BRAD PITT - PITT SCANDAL WOMAN'S MOTHER SUFFERS A HEART ATTACK

The actress at the centre of the BRAD PITT adultery scandal has been dealt a severe blow as she fights allegations she made up a story about romancing the movie star to further her career - her mother has suffered a heart attack.

APRIL FLORIO hit the headlines earlier this month (FEB05) when her former agent MIKE ESTERMAN confirmed she was the woman spotted with a bearded Pitt lookalike in Greece last year (04).

The scandal then grew as Florio was reported confessing she did enjoy a brief fling with Pitt, who was married to JENNIFER ANISTON at the time. Florio claims her ex-agent spoke to the media without asking her first, insisting she never admitted to spending more than five minutes with the movie star at a Hollywood party.

Then, during an appearance on US chat show THE BIG IDEA WITH DONNY DEUTSCH last night (17FEB05), Florio revealed the scandal had taken a huge toll on her family, especially her mother.

She said, "She had a heart attack and she's on a monitor at home. It's been really tough on me and my family, but we're all strong and we're gonna get through it."

She told Deutsch her stepfather had not been able to contact her and tell her of her mother's heart attack because she changed her phone number in the past week, so her former agent Esterman, who insists he did check the facts with Florio and reported what she told him back to US publications, couldn't get in touch with her.

She also used her appearance on The Big Idea to issue a direct apology to Pitt and his estranged wife Aniston, who split up last month (JAN05). She stated, "I'm sorry you had to go through all this stuff. I'm sorry for me, I'm sorry for Jennifer, I'm sorry for everybody involved in the whole thing."

Florio was joined on the show by Esterman, who restated he had contacted his former client after he was approached by various US media outlets asking if the actress was the woman in pictures with the Pitt lookalike. He insisted she told him she "was".