While there have been plenty of rumors (and plenty of denials to go along with said rumors,) Peter Facinelli’s alleged lover (and the woman who broke news of his divorce) has finally come forward and decided to speak out on what she describes having been her own “personal nightmare.”
It was in March that Facinelli split from actress and Beverly Hills 90210 star Jennie Garth, with many media outlets suggesting that an affair may have taken place between Facinelli and a Canadian woman during the filming of Eclipse, the third installment of the Twilight saga, in Vancouver.
Now, Brianne Chantal, the alleged other woman has come forward to set the record straight and agreed to answer questions from none other than Nik Richie of TheDirty.com.
Q. How did you come to learn about Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth filing for divorce? It was you, after all, who broke the news of their split a good 24 hours before any major media outlets did. That’s a huge deal.
A. I have friends in the media and I have friends who act. Obviously I’m not going to name names, but when you’re around people you hear things, you’re told things. I didn’t know whether or not it was true but at the same time I also knew that the person who told me this information had no reason to lie to me. So I went with it.
Q. So I guess the big question is, how did things get as out of control as they did? How did it come that you wound up being the woman accused of derailing a marriage?
A. I was writing for the website Scallywag & Vagabond at the time. I trusted the two individuals behind that site, Christopher Koulouris and Kathryn McDermott. Knowing the people I knew, this story was one of the biggest…if not the biggest story published on their website. I was the first person to break it, like you said, and it was a big “ratings grab,” so to speak. I guess you could say all the web traffic Chris and Kate were getting from it, it went to their heads a bit. They literally demanded that I involve myself in the story, and threatened that if I didn’t? They would make my life hell. Little did I know the hell they were about to unleash on me would change my life forever.
Q. In an article, Koulouris and McDermott claim you were fired from the blog. You deny that.
A. Chris and Kate claim I was “fired” for “refusing to out myself” as Peter’s other woman, but…obviously I wasn’t the other woman, and so I wasn’t going to cave and do what they wanted. They were trying to blackmail me, essentially. And how can one be “fired” from a “job” they never got paid to do in the first place? I was one of many writers on that website who was writing there for free. I got tired of the demands they were making and ultimately left. I didn’t want to be a part of that mess. I joined there on my own free will and left there on my own free will.
Q. That’s when Christopher Koulouris and Kathryn McDermott of Scallywag & Vagabond started publishing defamatory articles about Peter Facinelli using your name? Even went as far as photo-shopping false e-mails that they claim came from you, which, by the way, we have had our own team of experts look at those e-mails and they agree that they are photo-shopped.
A. Yeah, as soon as I left he started publishing stuff about Peter and Jennie using my name. Scallywag uses WordPress so when I left they never deleted my account. I guess so that if anything happened to him legally (ie: defamation) he figured it couldn’t be traced back to him. Chris and Kate wanted to sensationalize the story, and me, with the ties I have to certain media folks and the friends I have in the business, didn’t like that I didn’t want to help them get more traffic. That’s what it was always all about – web hits. He wrote things about me from alleging that I was the other woman, to alleging that I was wanted by the FBI which is absolutely laughable. Basically because I didn’t do what they wanted. They did everything in their power to try and ruin my reputation.
Q. We’ve heard that you and others who have been unfairly targeted by Christopher and Kate of Scallywag & Vagabond are now looking at taking legal action. Is that true?
A. All I will say is yes. These people need to realize that you can’t just sit and bully someone online or write whatever you want about someone and get away with it. Granted, it happens a lot in this day and age but if I have any say in it then they’re going to be made as examples for other bloggers and bullies out there who feel like this is okay, and they’re going to be held accountable. It’ll take some time getting everything together, but it’ll be worth it in the end. I’ve also previously spoken with Peter’s attorney by e-mail.
Q. How has this changed your life?
A. How hasn’t this changed my life is the better question. I’ve been wrongfully accused of so many things and now have to deal with cyber bullies on a regular basis because of it. It’s unreal. I have a thick skin so I can handle it, but it’s so easy for anyone to write something about another person online – even worse when other people start to believe it. People are like sheep, it’s a mob mentality. That’s what is the most bothersome. Not the fact that things are written, because it happens to everyone, but more so the fact that people are stupid enough to believe everything written about you just because Google says it’s true. The joys of the Internet, right? Anyone can say anything and get away with it these days. That needs to change. There need to be tougher laws against this sort of thing.
Q. What would you say to Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth, or to those who’ve been giving them a hard time over their divorce?
A. Leave them alone. I know that as a blogger, myself, that’s a bit of a hypocritical thing to say, but seriously. Leave them be. All I did was break the story on their divorce and that was all it was ever supposed to be – my name wasn’t supposed to be used as someone else’s way of getting attention. But it happened, and it hurt not only me, but them in the process. It hurts just being a normal person and someone who isn’t a celebrity…so I can’t even imagine what it’s like for them.
Facinelli is now said to be dating co-star Jaimie Alexander, according to People.
