part of the child’s life’.
Quite how he plans to do this when based in London and leading the peripatetic life of an actor remains to be seen. And while his representatives are keen to portray Jude as a man of honour who is prepared to face up to his responsibilities, Samantha’s grandmother paints a very different picture. As far as she is concerned, the 36-year-old star has shown nothing but contempt for her granddaughter, casting her aside without a second thought.
An 80-year-old widow and mother of 11 children – eight boys and three girls – Delores had never heard of Jude Law until his involvement with Samantha, a pretty brunette who supported her modelling career by working as a nanny. She said: ‘I’d not seen any of his films but of course some of my grandkids have shown me him on the television now and he’s a good-looking man. But he is a man who I believe took advantage of a young, innocent and silly girl.’
She added: ‘Samantha came here to see me about a month ago. She said she was only with him a couple of weeks. Samantha was living in New York working as a model and doing babysitting part-time to make extra money. She loves children. He was working there over Christmas and they met through mutual friends. She said that afterwards he ran back to England and basically dumped her. He doesn’t sound much of a man.
‘Then she found out she was pregnant. What I want to know is how a girl gets pregnant in this day and age? Yes, it takes two people but he is the older and wiser man and he should have made sure nothing like this happened. I’m mad at him, we all are. He has other children. Didn’t he think about how his actions would affect them? Samantha is a young girl and she’s upset. I think she hoped Jude would be more in the picture. But he’s just dumped her cold. She hasn’t heard from him at all.
‘There is no question that he is the father. She told me there will be DNA tests when the baby is born but the child is definitely his. Samantha is a good kid. She’s beautiful and was trying to make it in the big city. Now she’s gone home to her mother, Lea, in Florida. My son is furious. Of course we are a close family and we have all rallied around and we will stick by Samantha and help her raise this child.’
Across the Atlantic, in North London, the impact of the news has been devastating, too. As part of the infamous Primrose Hill set, Jude is no stranger to controversy. He and his ex-wife, Sadie Frost, 44, were caught up in a ‘wife-swapping’ scandal with their musician friends, Danny Goffey and Pearl Lowe, while his torrid relationship with Sienna Miller was torn apart after he had an affair with his children’s nanny. As a result, the actor has made a concerted effort to clean up his image which only makes this latest indiscretion all the more embarrassing. It has also served to highlight the increasingly tawdry nature of his private life.
He has three children with Sadie – Rafferty, 12, Iris, eight, and six-year-old Rudy. Although the couple divorced six years ago, they are still great friends and, according to a source, it was to Sadie that Jude turned when he first heard the news from his lawyer via a late-night telephone call. The friend said: ‘He immediately went round to Sadie’s house where he promptly burst into tears. He told Sadie that he only slept with her once after a drunken party and never had any contact with her afterwards. Sadie has promised to be supportive but she is angry on several levels. Her response was to call him an idiot. Firstly, she has been nursing hopes of a reunion. They go on holidays together and speak pretty much every day. And she is always the person he turns to in a crisis. Secondly, this affects her kids. This will be their half-sister. Thirdly, Sadie is about to go into a West End show and she wants to put that whole bed-hopping image behind her. This just drags it all up again.
‘Right now, Sadie’s packing the cases for the kids and herself as they’re going away on a three-week summer holiday to Ibiza. She’s told everyone she doesn’t even want to think about it until she gets back. It’s been a very busy year and she doesn’t want this to ruin her holiday.’
In reality, however, the news will affect not just the holiday but the rest of all of their lives. Nor can it help Jude’s professional reputation. The actor earned Oscar nominations for his roles in the 1999 thriller The Talented Mr Ripley and 2003 drama Cold Mountain yet has never quite made it on to the Hollywood A-list. As a result, he has had to work hard to keep his career on track. He is currently playing Hamlet in the West End and is about to move with the production to Broadway in October. That same month will see the opening of his latest film, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, starring the late Heath Ledger, while Sherlock Holmes – in which he plays Dr Watson – is expected to be released on Boxing Day.
Yet all this could be undone as Jude’s name is once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. The source said: ‘Jude is in complete meltdown because he thinks this is massively going to impact on his career . . . and speed up his hair-loss which he’s maniacally anxious about. In Hollywood, he’s dropped from aspirant A-lister to B-lister and he’s very worried about losing his looks – and hair, which he believes is directly as a result of stress.’
There has also been private, as well as public, humiliation. The friend said: ‘The Primrose Hill set were surprised but not shocked that Jude has been caught out. And, to be honest, they’re all pretty thrilled and delighted by his latest humiliation. He is not popular with Sadie’s best friends Kate Moss and Fran Cutler because he cut them all out after the scandal about Jude and Sadie “wife-swapping” with their friends Danny Goffey and Pearl Lowe. He blamed it all on their lifestyles but the fact is every other sex scandal since has been caused by him. First there was Sienna, then his affair with his children’s nanny and now this. Kate has been checking the internet every couple of hours for updates and although she has spoken to Sadie, no one has called Jude. Sienna has spoken to both Jude and Sadie offering her support but he is very much aware that they are all laughing at him, which makes it even worse.’
Sadie herself told The Mail on Sunday that she was standing beside her former husband. ‘I support Jude in whatever he chooses to do in his life,’ she said. ‘We have a good relationship and a lot of love for each other and I think that’s a great way to be.’ Sadie added that Jude’s new arrival will have little effect on her and their three children. ‘My children and I are completely separate from this and it doesn’t affect us at all,’ she said. ‘I don’t feel like the situation has anything to do with me.’ She added: ‘Jude and I have been divorced for years now and what he does in his personal life is up to him. I’m really lucky to have the most amazing, loving children and everyone’s doing absolutely fine. They’re very happy kids.’
Next week, matters will become even more difficult for Jude because he is due to fly to New York for meetings with Samantha’s lawyers. According to Delores, Samantha’s father, an airline pilot, is determined to see that his daughter is properly provided for. After the child is born, Samantha intends to live with her mother Lea and half-brother Jarred in the family home in Pensacola, Florida.
Dolores said: ‘When Samantha got pregnant, she told her dad and then he took control of the situation. Denis and Samantha’s mum broke up years ago but they stayed close. He’s a good man and Lea is a wonderful mother. They will make sure she is OK. Denis will make sure that man takes responsibility for his actions and pays to support this baby. When Samantha told him, he was shocked at first and then got very, very angry. He has been the one negotiating with the lawyers to work out a deal for Samantha and the baby’s future.’
Denis’s second wife, Diane, confirmed last night that negotiations are under way. Speaking from their home in the Lakewood suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, she said: ‘I am very sorry but there is really nothing that we can say at the moment as the legal negotiations are currently still going on. My husband is not here, he is with his daughter looking after her. It has been a difficult time for the family and we are trying to get through it the best we can.’
According to friends in London, Jude is so terrified of the potential ramifications of the scandal that he is willing to do whatever is necessary to preserve his reputation. The source said: ‘So far, he has only been able to text Samantha. He hasn’t actually spoken to her which is what is worrying him because she seems to be keeping it all very formal.
‘Jude’s warned Sadie that it could turn into a court case, which is the last thing he wants. Apparently he has been incredibly placatory, saying he’ll stand by the baby and jumping however high she wants because the last thing he wants is his name dragged through the mud again. ‘He’s been drinking quite heavily since he found out and crying and moaning and going on about how he is never going to be able to take any time off because he’s got so many people to support . . . all the kids, an ex-wife, ex-lovers.’
But if Samantha’s family are determined that he will pay the price for his actions, they have not forgotten that there remains, at the centre of this, an innocent child. Delores said: ‘The baby will be my first great-grandchild and despite how it has all happened, I am very happy about that and am just praying the baby is healthy and strong and that this Jude Law does the right thing and supports her and is part of her life. Samantha is a good girl and will be a wonderful mother. We are a strong family and we will get through this.
‘It’s just a shame that in my day Englishmen were gentlemen. But this man certainly hasn’t behaved like one to my granddaughter.’
Why him and not her? Not all women who sleep with famous men are shameless money-grabbing hussies out to trap celebrities into impregnating them. I'm pretty sure it took participation from both of them to make the baby. He obviously knows that sex = possible baby.
