Her husband, Michael Eels, 59, had terminal cancer. ‘He had tears in his eyes,’ their daughter, Hannah, 19, told The Sun. ‘I was about 10 years old and I was devastated.’
Claiming he’d get the ‘best possible treatment,’ Michael decided to move more than 500 kilometres away to be closer to a bigger hospital. Meanwhile, Andrea stayed behind to take care of their three kids. ‘I had no-one to talk to as I had to remain strong for our children,’ Andrea recalled.
Every month, Michael would come home for a few days to see his family. But far from being put through gruelling chemo, Michael was living a double life. After leaving Andrea, he’d secretly married Sally Howard who had no idea about his wife and kids. It wasn’t until Sally discovered a Christmas card from Andrea that Michael’s double life was exposed.
Sally contacted Andrea on Facebook. As the two women started talking they discovered they were both married to the same man!
‘He was regularly calling me and telling me he loved me,’ said Andrea. ‘I genuinely believed he was suffering from cancer.’ Second wife Sally was also left bereft. ‘I feel like my life is worthless because of how he treated me,’ she said.
In January at Lewes Crown Court, UK, Michael Eels pleaded guilty to bigamy and was later sentenced to three months behind bars and ordered to pay Andrea and Sally $1800 each in compensation.
Read more in this week's issue of that's life!
