Why movie hunk Russell Crowe's glamorous girlfriend stayed with my

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Jun 30, 2002 | by NIKI WALDEGRAVE

DANIELLE Spencer and I are standing on the windswept Scarborough seafront eating prawns from a polystyrene tray with plastic forks.

She's my cousin, we're both blondes, and at 29 she is only three years older than me. But sadly, that's where the similarities end.

You see, while I'm depressingly single, she's got a boyfriend back in Australia. You might have heard of him - Crowe's the name.

Gladiator star Russell Crowe.

It's hard to believe that the woman who tamed one of the most eligible men in the world is my cousin.

My mum Anne met and fell for her uncle Pete seven years ago and, come September, they will have been married for three years.

Danielle arrived in Britain in time to join around 50 other friends and family members at her grandmother Nell's 80th birthday party last Saturday in a little village near York.

I'm told those who hadn't met her before fell in love with her, including her second cousins Alex, 11, Anna, six, Lauren, four months, and my 13-year-old brother Oliver.

And while Danielle is on first name terms with the likes of Kylie Minogue and Nicole Kidman - her single Tickle Me from her debut solo album White Monkey is currently storming the charts Down Under - she also seemed perfectly at home listening to her Uncle Pete murdering Elvis. On the karaoke at 2am on Sunday.

Before meeting Danielle I was a little apprehensive - would she hate me for being a showbiz journalist? Would she think I had a part in the UK stories that have branded Russell a womaniser, heavy drinker or thug? (I didn't).

Luckily for me, Danielle is a down-to-earth, charming, beautiful girl. At first she seemed a bit cautious but after a few glasses of Cristal champagne we were immersed in girlie talk.

She and Russell first got together in 1991, split up and were reunited last year. It's easy to see what attracts him to her. Apart from her good looks, honey-coloured skin, long blonde hair and perfect figure she has brains, good manners, and a brilliant personality.

When I last met her two years ago in Australia she was off to the Golden Globes awards as Russell's guest. At the time they were just friends, though Russell, who has had relationships with many glamorous women including fellow actress Meg Ryan, made it clear he wanted more.

His perseverance eventually paid off. She says: "We just started hanging out again. We were both coming out of relationships and it was a case of us both being free." She is keen to point out she had nothing to do with the break-up of his romance to Proof Of Life co- star Meg. She says: "When Russell was with her, I was in a relationship with someone else. We were just friends. And by the time we got back together, both those relationships had finished."

In the past few months there has been talk about Russell's relationship with actress Nicole Kidman - and it was suggested Danielle stormed out of the BAFTAs after he ignored her in favour of Nicole. But Danielle insists: "I'm portrayed as the long-suffering girlfriend from the Outback, but that is far from reality. The BAFTA story was really annoying because the truth is that none of it happened - as if I would go running through a room full of prominent British actors and directors and cause a scene like that!

"The truth is Nicole and I are friends. It's a shame people have to keep bringing up her friendship with Russell as a negative thing because it's actually really nice.

"She has had so many ups and downs lately and I think it's great that Russell has been there through it all. I don't have a problem with it so I don't see why anyone else should."

Danielle's star-studded life is a world away from her visit to Britain, where her home for six days was the spare bedroom - which also doubles as my bedroom - in my mum's house in Yorkshire. With its cream walls, beige and peach chintz bedding, wicker chair, pine wardrobe, dressing table and chest, is hardly the Ritz. But that didn't bother Danielle, who made a fuss of my awestruck 13-year-old brother Oliver and his friends.

When I arrived on Tuesday the house was full of people talking incessantly because HE'D rung.

When my mum heard his voice she squealed so excitedly you'd have thought a deranged Mariah Carey had taken her place. Russell rang Danielle twice a day and they usually talked for around an hour. The family - including Danielle's 32-year-old brother Dean - went to the coastal resorts of Scarborough and Whitby and the Yorkshire Moors on Wednesday.

In Scarborough, we walked to the seafront where Danielle managed to eat her polystyrene tray of prawns without the wind whipping the vinegar all over her.

Then, while Dean was in a joke shop buying 10 sets of scary teeth, Danielle and Julie tucked into fudge and debated whether to buy a teddy called Russ for Russell. Danielle - who left Britain as a toddler - fancied fish and chips but was persuaded to wait by the promise of seafood in Whitby along the coast. Once there, she was fascinated by the cobbled streets and nipped into a few craft shops. After a pub lunch we headed for the Yorkshire Moors and a spot of sightseeing, which Danielle loved. But what was most impressive was the fact she still remembers the words to Yorkshire anthem On Ilkley Moor B'aht 'At.