06 June 2024 , 21:04
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The widow of former Aston Villa defender Jlloyd Samuel has lifted the lid on her late husband's secret double life.
Samuel died at the age of 37 back in 2018 after his Range Rover crashed with a van shortly after he had dropped his children off at school. Prior to that, he had a successful career in the Premier League with Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers and represented Trinidad and Tobago at international level.
Emma Pritchard, who married Samuel in 2008, revealed that shortly after Samuel's death she learned he had been leading a double life and had converted to Islam in order to take a second wife.
Speaking in the documentary charting Samuel's death, titled 'The Footballer, His Wife and the Crash', which is currently showing on Netflix, Pritchard said: “I was trying to grieve my husband and find he has another life. Who is my husband - do I really know him?”
Pritchard revealed that she was physically sick after being informed by a friend that Samuel was plastered all over another woman's Instagram just weeks after his death. The person in question was Helia Sehimi, who Samuel met while playing football in Iran.
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Pritchard admits she became obsessed with the Instagram account of Sehimi, who married Samuel in 2013 after the former Premier League star converted to Islam.
Pritchard continued: “There were even shots of Jlloyd that he'd sent to me on trips to Africa, with crocodiles and then I'd see another picture on Helia's of her with Jloyd in Africa with the crocodiles.
“It was like a stab in the heart. I'm trying to grieve for my husband and then I find out he's got a full-on other life for seven years. Never ever has he asked me for a divorce.
“As far as I was concerned we were fine, we were great. The night before he passed away he was swinging me around the kitchen telling me how much he loved me.”
Pritchard was accused by Samuel’s sister, Leslie-Ann, of faking the former footballer's death. A coroner ruled that the body did belong to Samuel, who was more than twice the drink-driving limit at the time of his death.
Also speaking on the documentary, which aired originally on ITV in 2022, Sahimi also states that she believes Samuel is still alive.
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