NEW YORK -- Philippe Junot, ex-husband of Princess Caroline of Monoco, denied in an interview published Wednesday that he was paid off by her parents, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, to agree to the divorce.
'That's as stupid as if you said I was tall and blond,' the former playboy said in the current issue of Ladies' Home Journal. 'There's no truth to it at all.'
Junot blamed Caroline's parents for contributing to the divorce, and said the press created an 'atmosphere of infidelity.'
Junot, 40, and Caroline, 23, were divorced in October and the princess moved back with her parents.
He said that when Caroline saw a picture of him dancing at a New York discotheque with his former girlfriend, Countess Agneta von Furstenberg, it caused her to 'flirt and invite the attentions of other men.
'But one day this kind of behavior reaches a point where it completely changes the relationship, and the trust is gone, which is exactly what happened to us,' he said.
'As far as fidelity is concerned, I think as long as the man respects his wife and doesn't make an affair obvious...,' he said, his voice trailing off.
He added, 'The press is responsible for creating an atmosphere of infidelity between Caroline and me, which does not reflect the reality. But I mean, it deeply created a bad atmosphere.'
Junot insisted that he is financially independent. 'The fact that I married Caroline never helped me in any way in my business. It didn't hurt me either,' he added. 'But I was always independent.
'I don't know how it is in America. But for a man in Europe, even if he goes with or marries a woman who has her own money, there is no question of her sharing the costs of their life together. If he goes with her, he pays for everything.'
Junot said Princess Grace and Prince Rainier 'saw Caroline unhappy at a certain moment -- and everything got exaggerated... what I really wanted was some time for Caroline and I to be alone together and work out our problems. But her parents interfered and the whole thing became impossible.
'We had some problems, Caroline and I -- like all couples,' Junot said. 'But being public persons, we were't allowed the privacy to work them out.'
