My Ivanhoe girl is joust crazy for sex

Sunday Mirror, Jan 26, 1997 by Tracy Schaverien

EXCLUSIVE

by TRACY SCHAVERIEN

It was the performance of her life - but one which Ivanhoe beauty Victoria Smurfit never dreamed she'd be playing in front of an audience.

The stunning heiress was lost to lust as she romped passionately with her knight in shining armour.

Suddenly she stopped and looked up. Gathered round the car in a dark corner of the multi-storey car park were a dozen burly builders. They gave her a standing ovation.

"There were all these people hanging over the balcony above us," recalls Pete Walsh, Victoria's former fiance.

"We were so carried away we had no idea there was anyone watching until they started shouting.

"We were in Marbella and they were yelling all sorts of rude things in Spanish. It was very embarrassing. We quickly adjusted our clothes and drove off, but we laughed about it afterwards."

It was just another wild sexual encounter for the amorous young couple, who enjoyed a tempestuous two-year affair.

Victoria, 23, who plays shy, virginal Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, is in real life "a pretty wild girl, who loves to party and have a good time," says Pete.

"She's a legendary drinker, and would easily drink 10 pints of Guinness then literally carry me home over her shoulder."

Victoria is the daughter of one of Ireland's richest men, packaging tycoon Dermot Smurfit. She had a charmed upbringing in a seaside mansion before going to the exclusive Ascot School For Girls.

But there was no hint of her privileged background the night Pete, who now runs his own advertising agency, first spotted her in a bar in Bristol where she was a drama student.

"She was standing on her own wearing holey jeans and a jumper with a pint of wine in her hand," he says. "We just clicked straight away."

Soon after their first meeting, Victoria joined Pete in Spain where he was working as a tennis coach for the summer - and love blossomed. "Vicky is the most entertaining woman I've ever met," he says.

"Sex was great and we did it whenever and wherever we could - on the beach, in the car. One night we stole a fishing boat and rowed it out to sea.

"Then we stripped off and made love under the moonlight with the waves lapping around us. It's a wonder we didn't capsize. The day we were due to fly home, we were about to get up but decided to do it one more time.

"We ended up staying in bed all day and couldn't get another flight for days."

When they returned to England, Victoria moved into Pete's waterfront flat in Bristol.

She landed roles in Run of the Country alongside Albert Finney, and as a rock groupie in John Bon Jovi's film The Leading Man.

The couple planned to get married and have children. And as she strove to climb the career ladder, Pete drove her to auditions and helped her learn her lines.

But as her career took off their relationship took a nose-dive, and two months ago - after a drunken row - they split.

Pete says: "The day she got the role in Ivanhoe we bought a copy of the old original on video with Liz Taylor, took loads of bottles of champagne to bed and spent the whole day watching the film laughing, drinking and, of course, making love.

"Until then she had been back and forth to London for auditions and that put a strain on our relationship. But when she went away filming Ivanhoe for six months in Scotland and the North of England it became even worse. On top of that she felt if she was going to get on she had to network in London or 'schmooze' as she called it.

"She went to places like the Groucho Club and met people like Charles Dance and Reece Dinsdale.

"Vicky had always said she was glad I wasn't an actor, but she started to feel that I didn't understand.

"I suppose it is better to turn up at these things on the arm of someone who is in the business. I think actors need other actors."

Both Victoria and Pete were plagued by jealousy, and would quiz one another about their time spent apart.

Pete says: "We were both quite insecure.

"While we were in Spain, a girl came up to ask me the time one day and before I could open my mouth to reply I was pushed in the pool.

"We had some tremendous rows which usually ended with me covered in food or drink.

"Vicky has a wild temper and would often tip a glass of wine over my head, although once it was a plate of noodles in a Chinese restaurant...much to the amusement of the waiters." Their final bust- up came last November when Victoria arrived home from filming and announced she wanted to stay with her mum for a while.

"I'd not really had any inkling anything was wrong and said we should try to sort things out.

"We went to the pub and when we came home she started packing her bags.

"She was crying and said it was all over. I asked her not to go but she got into her car and ended up reversing into a post.

"She has sworn blind there was no one else and I have to believe her.

"What came between us was her career which is the most important thing in the world to her.

"I still love Vicky and I know she loved me, but she is just so driven that I don't think there is any room for me."

"She always said that one day she wanted to walk into a room and have people say, 'That's Vicky Smurfit the actress', not, 'That's Vicky Smurfit, Dermot's daughter'.