Football legend Iker Casillas was still happily married and blissfully ignorant of the career-ending heart attack he would suffer the year after Claudia Bavel made her X-rated film actress debut aged just 18.
She was a former shop worker introduced to porn by an ex-boyfriend she met during a brief appearance on a national Spanish TV dating show who ignored his warnings it would change her life ‘for ever’ because of the earning potential.
Neither Casillas or Claudia could have envisaged then their paths would cross as explosively as they have in the past fortnight after their shock relationship was exposed by paparazzi photographers the pretty brunette has been accused of tipping off for fame and fortune.
The fallout from the unlikely pairing of the former porn star-turned-Only Fans model, and the footballer known in his prime as Saint Iker because of his astonishing saves, is still making headlines around the world after she subsequently claimed in a kiss and tell Spanish TV interview he had been better on the pitch than in bed and played some of the spicy WhatsApp audios he had sent her.
Despite ostracising 27-year-old Claudia, the 43-year-old father-of-two is still only one click away on his keyboard from seeing her in action as a teenager, still wearing braces on her teeth, with the likes of porn legend Nacho Vidal and a famous Spanish baby-faced adult performer whose stage name in English is Jordi ‘The Dick Boy.’
The former shop worker was introduced to porn by an ex-boyfriend she met during an appearance on a national Spanish TV dating show
Claudia ignored her ex-boyfriend’s warning that the X-rated world would change her life ‘forever’ because of the earning potential
The unlikely pairing of the former porn star-turned-OnlyFans model and the retired goalkeeper is making headlines around the world after she claimed Casillas is better on the pitch than in bed
Online Spanish language biographies describe Iker’s former lover as the daughter of divorced parents who was born in the north-east Spanish city of Girona but moved to Malaga on the Costa del Sol as a seven-year-old before returning to Catalonia aged 16.
She combined studies with part-time work in clothes shops and hotels in Barcelona before friends sent off her CV to well-known Spanish TV dating show ‘Women and Men and vice versa’ where she met the man who would open the doors to her new life as a porn star.
Claudia claimed in a podcast interview last year she was earning at least ÂŁ16,500 a month from Only Fans and had just added to a burgeoning property empire by buying a large villa solely for filming in Barcelona with themed rooms.
She revealed of her entry into porn: ‘When I was in Madrid I met a man who didn’t tell me he was an actor but asked me if I wanted to accompany him to work one day.
Casillas, who played more than 500 games for Real Madrid, was known in his prime as ‘Saint Iker’ because of his astonishing savesÂ
‘When I saw what he did and realised it was something that was easy where you could make good money I thought, ‘Who’s going to see me if I do this, who sees porn!”
‘I realised I had been wrong in less than a month when I had become one of the most watched X-rated actresses.
‘I had always been very shy and wore baggy clothes.
‘My mum found out what I was doing one day and phoned me to ask if I’d been kidnapped.
Claudia said before entering the porn industry she was ‘very shy and wore baggy clothes’
The 27-year-old former porn star is now an Only Fans model, which makes her ÂŁ16,500 per month, she claimed in a recent podcast interview
She combined studies with part-time work in clothes shops and hotels in Barcelona before friends sent off her CV to well-known Spanish TV dating show ‘Women and Men and vice versa’ where she met the man who would open the doors to her new life as a porn star
‘My uncle was a police officer and she couldn’t believe what I was doing because of the way I was and my personality.
‘My situation at that time was quite complicated and luckily my family understood it and they didn’t get angry.’
Claudia’s second appearance on the Spanish dating show she had tried to make her name on as an 18-year-old came to a premature end after programme chiefs discovered her day job and showed her the door.
She reacted by posing topless wearing a pair of electric-blue sunglasses on the front cover of Interviu, a now-defunct famous Spanish language weekly magazine which mixed news and soft porn, where she claimed she still worked as a shop assistant and complained: ‘They didn’t even let me say goodbye or explain myself.’
Judith Perez, who has described herself as Claudia’s ‘ex-best friend’, sensationally claimed after the photos of her pal with Iker Casillas emerged: ‘She didn’t like him at all. The first day they arranged to meet for dinner she called the paparazzis.’
The Only Fans model, who says she now only acts alone on the internet subscription service and never interacts with other actors, has previously been linked with Spain-born footballer Keita Balde who plays for the Senegal national team and Puerto Rican music stars Ozuna and Bad Bunny.
She claimed when asked about her alleged romance with Ozuna in a recent interview: ‘He knows I have photos with him and he has said, ‘I love you and all.’
The Only Fans model has previously been linked with Spain-born footballer Keita Balde who plays for the Senegal national team and Puerto Rican music stars Ozuna and Bad Bunny
Claudia’s ex-boyfriend who introduced her to the X-rated scene, alleged this week after her Casillas fling went viral that she had feigned a pregnancy when he tried to leave her
Meanwhile Judith Perez, who has described herself as Claudia’s ‘ex-best friend’, claimed Claudia ‘didn’t like him (Casillas) at all’
Iker Casillas is now reportedly threatening to sue Claudia over her TV interview revelations and handover of private WhatsApp audios and messages, but she responded on Thursday with a hard-hitting statement saying: ‘It’s worrying he’s trying to silence my voice.’ as their growing row intensified.
Ask the average Spaniard whether they think she tipped off paparazzi photographers about their recent Barcelona date and most would say ‘yes’.
But if true, the ‘stunt’ that has transformed her into the household name Claudia has now become thanks to her relationship with Saint Iker, hasn’t made her a pariah in Spain.
She already had nearly 250,000 followers on her ‘official’ Instagram account where she shows off her curves in a range of figure-hugging outfits before the publication of the photos of her and Iker, taken last month before they made a visit to a winery with former Real Madrid players Luis Figo and Michel Salgado.
 She has another 16,000 followers on a second account where she has published more daring selfies and a link to her Only Fans page where she describes herself as a model and influencer and adds: ‘My bad hot side wants you at my links.’
Former Real Madrid and Spain star Iker Casillas has slammed the attempts to ‘violate his honour’
Casillas refused to confirm that he and the model were an item when previously asked about the matter
Spanish journalist Javier Hoyos claimed recently he had spotted the model and Iker enjoying a passionate kiss during a dinner date at an upmarket restaurant near the Costa Brava resort of Blanes in May last year.
Claudia has confirmed it was their first date after six months of flirting online before the start of an increasingly intimate relationship where she says they saw each other at least ‘once a month’.
Casillas, whose ex-wife Sara Carbonero survived ovarian cancer, was warned by one social media user this week: ‘f you want to be respected, don’t hang out with that kind of woman!’
Another added: ‘Act responsibly, you’re a public person and this is what you risk.’
