Seal, Russell and the Frogs and Princes of Celebrity Men

When I last met Seal he asked for my phone number as we concluded the interview. He never called, but given he met Heidi Klum shortly afterwards, I can hardly blame him. For languid-limbed supermodel has more of a ring to it than 5'3" redhead.

When I last met Seal he asked for my phone number as we concluded the interview. He never called, but given he met Heidi Klum shortly afterwards, I can hardly blame him. For languid-limbed supermodel has more of a ring to it than 5'3" redhead.

Now their marriage is over, the couple can take heart - for while they will soon be part of the Divorced Club, they can also join a shinier, exclusive set made up of celebrities who fell prey to the Seven Year Itch.

For stars including Madonna and Guy Ritchie as well as Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony also admitted defeat seven years after a vow to stick it out forever.

Should one more beautiful couple succumb to the itch they could all get together for their very own Darwinian dinner party where the keys are swapped over dessert and a super species is conceived.

On that eugenic note - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got together seven years ago, so keep an eye out for trouble in paradise - because they don't get much more beautiful than that.

Not that Angelina would admit to a having started a relationship with Pitt at the time - back in May 2005 (Brad had split with Jennifer Aniston in the January) I plucked up the courage at a press conference for the animated movie Shark Tale at the Cannes Film Festival, to ask if rumours were true she had started an affair on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith.

Those beautiful lips pursed into an angry but sumptuous pink pillow and the producer motioned to a security guard to throw me out.

But suddenly Will Smith saved the day as he said: 'Come on Angelina, the girl wants to know if you shagged Brad Pitt.'

The room relaxed into laughter, before silence fell once more and Jolie said she certainly did not 'shag' (emphasising the word distastefully) Brad Pitt.

No Jolie Roger. Except we all now know there was.

Back to Seal.

Turns out I wasn't alone and friends knew friends who had an entry in his little black book.

There's hardly anything wrong with chatting women up when you're single but Seal oozed fell into the category of testosterone-fuelled flirt I just couldn't see being with one woman for life. Even Heidi Klum.

Take Russell Brand. His romance with Katy Perry was a whirlwind the world watched and heard about ad nauseam - as Brand proclaimed he had never dreamed of being so in love and he was ready to commit for life.

14 months after they wed, it was over.

A radio producer friend once told me that pre-Perry, Brand would walk out of a studio where a crowd of fans would be preening in breathless wait.

It was not uncommon, he said, for Brand to point at a couple, sometimes more, and disappear with them into the night.

I shuddered and said you just wouldn't know where he's been, but I stood corrected - where he has been is well-documented, not least by the actor/presenter/stand-up himself with an honest accounts of all sorts.

Soon after marrying Perry, Brand gave an insight into how things had changed.

The self-confessed sex addict told Piers Morgan during an interview: "I can't believe I used to have sex 20 times a week - especially now I'm married. But I'm a bloody good gardener."

There is no allegation that either Brand or Seal (Heidi's friends say she tired of his 'partying') cheated and no question they loved their wives - perhaps at the point of marital union as much as someone who stays married for life.

But they are audacious flirts; a dangerous mix of sexual and solipsistic that makes lifelong monogamy while they are still attractive to young women unlikely.

Incidentally, when I met Seal he was a revenant - it had certainly been a while since the mid-nineties when songs like Kiss From A Rose had propelled him to fame.

No matter how tight his leather trousers (and they were tight) the man couldn't get arrested. Being linked to Klum made his star shine so much brighter.

I digress - we all know a 'player' who just needed 'the right woman' to settle into married bliss.

But it's different in celebrity land, where temptation is everywhere because beautiful women will do anything to bed famous men.

In their obfuscated heads full of WAG culture and glossy magazines, they legitimise their very existence by being a celebrity and if they cannot achieve that, having sex with one is the next best thing - married or not.

One can become rather cynical when considering who has strayed - Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blementhal, Ashton Kutcher, Vernon Kay (filthy messages still count) and Tiger Woods to name but recent offenders.

As for footballers, it's easier to ask who has been faithful when you look at the list of shame - John Terry, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham (eight years ago with Rebecca Loos not entirely forgotten), Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch - a motley crew, with a curious set of perma-tanned wives who have all taken them back.

Many stars who keep up the Family Guy image are rumoured to be at it, just adept at keeping their indiscretions secret.

Is nothing sacred? What kind of role model are these cretins to their fans?

Do not fear. I will leave you on a positive note for there is a saviour in the sordid cesspit of celeb land.

Jamie Oliver.

Anyone who knows him says the same thing - he is transfixed by his wife Jules; that the 12-years-married chef still stops, his eyes light up and he smiles whenever she walks into a room.

A television exec friend who has worked with him told me: "You have never seen a man so devoted.

"The most stunning woman in the world could walk on set and he wouldn't even notice.

"For him, there is only one woman, the mother of his children. No other exists."

So you see, celebrity status is not really an excuse for behaving badly. Genes, however, are an entirely different thing and perhaps the bad boys would have been bad anyway, fame or not, but with fewer willing participants.

The Jamies of this world do exist.

It's just that we've got to kiss a few Brands to appreciate him when he arrives.

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