Glamour model Nicola McLean claims she was sexually abused by her masseuse while recovering from an £18,000 cosmetic procedure at her family home.
The mother of two, best known for her 2012 appearance on ITV show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, was advised to book lymphatic drainage massages after having five litres of fat removed following liposuction and a boob job in 2019.
But Nicola, who lives in Buckinghamshire with retired footballer husband Tom Williams and their two children, says her male masseuse overstepped the mark, leading to a spike in her anxiety and the return of an eating disorder.
Ordeal: Glamour model Nicola McLean claims she was sexually abused by her masseuse while recovering from an £18,000 cosmetic procedure at her family home
Arriving on June 13th while Tom was away on business in the United States, Nicola, 38, claims he immediately commented on her husband’s absence from the family home.
And the hour long session took an unexpected turn when he asked the glamour model, who had been left bedridden and reliant on iron supplements following her latest cosmetic procedure, if he could massage her legs.
She told The Sun: ‘I wasn’t really very with it so I said it was OK. I was lying on my front and he started massaging my inner thighs and then he kept going up.
Traumatic: Nicola, who lives in Buckinghamshire with retired footballer husband Tom Williams and their two children Rocky and Striker, says her male masseuse overstepped the mark
‘I was utterly petrified. I was in the house on my own and I was completely helpless. I was searching through my mind as to whether there were any heavy objects in the room but I was just so weak.’
Known for her feisty, outspoken nature, Nicola says she wasn’t strong enough to fend off the masseuse, whose inappropriate actions lasted ‘for 15-minutes.’
As soon as he left she ‘bolted the doors’ and immediately called her husband, who admitted he felt ‘horrendous’ for leaving her at home alone.
Bizarre: The hour long session took an unexpected turn when he asked the glamour model if he could massage her legs
But while she attempted to forget the ordeal, Nicola admits she was left stunned after the masseuse sent her a string of text messages.
She recalled: ‘I didn’t expect to hear from him again but a few days after it happened he started brazenly messaging me, being super-friendly and asking me to recommend him to other people.
‘I found it so odd and it really made me feel like I was going crazy. This man had rubbed me between my legs inappropriately when I was in a vulnerable position and here he was, trying to be friendly.’
Happy couple: But husband Tom was away on business in the United States at the time
While a year has passed, she has told only six people within her immediate circle of family and friends about the ordeal – until now.
Reflecting on the experience, she admits she initially dissuaded herself from reporting it to the police because she assumed people might think she ‘enjoyed it’ because of her glamour modelling past.
‘If you look up the stats for sexually motivated crime, the perpetrators rarely end up in front of the judge,’ she said.
Reaching out: Nicola, who hopes to see a therapist once lockdown restrictions are lifted, now hopes that speaking publicly will encourage others to come forward
Nicola, who hopes to see a therapist once lockdown restrictions are lifted, now hopes that speaking publicly will encourage others to come forward.
But she admits her own experience has left her scarred, with the model now suffering from high anxiety and the unwelcome return of an old eating disorder.
‘It has affected me deeply. I’ve had nightmares, I trust people less now,’ she added.
‘I’ve spoken about my anxiety and eating disorders before and this has added to everything. There have been times when I felt it was my fault or, “Why me?”
‘When I’ve felt overwhelmed, I’ve starved myself or binged and thrown up, and that’s sad because I’ve worked hard to overcome my eating disorders.’