Geri Horner has returned to social media for the first time since her husband Christian was embroiled in an internal investigation at Formula, after standing by her partner throughout the scandal.
The Spice Girl shared a sweet birthday tribute for Victoria Beckham as she celebrated her 50th birthday on Wednesday, along with a gallery of snaps documenting their friendship.
Geri captioned the post: “Happy birthday @victoriabeckham you look amazing! From our Tank girl audition over 30 years ago, and you still shine! I wish you love and joy.
Christian was the subject of an internal investigation in February after accusations – which he denies – of “coercive behavior” towards a colleague were made against him, before being cleared.
However, his future remains under scrutiny after text messages between Horner and what appears to be a female colleague were leaked in 79 screenshots.
Geri Horner returned to social media for the first time since her husband Christian was embroiled in the Formula 1 scandal, posting a birthday tribute to Victoria Beckham.
The Spice Girl shared a sweet birthday tribute for Victoria Beckham as she celebrated her 50th birthday on Wednesday, along with a gallery of snaps documenting their friendship.
While Christian was cleared of any misconduct, friends said Geri was left “extremely humiliated” after a series of intimate messages her Formula 1 boss husband allegedly sent to a colleague were leaked within days later.
One said: “From the beginning Christian promised there was nothing in it. »
She had supported the motorsport executive during an independent investigation carried out by his company after he was accused of coercive behavior towards an employee.
The Red Bull boss was cleared of charges, allowing him to keep his £8million-a-year job and fly to Bahrain before the season-opening Grand Prix last month.
His wife’s friends said she had been “very relieved” that her family could finally move on with their lives after Horner spent weeks in the spotlight.
But just 24 hours after being officially cleared, the Red Bull team principal’s career and marriage were thrown back into chaos.
Hundreds of WhatsApp exchanges between Horner and his colleague, some of a sexual nature, were published via an anonymous messaging account.
There is no way to verify the validity of long, frequent messages that seem to alternate between the mundane and the intimate.
Christian was the subject of an internal investigation after accusations – which he denies – of “coercive behavior” towards a colleague, before being cleared.
Although she stood by her partner during the investigation, her friends said Geri was “humiliated” when hundreds of messages with the employee, some of a sexual nature, were leaked.
The tranche of almost 80 screenshots – including a number of images – was sent to hundreds of journalists and key Formula 1 figures.
A friend of the former Spice Girl said he feared the star, mortified by the embarrassing row, could understand such public humiliation.
He said: “Geri has lived in this happy, happy bubble for so many years now, she thought she had her prince and her knight in shining armor, but now this.
“She thought everything was gone, she was delighted and over the moon when she heard Christian had been cleared.
“Geri was pilloried when she ended up with Christian because he had just had another baby with another woman, but she worked hard to shed that image of herself and Christian, and in particular the fact that she is a homewrecker.
“Now everything has collapsed. The tears stopped when the judgment fell on Wednesday, now they will certainly have started again. It will destroy her. Christian always promised there was nothing in it.
In recent weeks, Geri has reportedly been “mortified and angry” at her husband of almost ten years, with whom she has a seven-year-old son, for humiliating her.
A source close to the star said she “wasn’t sure what to believe” throughout the saga, but was determined to come out of it unscathed and their marriage unscathed.
“Geri is not a Pisces woman, but she finally found the man she wanted and she won’t want to let him go. This could end up being a big dilemma for her,” the source said.
Shortly after the leak, Horner released a statement that said: “I will not comment on anonymous speculation, but I reiterate that I have always denied the allegations.
“I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and cooperated fully at every stage. This was a thorough and fair investigation carried out by an independent specialist lawyer, which resulted in the dismissal of the complaint filed. I remain fully focused on the start of the season.
However, just days after the leak, Geri showed unity with her husband when she proudly stood by his side, kissed him and held his hand during the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The woman who accused Horner of coercive behavior was suspended from her role at Red Bull as a direct result of the investigation after being told her testimony was “dishonest”.
It was later reported that she had appointed new lawyers and was now considering appealing the verdict that exonerated her.
A source cited by the outlet said: “Christian and Geri are preparing for more fireworks, but a thorough investigation has already yielded a result in his favor.
“The woman’s honesty was called into question and her testimony was found to be flawed.”
A “friend” of the woman in question later said she was “very upset, angry, scared, intimidated and alone”, telling the BBC she “struggled to understand” how the team had rejected his allegations against his boss Christian.
They said: “It’s impossible for people to understand what it’s like for her. Every time I ask her something she bursts into tears and says she has no one to talk to because she’s not allowed to talk.
“She is very upset, very angry, very scared, very intimidated, very alone.”
A Red Bull spokesperson said: “Both parties have signed a confidentiality agreement on this matter so that they cannot discuss it.”
Last month, Christian also received hundreds of comments from baffled fans after posting a Mother’s Day message to Halliwell.
Fans claimed the timing of his post was “strategic” amid his “sex texts” scandal and called him “stupid” for not disabling comments on his Instagram.
He shared photos of his wife to mark Mother’s Day, along with a heartfelt tribute in the caption.
He wrote: “Happy Mother’s Day – I am so grateful to the moms in our family for all they do. We are forever grateful, today and every day.
When Christian traveled to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, Geri was noticeably absent and sources claimed she gave her husband a list of rules following the scandal.
“The first is that Christian is cutting off or reducing contact with the woman – but this is difficult because of his role at Red Bull,” News Corp reported.
“And she definitely had a say in the messages he sends. For obvious reasons, Geri would like her colleague – whom she knew before her appointment – to be excluded as much as possible.
“But they can’t fire her because there’s no reason to.”
GBN reported that Christian was not impressed by the list or his wife’s apparent distrust of him.
“Christian was initially hurt by the idea of a list of rules and said it felt like she was being distrustful,” a source said.
The couple married in a star-studded ceremony at St Mary’s Church in Woburn in 2015.
“She insisted that while she still loves him, she must protect herself and urged him to put himself in her shoes to understand the torment she endured with public humiliation and embarrassment.
“Christian finally backed down and agreed to do whatever it took.”
Geri and Christian married at St Mary’s Church in Woburn, Bedfordshire, six years after they first met at the 2009 British Grand Prix.
Christian left his partner Beverley just six months after the birth of their daughter Olivia in 2014 and moved in with Geri.
In November 2014, they announced their engagement in The Times newspaper.
Two years after getting married in 2017, the couple welcomed their first child together, named Montague George Hector Horner.
Geri and Christian share two homes in the English countryside, in Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire, one of which has a farm with three donkeys, goats and stables for 14 horses.
As she adopted a new lifestyle in the countryside, Geri decided to revamp her image in an attempt to banish the “homewrecker” label and present their relationship as healthy.
A source told Mail Plus that Geri has been “ultra careful with her image, trying so hard to shed her brassy Ginger Spice past and transform herself into a wholesome Oxfordshire housewife”.
