The 10 Celebrity-athlete Sex Scandals that Rocked the Press--and the Sports World

In light of the accusatios of Tiger Woods, the highest paid sports figure ever, cheating on his wife of only 5 years with various women, a reflection back on prior sex scandals and affairs in the sports world is here.

10. Cristiano Ronaldo. While he isn't yet splashed across the tabloids in America, the former Manchester United soccer player is well known by the rest of the world. The Portuguese native made tabloid headlines in England during October of 2005, after a steamy night in London's Sanderson Hotel with his cousin and two other ladies. Not only did he purportedly have group sex with the ladies and his cousin in his $4,000 a night hotel room, but also afterwards both of the ladies accused the 20-year-old player and his cousin of sexually assaulting him. One of the women later withdrew her allegations and no charges were ever filed against the soccer stud or his cousin due to insufficient evidence to pursue a case against them. Now with Real Madrid, the soccer player is likely to become more familiar to Americans when the Spring 2010 Emporio Armani men's underwear and jeans ads are printed-the same line David Beckham posed for.[1]

9. Oscar De La Hoya. The married father of three, and boxer, was all over the news I 2007 when website X17 posted photos of the boxer sporting a fishnet body suit, and women's high heels. The photos, purchased from a stripper from Scores West in NYC, claimed she took them at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. Immediately, the boxer's lawyer issued a statement claiming that the photos were doctored and issued a cease and desist letter to X17. Instead of quickly going away, the stripper sold her story to Gotham magazine claiming that she had an affair with the married De La Hoya and that he enjoyed dressing as a women and even incorporated cross dressing and liked to be called "Goldie". A friend of the stripper confirmed her story admitting that both of the girls accepted private plane rides and hotel rooms from the boxer to have sex. The photos were determined to be photoshopped, according to expert opinion, and eventually the story dropped out of the media.

8. Wilt Chamberlain. The now deceased former NBA star made headlines when he claimed in his autobiography A View From Above that he had bedded as many as 20,000 women. The former Lakers and Flyers player had claimed to have sex with as many as 15 women in one night. Many doubted that the lifelong bachelor had slept with this many women, but it was confirmed by various sources that the basketball player had quite the reputation as a womanizer.

7. Dennis Rodman. There isn't one specific sex scandal to point to when discussing Dennis, rather a whole slew of sexual exploits that catapulted the NBA star from an excellent basketball player to a wacky tabloid staple. His relationship with Madonna, and his candid honesty about their sexual relationship and her desire to have his child is likely when this began. He next wrote an autobiography stating that he was bisexual, a brave thing to do as an African American athlete. As part of the promotion for his book Bad As I Wanna Be, Rodman donned a wedding dress and announced that he had decided to become his own bride.[2] His 1998 Las Vegas marriage to Carmen Electra while he was intoxicated and they had an annulment, with a subsequent reconciliation. His own agent released a statement to People magazine after the quickie wedding, stating that he was intoxicated and "taken advantage of" by Carmen.[3] They divorced after only five months of marriage

6. Michael Vick. Before he was arrested for dog fighting, Vick was making headlines for various other legal reasons. Notably, in March of 2005 while Vick was still playing for the Atlanta Falcons, he was hit with a lawsuit by one of his former girl friends, Sonya Elliot. She claimed that he had knowingly infected her with genital herpes in the autumn of 2002, having unprotected sex with her will undergoing treatment for herpes. In her lawsuit she claimed he had been visiting health clinics for treatment and testing under the name "Ron Mexico". Shortly after, his lawyer announced that there was an out of court settlement with Elliot.

5. Jackie Gallagher-Smith. The names of LPGA player's generally aren't widely known, but Gallagher-Smith made headlines in 2005 when a former caddie sued her. The caddie claimed that he had an affair with the married golf player, and that she seduced him in order to get pregnant. According to the caddie, Gary Robinson, her husband was infertile so she used him as a "sperm donor". He filed the suit because in the state of Florida, where she resides, a father cannot force a paternity test if they woman is married.[4] Although Gallagher-Smith admitted to the affair, Robinson eventually dropped the lawsuit.

4. Frank Gifford. The former NFL player and sportscaster was in a sex scandal in 1997. The British tabloid The Globe hired a TWA flight attendant, Suze Johnson, to seduce him in a hotel room while cameras were rolling (The Globe denied this). Gifford, married to the former Live With Regis & Kathie Lee host, admitted on the tape it wasn't his first affair.

3. Mike Tyson. The world heavyweight-boxing champion was charged with rape after Desiree Washington, an 18-year-old contestant in the Miss Black America pageant said he sexually assaulted her. A jury found him guilty in 1992 of rape, criminal deviate sexual conduct and he served three years of his six-year sentence in prison for his conviction. [5]

2. David Beckham. The world's most well known soccer star was accused of cheating on his "Posh Spice" wife, Victoria, in April of 2004 when his former personal assistant came forward to the press. The personal assistant, Rebecca Loos, told The News of the World, that the two had had an affair and that he had also been involved with Spanish model Esther Canadas. A week later, Australian model Sarah Marbeck came out of hiding claiming she also slept with him. The Beckham's denied the claims and later had another son, their third child, widely believed to be their attempt at salvaging the marriage.

1. Kobe Bryant. The L.A. Lakers NBA player was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old hotel employee in Colorado in 2003. The married NBA star had a squeaky clean image and garnered millions of dollars in corporate endorsements at the time. While he admitted to having an affair with Katelyn Faber, The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera Hotel employee, he claimed the sex was consensual. Endorsement deals with McDonald's and Nutella were terminated, and Bryant appeared with his wife, Vanessa, sporting a 4 million dollar diamond ring as an apology gift from Kobe, in a press release to deny the charges. Eventually the prosecutors dropped the charges as Faber eventually refused to testify in the trail and instead pursued a civil suit, which was settled outside of court.

[1] http://www.insideworldsoccer.com/2009/10/cristiano-ronaldo-armani-underwear.html

[2] http://www.nyrock.com/features/1998/electra_rodman.asp

[3] http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,617010,00.html

[4] http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/lpga/2005-04-29-smith-paternity-suit_x.htm

[5] http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/27/sports/tyson-gets-6-year-prison-term-for-rape-conviction-in-indiana.html?pagewanted=2