Was my Brad lookalike cheating?
Laura Raphael with Brad Pitt double Scott Dixon
Saturday 11th August 2007
If I said I was 16 weeks pregnant with Brad Pitt's baby, most women would be green with envy. Unfortunately that wasn't exactly true… You see I was having a baby with his body double.
When I'd first met my boyfriend, Scott Dixon, 29, at a party 18 months earlier in January 2005, I couldn't believe my luck. As a former Commonwealth welterweight champion boxer, Scott was a local celebrity. His life had been a whirlwind of fast cars, designer clothes and
pretty girls. And now he was talking to me, a mobile hairdresser who shopped at Peacocks!
'I was Brad Pitt's body double in Snatch,' Scott had bragged.
Can you remember Brad's body in that film? Gorgeous didn't come close. I was fascinated by all his stories about when he'd met Brad, Guy Ritchie and Madonna.
When we started dating, it was a thrill knowing that his body was the double for Brad Pitt. Imagine snuggling up next to that in bed! And just like the Hollywood star, Scott was happy playing dad to my children, Taylor, 7, and Aiden, 5. from a previous relationship.
When I found out I was pregnant, 14 months after we got together, we were both over the moon. But now Scott was about to drop a bombshell on our perfect life. Two weeks before, he'd gone to stay with his mum, Eleanor, 51, who lived in Malta.
It's lovely here,' he told me that night when he phoned. 'I'm staying.'
'What about me and the kids?'
I gasped.
'You can move over, too,' he whined. 'A new start.'
'I'll think about it,' I sighed.
Over those next couple of weeks, Scott got a job as a bouncer and found an apartment.
I loved Scott and I wanted us to be a family. So…
'We'll come over,' I finally agreed.
I gave up our flat and, in September 2006, we flew to Malta.
'I can't believe you're here,' Scott gabbled at the airport.
It felt good to be back in my Brad's arms.
But I was miserable. Scott worked nights and slept during the day. The boys started school and I'd never felt so lonely. When I was 35 weeks' gone, Scott became a timeshare rep. But instead of coming home in the evenings, he started going out with his mates. It caused so many arguments. We still weren't getting on when I felt the first contraction in November 2006.
We raced to St Luke's Hospital and, seven hours later, I pushed our 6lb 6oz son, Toby Jude, into the world. But instead of hearing his first cry, there was silence. As I lay there terrified, Scott raced after the doctors as they whisked our son away. It was five minutes before
he returned.
'They had to resuscitate him,'
he told me.
Minutes later, a doctor wheeled Toby in. Seeing him in an incubator, I burst into tears.
'Is he going to be OK?' I wept.
'Only time will tell if he's suffered brain damage,' he replied.
I trudged back to the hospital every day, while Scott went to work. When Toby Jude was 3 weeks old, we brought him home. But Scott started going out even more. We argued constantly, and it wasn't helped by the fact I was worried about Toby Jude.
When he was 3 months old, I left the boys with Scott and flew home to get him checked out by doctors at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow. They couldn't tell me any more, but while I was away, Scott phoned.
'I've started working for a new timeshare company,' he said. 'It's more money.'
'That's great,' I replied.
Flying back a week later, I really hoped we could make a fresh start.
But the day after I got back, my friend, Paula, 33, popped round.
'Sorry to hear about you and Scott,' she said.
'What?' I frowned.
'He sent me a text about you splitting up,' she said.
'We haven't,' I gasped.
We'd been having breakfast a couple of hours earlier.
Paula handed over her mobile. Sure enough. A text from Scott… Laura and I have split.
Why would he say that unless he meant to dump me? Stunned, I wondered what to do.
Then two weeks later, Scott's mobile beeped with a text. He was out of the room, so I picked
it up. It was from his colleague, Sarah Borg, 22. I miss you, baby it read.
Suddenly I heard a noise behind me. Spinning round, I saw Scott.
'What's this?' I snapped.
Before he had a chance to answer, I dialled Sarah's phone number.
'How long have you and Scott been together?' I snapped.
'J-Just a few weeks,' she spluttered back.
Tears welling, I confronted Scott.
'She misunderstood you,' he laughed. 'She obviously thought you were asking how long we've worked together.'
He stormed off and I didn't know what to think. Was I being paranoid? Or was he playing me for a fool?
Then a few nights later, Taylor snuggled up to me on the settee.
'Is Sarah going to come round again, Mum?' he asked.
'Sarah?' I gasped.
'While you were away she came to see Dad,' he told me.
I couldn't believe it.
The following day I phoned him at work.
'I've had enough,' I yelled.
This time he didn't bother protesting his innocence. In fact, two weeks later I found out that he'd already moved in with Sarah. I was devastated.
A year on, they're still together and I've left Malta and moved back to Scotland. Now I can't even look at a photo of Brad Pitt. Scott might have turned out to be a leading love rat rather than a leading man, but I'm doing just fine without him, thanks.
Scott Dixon says: 'I've known Sarah for ages because she's a friend of my mum, but as far as I'm concerned, I'd been split up with Laura for a couple of weeks before I started seeing her.'