ESPN’s Steve Phillips Diddled A 22-Year-Old Production Assistant
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
news
2:15PM, Thursday October 22nd 2009
Oh, man. The drama of Steve Philips is kind of like David Letterman on crack, plus a stalker. Phillips, an ESPN baseball analyst and former general manager of the Mets, is a married man and father of four. Still, he schtupped a 22-year-old production assistant named Brooke Hundley at least three times over the summer. He apparently felt “meh” about her, but Hundley was under the impression they were meant to be together. And so she went CUH-RAZY with jealousy trying to expose the affair to Phillips’ wife.
According to the New York Daily News, Phillips and Hundley met on an assignment and when he broke things off, she reached out to Phillips’ wife, 40-year-old Marni. Hundley sent her text messages saying things like, “I care about Steve, I make him happy and we both can’t have him.” Understandably, Marni worried that she had a Amy Fisher/Joey Buttafuoco situation on her hands, so she called the police. In her statement, Marni said she never responded to the texts but did answer one phone call on her cell from Hundley to say that she didn’t want to speak to her.
Weeks later, Marni returned to her Connecticut home with her 7-year-old son and found Hundley trespassing on their property. She immediately got into a car and sped off. The cops soon discovered that Hundley had left a letter on the front stoop for Marni. The letter, which is posted on the Post‘s website, is both highly entertaining and sad, but basically says a lot of personal things about the couple’s marriage and her affair with Steve:
“We text all day when he’s at work and talk via hotel phones on the road. The texts have always been mostly about the sexual side of our relationship and I have some saved if you ever want to see them, basically stuff like when we’ll meet up next, what we want to do to each other physically and how we feel about each other.”
But the letter gets creepy, too. She lists the name of every single one of their four sons and says Phillips referred to the youngest two kids as “the product of your reunion after his last affair, a sort of band-aid on a more serious problem.” She also says, “Steve has a big birthmark on his crotch right above his penis and one on his left inner thigh, so you know I’m not being fake.”
Creepiest of all? Hundley “cyberstalked” the couple’s 16-year-old son by posing as a classmate. According to the police, the football-playing teen was contacted by someone using the screen name “riotgirr4life.” This girl IM’d him every night and frequently asked questions about his parents’ marriage and begged for his home phone number. She also asked the teen if he did drugs or drank. Marni believes that the majority of the juicy tidbits Hundley put in her letter were gleaned from chatting with their son online. By August, understandably, the Phillips filed a police report.
I have mixed feelings about this. OK, hear me out: I was once the jilted lover of a guy who was cheating on his girlfriend while promising me the world, so I can empathize with how hurt, angry and vengeful Hundley must feel. Figuratively speaking of course, I wanted to see blood. I felt like I’d been treated as a disposable whore and a fool, so I can’t say I blame Hundley at all for telling Phillips’ wife about the whole affair. There may be nothing noble about it, but let’s stop denying that blabbing isn’t the default setting for “the other woman.”
Still, the text messages and contacting the Phillips’ teenage son are totally indefensible. Going for the jugular is one thing—detailing the birthmarks on his body is a nice touch!—but that stalker stuff is creepy.
Let’s not forget that Phillips is a jerk here. This cheatin’ cheater told police, “This woman has clearly displayed erratic behavior and delusional tendencies.” What a d-baggy way to frame the situation! I’m not defending the majority of Hundley’s behavior, but she is a jilted lover and her feelings are hurt—of course Phillips thinks she’s being “erratic” and “delusional.” His comments are dismissive, and a lot of media coverage of this affair depicts the relationship like it was all fun and games until “the bitch went crazy.” This sounds so familiar to me: It was all “I want to be with you, I have feelings for you” until I discovered he’d been lying to me, so I informed his girlfriend that he was a cheating. My guy turned on a dime and told me I was “crazy.” But the reality is Phillips is the delusional one if he thinks “boys will be boys” and he can carry on relationships with other women without repercussions.
ESPN initially suspended Phillips for one week, but yesterday he announced a leave of absence. Meanwhile, Marni—smart lady—has filed for a divorce. Phillips has deeded her their five-bedroom, multimillion-dollar home, the Post reports.
But methinks Phillips’ soon-to-be-ex-wife should not have been so surprised at her beau’s infidelity: In 1998, while he was GM of the Mets, he admitted to sleeping with a team employee named Rosa Rodriguez and took an eight-day leave of absence after she sued him for sexual harassment.
Steve, maybe it’s time to expand your circle and try online dating instead. Or, since it seems like you love ‘em and leave ‘em, may I suggest prostitutes? [NY Daily News, NY Daily News, NY Post]
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Tofuti Klein
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 02:00 pm: [report]
‘she is a jilted lover and her feelings are hurt’. Aww poor thing. She has a right to feel the way she does, it’s not like she lined herself up for it or broke any female to female codes of ethics or anything. Are you serious Jessica? I don’t feel sorry for this crazy slut at all. No woman that knowingly gets involved with a taken man should be given any sympathy or respect when his promises turn out to be empty. Shame on them. They are almost as bad as the cheater. “My guy turned on a dime and told me I was “crazy.” I felt like I’d been treated as a disposable whore and a fool.” Uhm, what role did you think you were playing? Innocent, dreamy eyed hopeful that finally found her prince charming….who happened to be involved with someone else? You were played sweetie and you lined yourself up for it. Girls with that mentality about the situation are a burden. Take responsibilty! I hope this still isn’t regularly practiced behavior anymore and that you learned your lesson. Yeah Yeah I know, the story is about someone else, but your personal touches about it just got under my skin.
bethlynn00
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 03:02 pm: [report]
I mean did she not know that he was married? I’m guessing that she did and just didn’t care, thinking he would leave his wife for her or something. In that case the bitch is crazy and is not a jilted lover, just a dumbass. If you enter into a sexual relationship with a married man, you run the risk that you will be made a fool of when he drops you to stay with his wife, or worst, switch out lovers. I would call her delusional and erratic, because she is to think that she was building something with this man. The only party in this situation that gets any sympathy from me, are the four children.
GreenAura
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 03:26 pm: [report]
Oy. When will you “other women” learn? Why do you always think he will leave his wife and kids for you? STOP BELIEVING THESE CHEATING MEN! They vomit empty promises in the hope that you will continue lifting your skirt for them, meanwhile most of them have no intention of leaving their wives for you. They are preying on your emotions and you continually fall for it! WISE UP LADIES! If he is willing to hurt his own family, then obviously he isn’t going to care about hurting you. You are better than that. Find a guy (a single guy) who will love you and treat you as you deserve.
ChoJinn
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 03:59 pm: [report]
Say it ain’t so, Steve! Pilot pride (we went to the same high school)!! If you’re gonna cheat, at least make it worth it, and not with a psycho fish-dog.
equnsuocha
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 04:07 pm: [report]
Many of these older men are predators though and they seek out women that they can control, for her to react this way tells me that she is someone with out a lot of sense and I am sure he counted on that for his daliences. It is his fault to have gotten involved with someone outside the marriage and even more so that it appears he targetted her as easy prey. Too bad for him she was a little more looney and a little less needy.
Pamela
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 04:13 pm: [report]
Seriously? I dont feel the least bad for her, she had it coming. It’s like stealing a new xbox (something you dont really need), get caught and then feel bad for the robber.
equnsuocha
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 04:25 pm: [report]
No its called exploiting someone who is clearly mentally ill for his own pleasure and then acting like he is innocent. She has serious mental problems and I am sorry this CAN NOT be the first he has seen of it. He looked at her, saw she was unattractive and likely and outsider and figured he could manipulate her, he was wrong and hopefully she gets the mental help she needs now. Go read the full story and tell me if you wouldn’t have known 10 minutes after meeting her that this girl was a bit touched.
retro chic
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 04:42 pm: [report]
This is a very mixed bag. One thing is certain, there are no real victims here (maybe the son). Not even the wife… much. She’s been aware of his MO for years. She just needed the ammo and moved on it. Marriages aren’t broken overnight. Hundley… that’s sad, she has other issues besides the manboss-in-power one.
@GreenAura: I hear ya. Somehow many young (and some older) women can’t hear it ‘til they step in it (I never did). But bears repeating – so thank you for that, and well said too. Rebroadcast it from time to time, it needs to stay out there…
hawaiianpeach
wrote on October 22 2009 @ 11:29 pm: [report]
She made the mistake of sleeping with an older, married, powerful man. I get the fantasy of sleeping with an older man of power, but hot damn…she def got the last laugh by exposing his dirt…albeit in a creepy way.
hlnbabe
wrote on October 23 2009 @ 08:04 am: [report]
dude they’re both equally guilty. him for being sleezy and lying and her for being stupid and crazy.
bogart4017
wrote on October 23 2009 @ 12:57 pm: [report]
Every serial cheater eventually runs into his own bonafied bunny boiler and this is a textbook example. Why was this psycho bothering his teenage son on the internet? The family always pays when we cheat.
magz
wrote on October 23 2009 @ 05:09 pm: [report]
I knew Brooke in College and she never struck me as someone with serious mental issues. Sure, everyone has problems and I’m sure hers are plentiful (especially now).
It does take two to tango, but since this guy’s done it before, I doubt he’s completely innocent in initiating the affair.