By Laura Collins
February 05, 2007 07:42am
OLIVIER Martinez dumped Kylie Minogue by phone just hours before stepping out in Los Angeles with a mystery woman, a British newspaper claimed.
News of the Australian singer's split from her boyfriend of four years emerged this weekend when the pair released a joint statement saying their decision to go their separate ways was mutual and amicable.
The Sunday Mirror reported Martinez wept to his parents, Rosemarie and Robert, in France after calling Minogue, who is in Mexico, to end their relationship on Friday morning US time. "I still feel for her but I'm no longer in love with her," the French actor, who is in Los Angeles, reportedly told his parents. "We have been having a lot of rows. We have outgrown each other."
His mother was quoted as saying she and the actor's father were "devastated" by the news. "It is terrible and we hoped they had a future together," she told the paper. "Olivier was dreadfully upset." According to the Mirror, Martinez was spotted in LA just hours later with a mystery brunette.
They apparently spent three hours at actress Salma Hayek's mansion before Martinez returned to Hollywood's Chateau Marmont hotel. The woman was said to have gone to the same hotel a short time later. The night before, he was seen having dinner with Sarai Givati, the Israeli model he was photographed with in Paris in November. On Wednesday night, he reportedly met Lost star Michelle Rodriguez, with whom he has been seen in LA recently.
An unnamed source told the paper it was as though Martinez had tried to provoke Minogue into dumping him "to avoid being labelled 'the cad who dumped Kylie after her cancer struggle'". "Now, he has dumped her - down a telephone line," the source said.
"He couldn't even do it face-to-face."
The story conflicts with that of another British tabloid, the News of the World, which claimed it was Kylie who dumped Martinez. Minogue, who has just completed her comeback tour after recovering from breast cancer, is due in Britain on Tuesday for the launch of an exhibition of costumes, accessories and photographs celebrating her career at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.
For a woman who has made an art of controlling her own destiny, it was a surprisingly haphazard break-up strategy.
But then it is safe to say that this time last week Kylie Minogue did not envisage waking so publicly and unequivocally single.
That was only ever Plan B.
Six days ago, when she was photographed alone in the Palladian nightclub in Acapulco the prospect of singledom was only a notion dangled misguidedly before her then-boyfriend, French actor Olivier Martinez.
Kylie, 38, was supposedly taking a much-needed winter break, while 41-year-old Olivier was in Los Angeles promoting his latest film Blood And Chocolate.
As the pictures of Kylie dropped on the screens of picture agencies across US, her message was clear: "Olivier, if you want to be with me, come and get me".
It was desperation disguised as bravado. And it did not work. It was only then that Plan B swung into action. Late on Friday the couple issued a cooly phrased joint statement that their relationship was over.
The decision was described as "mutual and amicable". More apt, perhaps, would have been "inevitable".
However much sadness accompanies the end of this four-year relationship - which encompassed the awful reality of Kylie's breast cancer and 18 months of exhausting treatment - the simple fact is that, for Olivier at least, the split is a relief.
And the reality that has come crashing down on Kylie is not some belated recognition that she and Olivier were profoundly incompatible. Rather it is the realisation that he has fallen for somebody else.
Sarai Givati, 24, is the woman in question. And the alleged relationship between the Israeli actress and Olivier pre-dates the first photos of them together in December.
Then, when Olivier squired her around Paris for three days and, she blushingly recounted, "three wonderful nights", Kylie responded by wearing a leather jacket with Olivier's picture emblazoned on the back during the final concert of her Australian comeback tour in November.
It was a gesture that backfired badly, serving only to crystallise the difference between the two: Kylie's mode of communication with her lover was so very public, whereas, according to one close childhood friend: "Ollie has always been uncomfortable with that side of fame.
"He has no problem being recognised but he's never wanted to talk about his relationships in public."
He was, it seems, as challenged and intrigued by Sarai as he was frustrated by Kylie. The friend explains: "Kylie thought he was the one and adored him. But he's been irritated by her efforts to portray him as a family man who wants to go home to his pipe and slippers every night. That's not him at all."
Blunt sentiments perhaps.
But Kylie and Olivier's incompatibility has always been a source of concern to her friends and family and bemusement to his.
In truth, the couple who began dating in February 2003 have been drifting apart for a long time. Indeed, after the first flurry of passion, Olivier seemed in danger of straying and was linked with Angelina Jolie.
According to one source, Olivier had planned to end their relationship before her cancer diagnosis in May 2005 but felt unable to abandon her during that time.
"He thought it important to help her through her illness," the source said.
"But they were just never together. Even when Kylie turned up in Paris you never saw her with Ollie."
Against this backdrop, the hammer blow was dealt to Kylie's hopes of a future with Olivier when he found Sarai.
Kylie's desire for a heart-to-heart was only satisfied by her abandoning plans for a family Christmas in Australia and boarding a flight to Paris to be with him. But she was too late.
Pictures showing Olivier enjoying a kiss and dinner with actress Michelle Rodriguez last weekend were, it seems, simply a smokescreen to protect his fledgling relationship with Sarai, suggesting that he possesses a sensitivity to Sarai's feelings.
Little wonder then that Kylie's parents, Ron and Carol, have long voiced their reservations over Olivier.
Their anxieties reached a new pitch when consideration for Olivier became a key factor in Kylie's decisions about her cancer treatment.
A family friend explained: "When Ollie stayed at the family home after she came home from surgery, everything had to revolve around him. He went back to Europe saying he was sick of hospitals. Then he insisted Kylie continued treatment in Paris. It caused a family rift ... but Kylie did what he wanted.
"Her parents felt Olivier had too strong a hold over Kylie and questioned his commitment to her. They are sad that Kylie now has to deal with a broken heart on top of everything else, but they are relieved that the public humiliation is over."
They are not alone and nor, though she may struggle to feel convinced of the fact right now, is Kylie.
Minogue has no immediate plans to return home to Australia following her split with her boyfriend, according to a spokesman. The singer and French actor Olivier Martinez have officially confirmed they are no longer a couple. A joint statement released on behalf of the pair said the decision to separate was mutual and added they remained "very close friends".
Last November Minogue told Elle magazine: "Olli was there all the time, helping with the practical stuff and being protective. I don't like to say too much in public about Olivier as he's a very private person, but I will say that he was incredible. "He didn't hesitate in cancelling work and putting projects on hold so he could be with me. He's the most honourable man I have ever met."
- with Press Association
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And is it any wonder? In the eighties and nineties, when the Australian gay community was enjoying an amazing time politically and culturally, we took her under our wing and the rest, as they say, is history.
