Ryan Giggs made his former girlfriend feel like she had to do what he said, she tells his trial.
Image source, PA MediaRyan Giggs’ ex-girlfriend has told a court she became “a slave to his every need and every demand”.
The former Manchester United star and ex-Wales manager, 48, is on trial accused of controlling behaviour and assaulting Kate Greville and her younger sister Emma.
During cross-examination, she told Manchester Crown Court: “He made me feel like I had to do what he said otherwise there were consequences.”
He has denied all the charges.
Ms Greville agreed she made a number of witness statements to police following the alleged assault in November 2020, including two in the last week.
Mr Daw asked: “In the course of those statements, did you tell the police the whole truth?”
She replied: “100%.”
‘I was in a vulnerable position’
The barrister also questioned Ms Greville about her relationship with the former footballer and how they got together.
“I was in a vulnerable position and he played on it,” she said.
Mr Daw asked: “This was not just two consenting adults, both equally married at the time, who embarked on an affair?”
The witness replied: “There was a degree of imbalance on my side because of the situation I was in with my ex-husband.”
She told the court Mr Giggs’ alleged controlling behaviour also affected her friendships and that “he isolated me from certain people”, adding he also “interfered with my ability to interact with my family”.
Ms Greville told the court violence by Mr Giggs was “not regular” and he would use aggression more as a form of control.
Mr Daw asked: “Do you say he undermined your confidence, your self-esteem and was disparaging to you generally in those ways?”
‘Not constantly awful’
She said: “Yes, on the whole he was, but on the other side it was like two extremes. Other times he would give me confidence.
“He was not constantly awful, not constantly horrible. It was hot and cold. Two different people. The result of his behaviour … undermined my self-confidence.”
She said he had also undermined and damaged her business.
The court heard Ms Greville gave a statement the day before the start of the trial in which she said she had felt like “a slave” to the defendant.
She said: “That is what it felt like. When Ryan said do something, I would do it.
“There was resistance sometimes but he made me feel like I had to do what he said, otherwise there would be consequences.”
Ms Greville said she is “really into psychology” and during the relationship she Googled what was happening in her relationship.
‘Relationships with eight other women’
“The thing that came up was not coercion, there was narcissistic personality disorder,” she added. “And what I was experiencing was very similar to that.”
She also denied she was looking for compensation when the case ends.
The jury previously heard that Mr Giggs grabbed her by the shoulders and headbutted her in November 2020 after she earlier confronted him about his alleged serial cheating.
She said in the lead-up to the alleged assault, she had learned he had “full-on relationships” with eight other women while they were together.
The discovery of messages “going back years” on his iPad prompted her to decide to leave him, she said.
Mr Giggs is charged with controlling and coercive behaviour against Ms Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.
He is also charged with assaulting Ms Greville, causing her actual bodily harm, and common assault of Emma Greville at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on 1 November 2020.
The trial continues.