DOGGED BY DEMONS
Booze, violence, and cheating: Rugby ace Danny Cipriani’s troubled life
A look at what is behind Danny Cipriani’s highs and lows after his arrest for assaulting a bouncer and police officer
HE can hold his own at the top of a tough man’s sport – but troubled rugby star Danny Cipriani longed for a man to look up to as a child.
The Gloucester and England fly-half puts years of partying, womanising and rows with clubs, colleagues and the law down to his dad walking out on him and his mum when he was six.
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He said: “Looking back, I think a key problem is that I didn’t have a father figure.
“Mum was amazing and couldn’t have done more.
"But I didn’t have anyone to teach me about how to be a man.”
After seemingly putting his unruly past behind him, and being welcomed back into the England fold after ten years, this week he has once again been left facing exile and desperate for another chance.
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England rugby star Danny Cipriani leaves court after being fined for Jersey bar assault
Apologising to his team-mates, fans and Jersey Police after being fined for assaulting an officer during a night out in St Helier, there was one person the 30-year-old missed out — his dedicated mum, Anne.
She has more right than most to feel let down.
After dad Jay decided to return to his native Trinidad when Cipriani was nine, the single mother worked herself to the bone to buy their council flat in Putney, South West London, and pay for her son’s private school fees.
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Anne, who was dumped as a baby and brought up in a Barnardo’s home, would drive her London black cab for six hours while Cipriani was at school, then work the night shift until 3am while a neighbour babysat.
Anne said: “It was tough but worth it. Danny went to great schools, sometimes on scholarships, but there was always a need to pay for extras. The financial demands were constant.”
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Her hard work seemed to have paid off when, in 2008, Cipriani was hailed as the new golden boy of English rugby.
Brian Ashton, then England head coach, called him the best prospect he had ever seen.
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Cipriani, then 20, lapped up the praise but the adulation brought a pressure he could not handle.
In what was a sign of things to come, three days before he was set to make his debut for his country he was axed from the line-up for falling out of a nightclub.
The following week he was recalled and put in a match-winning display as England beat Ireland 33-10.
But the damage was done.
What could have been a glowing career would see the rugby bad boy time and again fail to make good on his potential when his temper and love life got in the way.
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The trouble with Cipriani is he cannot seem to help committing the sort of mistakes that make headlines.
Just last year it emerged the London-born player had refused to pay £1,500 he promised to a stripper who aborted his baby.
Instead, he shopped her to the police for blackmail after she tried to tell her story to our sister paper The Sun on Sunday, earning her a 22-month suspended sentence.
His behaviour prompted The Sun’s front-page headline, “Scrumbag.”
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Over the years he has romped and cheated his way through dozens of women, including US actress Lindsay Lohan, 32, and TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher, 42.
Model Imogen Thomas, 35, took to Twitter to call Cipriani an “absolute liar” in 2011 because she thought he was HER boyfriend before reading of his romance with Katie Price.
Katie, 40, went on to dub him “Danny Chipolata” in reference to the size of his manhood after their split, while Celebrity Big Brother’s Jasmine Waltz, 35, gave him an equally unflattering review.
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She said the rugby Romeo treated her in a “dirty, evil and twisted way” to get her into bed, and added: “He loves living on the edge.
"In some ways he is like a horny teenage boy.”
It was his relationship with curvy model Kelly Brook, 38, from 2008, which took him from promising rugby star to red-carpet royalty.
The couple appeared to love the celebrity lifestyle, yet away from the cameras, Cipriani was in meltdown.
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He said: “It was overwhelming. Paparazzi outside my house every day when I was with Kelly.
“I was only 20, and just didn’t have the emotional maturity to cope. Everything I said, everything I did, seemed to be misinterpreted.”
To get away from it all he fled to Australia in 2010 to play for the Melbourne Rebels.
But moving to the other side of the world did not solve his problems.
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He said: “I never really drank alcohol in my teens but I used to drink in Australia, just to escape the feelings of helplessness.
"I went through depression when I was 22. I went to see a psychiatrist.”
To top it off, then England manager Martin Johnson said Cipriani’s transfer abroad would rule him out of being considered for his country.
Not that Cipriani’s behaviour improved Down Under.
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He was suspended and fined by the Rebels after taking a bottle of vodka from a bar during a night out.
Partying between matches broke club rules.
Falling out with his club was familiar territory.
In 2009 he was dropped from the England squad amid reports of clashes with coaches.
At Wasps, the club he joined as a 15-year-old, he was once floored by team-mate Josh Lewsey during a training ground row over missed tackles.
He defended his antics, saying at the time: “In rugby, it happens. People get riled up.”
And he justified his partying by arguing that he has “friends who play other sports who would still go out on a Saturday” if they had a game the following Tuesday.
His recent assertions that his wild days are behind him have been heard before.
In 2012 he ended his Aussie nightmare by signing for Sale Sharks, vowing that English fans would see a “different side” of him.
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Months later, and back with Kelly, he was hit by a double-decker bus while dashing across a road in Leeds during a bar crawl with his club.
As the model nursed him back to health, he cheated on her with at least six girls, dishing out filthy texts, pervy pictures and requests for sex from a secret second phone.
A source at the time said he was “trying to get help” for his problems.
She later described him as “car crash”.
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Then, in 2015, he was in trouble again, when he was charged with drink-driving after crashing his £60,000 Mercedes into a taxi hours after a match.
After a decade out in the cold, England boss Eddie Jones took a punt on the one-time wonderboy this summer, picking him for the tour of South Africa.
Putting in a stunning performance on the pitch and keeping out of trouble off it, Cipriani seemed to have turned a corner.
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He even had a settled relationship, which, unusually for him, he had managed to keep out of the spotlight.
His girlfriend was revealed yesterday to be 27-year-old mum Hope Stubbings, a mental health worker.
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But the Jersey incident could land him with a ban that may cost him his shot at making next year’s World Cup in Japan.
Many wanted to believe Cipriani’s promises this time and, while Gloucester have pledged their support for their new boy, others will argue that Cipriani should be kicked into touch.
Cipriani's new girl... and his famous exes
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THIS is the gorgeous secret girlfriend Danny Cipriani is said to have been dating since November.
Hope Stubbings, 27, claims she started seeing the rugby ace after he messaged her on Instagram.
The glamorous single mum’s feed included pictures of her in a bikini and baking cakes in black lingerie.
Unlike his previous girlfriends, Hope is not a household name.
These are some of the women linked to the Casanova fly-half.
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KELLY BROOK – on-off from 2008 until 2010, when Kelly claimed he slipped his phone number to a lap dancer in Vegas.
The pair patched things up in 2013, until Kelly found out he had sent flirty messages to other women.
Model Jemma Henley claimed she twice had sex with Cipriani in Kelly’s bed.
LINDSAY LOHAN – reportedly went on two dates in two days in 2010 then never again.
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IMOGEN THOMAS – had a week-long fling in Vegas in 2011 but he went on to spend the night with Katie Price on their return.
KATIE PRICE – according to Katie, things ended after she walked in on him in bed with another woman.
LARA BINGLE – the model fell for Cipriani in 2013 but the rugby player dumped her without warning.
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SOPHIE GRADON – the late Love Island favourite dated Cipriani in 2013 but told him where to go after seeing pictures of him with another girl.
JASMINE WALTZ – caught in a love triangle with him and Lindsay in 2010 then started dating in 2014. Split the following year.
KIRSTY GALLACHER – the presenter, 12 years Cipriani’s senior, dated him for six months in 2016.
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