Sean Connery blasts ex-wife Cilento

Sir Sean Connery’s feud with his former wife, Diane Cilento, has ratcheted up a gear. First she accused the former Bond actor of being mean with money, claiming in a Sunday newspaper article that he refused to help their son, Jason, financially and, despite having a fortune estimated at £85m, intended leaving Jason out of his will. Now Connery, 77, has struck back – with a vengeance.

"I haven’t seen the woman in 37 years and she knows nothing about me or my life now," Sir Sean, who has been married for the past 33 years to his French wife Micheline, told the Daily Telegraph. "Diane can’t move on from the break-up of our marriage and I have already had to contend with her accusations about me being violent towards her. Now the lies seem to be getting even more vicious, and, what is worse, she is dragging our son into it.

"I have just come off the phone to Jason and I know he will be making his own statement but I never told him I wasn’t going to leave him a penny in my will or that I said he only had the career he has as an actor and director because of his family name. He happens to have talent of his own."

Connery goes on: "I saw him in Scotland only last year and we speak constantly on the phone. As for being mean to him when he was a lad, I sent him to Millfield, which is Britain’s most expensive public school, and I sent him after that to Gordonstoun when it became clear to me that Millfield was rubbish."

The veteran film actor also claims to have set up a £85,000 trust fund to cover the education of Jason Connery and Diane’s daughter. "It seems to me a shame that whatever garbage Diane comes out with about me is reported as the gospel truth, but of course a lot of people have their own agenda about me because of my support for the SNP."

Cilento, 74, gave an insight into her feelings for Sir Sean, 77, when she said recently: "I do feel there’s unfinished business between us. I loved the old Sean, I still do. Sometimes when I see him today on some talk show, I catch a fleeting glimpse of my old love in the turn of his head or a well-remembered phrase, and it still makes my heart turn over."