BIPASHA BASU - BASU HITS OUT AT RONALDO ROMANCE REPORTS

Bollywood star BIPASHA BASU has slammed reports she cheated on her model boyfriend JOHN ABRAHAM with soccer star CRISTIANO RONALDO, insisting she would never be so "footloose". The Indian actress was pictured in a compromising situation with Ronaldo on Saturday (07Jul07), after they co-hosted the Lisbon, Portugal, ceremony to announce the new Seven Wonders of the World. But while Basu has not disputed the authenticity of the photos in question - which allegedly show the pair kissing - she is adamant there was no "lip-locking", because she would not be stupid enough to "misbehave" so publicly. She fumes, "For God's sake, that photograph just cannot be taken seriously. Is that how newspapers define a lip-lock? I'm horrified. Suddenly, because of that photograph, I am internationally famous. But do I want fame at this cost? All the joy of that meeting with my favourite footballer has evaporated. "The photograph is not doctored, obviously somebody clicked us on a cellphone, but we were just dancing in a crowded disco. This is not a kiss! Ronaldo had leaned over to say something in my ear, and the camera caught him at that inopportune moment, that's what this is. "I don't need to explain my behaviour. I'm a free-spirited person. But I'm not footloose. It takes me a long time to become close to anyone. I'm certainly not some giddy-headed teenager who would get so carried away in Ronaldo's company that I'd kiss him in public. There are far more discreet and private places to do such things. Even if I was single, I would not get carried away at my first meeting with a 22-year-old boy, no matter how big a celebrity he is, to misbehave with him in public."

11/07/2007 16:43