Ryan Giggs brother devastated over affair, says Max Clifford

Max Clifford has said that he expects Ryan Giggs's sister-in-law Natasha to speak out about their alleged eight-year affair this week.

The Manchester United footballer apparently first started dating his brother Rhodri's future wife when they met in a nightclub in 2003. The news came just weeks after Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming named Giggs as the player who obtained a super-injunction to hide an affair with Big Brother's Imogen Thomas.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, PR guru Clifford said that he had met with Natasha after news of Thomas's claims broke.

"I met up with her, discussed the situation and then she said to me, 'Well this is what has been going on and a lot of people are asking questions. A lot of my friends are aware [of the alleged affair]'," he recalled. "The relationship had been going on for eight years, it wasn't just a quick fling. I think they knew each other from before she got involved with [Rhodri]."

Clifford continued to suggest that the relationship had only ended "quite recently", telling hosts Phillip Schofield and Jenni Falconer: "I think when she read about the alleged relationship with Imogen she was shocked because she and him were, allegedly, still an item."

However, the publicist - who is also representing Thomas - also revealed that he had been contacted by a "devastated" Rhodri through a friend.

"[He is] thinking about coming out and saying what his thoughts and feelings are," Clifford said. "So, I would imagine that in the next few days there will be more. Of course, what came out in the News of the World on Sunday was from a close friend - a very close friend of Natasha.

"She's away with the children and when I spoke to her this morning... There is a very good chance that she's going to come out with even more allegations. There's still a lot more to come, according to her. She did say that what was in the paper, in the News of the World, was 100% the truth."

Clifford continued: "I'll be very surprised if this Sunday, in the News of the World, there's not a lot more - because obviously, a lot will come out this week and I can only imagine that Natasha will then want to say, 'This is exactly', 'This is what else' and 'This is what you don't know'."

Asked if he expects Giggs to speak out directly, he responded: "Well I suppose it really depends on how much he cares about what people really think and feel. A lot of other people in the country have genuinely been very upset and disappointed by these allegations."

Concluding that no-one would have known about the alleged affairs if Giggs had not sought a gagging order, Clifford added: "What he has actually done is to take a problem and turn it into a major disaster by taking out a super-injunction."

> Imogen dad: 'Ryan Giggs is a gutless coward'