18 September 2023 , 10:25
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David Ginola has been accused of shunning his daughter despite finally meeting up to acknowledge her existence after 28 years.
The former Tottenham and Newcastle winger allegedly had a fling with Joelle Pinquier while playing for Brest in 1991. Joy Pinquier was conceived, but Ginola refused to have anything to do with her for the first 28 years of her life.
He refused to take paternity tests, despite being ordered to do so three times by a French court, which therefore automatically declared him the father. Ginola was ordered to pay €450 (£345) a month in child support until Joy turned 18, but remained distant.
In an interview with The Sun, Joy says she finally met her father for the first time after connecting via social media and sharing messages over WhatsApp. They met in person for an hour in Marseille after Ginola’s appearance on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here in 2021 before he went quiet again.
“As I walked over, I saw he had a big smile on his face. Now I realise that he never had any interest in being my father, he was just being polite,” Joy said. “It’s a horrible thing to say, but I feel like I have been abandoned a second time.”
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Joy, 30, claims that Ginola remarked “yes, you are a real Ginola” when they met and has been shocked and disappointed by his silence ever since. The 56-year-old has remained in the public eye, working as a pundit on English football and for Canal + in his native France.
But his daughter has been completely blanked. “I am not interested in his money and I never wanted to attack him publicly. I always felt it my responsibility to defend his reputation,” Joy said.
David Ginola with his ex-wife Coraline in 1999 (Serge ARNAL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)“But it’s got to a point where I feel a terrible anger and resentment towards my dad. More than anything, I want to finally look him in the eye and ask why he treated me like he did.”
Ginola was married at the time of his fling with Joy’s mum Joelle, who was then working as a secretary in Paris. The 56-year-old was married to his model wife Coraline, with whom he has two children: son Andrea, 31, and daughter Carla, 28.
David Ginola is now in a relationship with Maeva Denat (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)Joy alleges that Ginola hid his marriage status to Joelle and that he bailed on an agreed meeting when she was 15 at a lawyer’s office in Marseille. She says she was then denied access to his hospital room after he suffered a heart attack playing football in May 2016.
After Joy contacted him on Instagram, the two exchanged messages, but he never apologised for his absence or admitted he was her dad in writing. Ginola split from wife Coraline in 2016 and is now in a relationship with Maeva Denat, with whom he has a daughter, Ever.
Ginola did not respond to a request for comment from Mirror Football.