Steve Phillips - Brooke Hundley infidelity scandal - a warning to cheating husbands

ESPN's Steve Phillips, involved in a sex scandal
with Brooke Hundley, 22-year old production
assistant.  Photo: AP/ESPN Jessica Kourkounis

The Steve Phillips - Brooke Hundley Affair is the latest Infidelity Scandal to dominate the news.

ESPN analyst Steve Phillips had a brief affair with Brooke Hundley, a 22-year-old ESPN production assistant.

When he tried to terminate their short-lived sexual affair, this didn’t sit well with Hundley, who proceeded to stalk his Phillips’ sons and harass his wife.

ESPN has issued a statement saying that Phillips has been granted a leave of absence at his request, adding that they have also taken the appropriate ( unspecified) disciplinary action.

Yet Another Workplace Affair

Once again we see the results of another workplace affair. Cheating men simply refuse to acknowledge the 20 Problems a Workplace Romance Can Cause, and consistently ignore one of the cardinal rules from the list of 17 Rules of Engagement for Workplace Romance:

Never get involved in a workplace romance if you or the other person is married, or in a committed relationship. Ignoring this rule is a recipe for disaster.

How Brooke Hundley Harassed Steve Phillips’ Family

Brooke Hundley proceeded to stalk and harass the Phillips family  ( as described below) to the point that they feared for their safety and were compelled to file a police report.  (Scroll down for links to copies of the 3 official police reports made by Marni Phillips, Steve Phillips, and their 16 year old son.)

Below are some of the things Brooke Hundley did:

• She displayed irrational and erratic behavior when Steve Phillips tried to break off the affair.

• She repeatedly called Phillips home and harassed Phillips’ wife Marni.

• She wrote a detailed letter to Phillips containing intimate details about the affair even after Phillips told Hundley his wife already know about the affair. (Scroll down for a link to the letter Brooke Hundley wrote to Marni Phillips.)

• She drove to Phillips home, parked in their driveway and personally placed the letter in their front door.

• When Marni Phillips wife encountered Hundley on the Phillips’ property returning to her car, Hundley backed into a stone column or wall and drove across their lawn.

• Pretending to be a classmate of Phillips’ 16 year old son, Hundley contacted through Facebook corresponded with him for weeks, pumping him for information about himself, his family, their schedules, daily routine and where they lived.

• She obtained detailed information about the kind of vehicles Phillips’ wife and son drove.

• She claimed that she went to the oldest son’s football practice, but was unable to locate him.

NOTE: This is a perfect example of why I strongly recommend that a wife run a background check on her husband’s mistress so she’ll know what kind of person he ( and by default, she) is dealing with. See the article entitled What You Need to Know About Your Husband’s Mistress and Why .  But a cheating husband also needs to check his mistress out.

For further details of how Brooke Hundley stalked and harassed the Phillips family see the links below provided by the New York Post

Official police statement from Steve Phillips’ wife Marni
Official police statement from the Phillips’ 16 year old son
Letter from Brooke Hundley to Steve Phillips’ wife
Official police statement from Steve Phillips

Why Cheating Men Need to Check These Women Out

Not only are cheating men ignoring information about workplace affairs that should make them think twice before getting involved, but they are not even bothering to check their women out.

When have you ever heard of a cheating man running a simple background check on his prospective mistress before getting sexually or romantically involved? Yet it’s easy these days to run an online background check on someone one from your own computer in the privacy of your own home.

The $30 or so that it costs to check out the woman he’s sleeping with, or intends to start sleeping with could turn out to be the best investment a cheating man could possibly make. For less than what costs to wine and dine a mistress, or rent for a hotel room, a cheating man can find out valuable information about his mistress and determine what kind of person he’s dealing with.

• Is she immature? Mentally or emotionally unstable or fragile? Violent? Aggressive? Vindictive?

• What are her real motives for knowingly hooking up with a man who’s already married or in a committed relationship?

• If it’s a workplace affair, is she doing to get ahead or advance on the job?

• Is the she financially strapped and hoping that you’ll ultimately come to her rescue and bail her out? (Like Sahel Kazemi and Steve McNair)

• Is she looking to get pregnant so she can hold that over your head?

• Is she expecting you to leave your wife for her and live happily ever after? ? ( Like Rielle Hunter with John Edwards)

• Is she expecting you to set her up as a “kept woman” so she’ll never have to work again?

• Is she expecting you to supplement her income?

• Or is she in it just for the fun and good times?

• Does she have a jealous husband or boyfriend waiting in the wings? (Like Stephanie Birkitt and David Letterman)

• Is she a “gold digger with have a history of hooking up with married men?

• Is she looking to get her “15 minutes of fame” because of her involvement with you? ( Like Rielle Hunter with John Edwards)

• Is she the type to go around bragging about the affair to all her friends?

• Is she keeping a diary that someone could discover one day and try to blackmail you? (Like Stephanie Birkitt and David Letterman)

• When these things don’t materialize, how is she likely to react?

• Will the safety of you, your wife, or your children be jeopardized because things didn’t go her way? (Or will you end up as another casualty like Steve McNair)

• If you break up with her will she try to get revenge? See article entitled More Women are Resorting to Violent Acts of Revenge.

Cheating Men Know Very Little About the Woman They're Cheating With

Most cheating husbands or boyfriends know very little about the mistresses they are cheating with. Running a background check on his mistress( or his intended mistress) can benefit a cheating husband in several ways:

1. It may make him think twice about cheating on his wife.

2. It may strengthen his resolve to end his affair.

3. It help him realize that the affair is not worth the trouble it could cause.

4. It could alert him to the fact that he’ll need to put protective measures in place to ensure his safety and the safety of his family.

NOTE: For information about background checks see www.CheatingSpouseBackgroundCheck.com 

This whole situation has cost Steve Phillips his marriage. In the wake of all this danger the affair subjected their family to, his wife, Marni has filed for divorce. Hopefully, other cheating husbands will learn a valuable lesson from the events surrounding the Steve Phillips - Brooke Hundley affair.

*** © copyright 2009 Ruth Houston

Ruth Houston is a New York-based infidelity expert who is frequently called on by the media to comment onhigh profile infidelity and  infidelity issues in the news. She is the author of Is He Cheating on You? - 829 Telltale Signs, the founder of InfidelityAdvice.com and publishes the Infidelity News and Views blog at http://infidelitynewsandviews.blogspot.com .


For more information about cheating husbands, mistresses, workplace romance, see the following related articles.

 20 Problems a Workplace Romance Can Cause

17 Rules of Engagement for Workplace Romance

What You Need to Know About Your Husband’s Mistress and Why

More Women are Resorting to Violent Acts of Revenge

How Betrayed Wives and Other Infidelity Victims Get Revenge on Their Cheating Mates

David Letterman’s Fear of Blackmail Should Be a Lesson to Cheating Husbands

Infidelity Resources to Help You Catch a Cheating Mate  (contains information about doing a background check)