EXCLUSIVE: Stephanie Heaney became Scotland’s oldest Playboy model at 38 in 2022 – just three years after she dumped a Rangers icon who scored 71 goals for the Glasgow giants during a six-year spell
A former WAG opened up about the “hell” she endured while dating a footballer.
Stephanie Heaney, 40, was with Rangers hero Nacho Novo for two years before she dumped the striker.
The Spaniard, 45, had boasted on social media saying “I’m single” before Stephanie set the record straight with a withering Facebook post.
But the Scottish Playboy model has now spoken about her ordeal four years on in the wake of the latest row involving Kyle Walker’s wife Annie Kilner and Lauryn Goodman.
Stephanie said she faced constant trolling and abuse from women online and revealed she even fell out with family members over the turbulent relationship with Novo.
She said: “I went through hell. Having to deal with women here, there and everywhere messaging me constantly saying ‘oh your man’s messaging me’.
“If I spoke out and defended myself, no matter what I was a target to the fans. Your personal life becomes everyone’s business and it really does cause a lot of stress and anxiety. You can’t win against millions of fans. So much trolling goes on.
“No one protected me or cared because they were fans. Even my own family I had to remove out my life.”
Stephanie met Novo in 2017 and the following year she helped the Ibrox man recover from a heart attack he suffered playing in a Gers legends match.
She even had the footballer’s name inked to her wrist before she later replaced it with a tribute to her sister, Lyndsey, who took her own life in 2019.
But the model, who recently opened up about her own health struggles, ended the relationship with Nacho and she revealed on Facebook: “This is the last post I’m making and I’m not responding to anything else. Exhausted by it all.
“It took a lot for me to post what I did. I loved Nacho and helped him a lot. I never left his side when he had a heart attack and saved his life when he had a stroke.
“I also left Nacho, he didn’t me. I’m not attention seeking. I’m soon deleting my social media posts. I just feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders now and I will get better in time.
“Nacho knows the truth. I am gutted and heartbroken that I have been dragged to this level.”
Stephanie discussed her relationship after being asked about Annie Kilner’s leaked messages appearing to show her saying she wanted Lauryn Goodman ‘dead’.
She said Kyle Walker was the “real villain” after the Manchester City defender secretly fathered a second child with Lauryn.
But after the reality TV star said she was “reviewing her options” after the messages were exposed, Stephanie urged her to move on.
She told us: “Lauryn needs to be more understanding. When you have destroyed someone’s trust in people and made a fool of someone like she has done to Annie, she is surely not surprised by comments made in anger by Annie.
“I think most women would be ranting and raving and furious. Lauryn has milked this situation so much being on dating shows crying and constantly doing things to wind up Annie. She is asking for trouble.”
