Sue Englefield has spoken out about the three years she spent working for the comedian following his sad death
Freddie Starr ’s ex-housekeeper today tells how life in the comic’s “mad house” could be fun-packed one day – but terrifying the next.
Sue Englefield spent three years with the star in the 90s and never knew what to expect when she turned up for work.
One day zany Freddie, who died of a heart attack last week at 76, would have her in stitches with antics such as training his pet parrot to swear.
But the next he could be wandering his home in a valium-induced haze and even waving a gun around. “He’d try to make me laugh or get me to have a cuppa with him – or something stronger,” says Sue, 60.
“Other times he was high as a kite and didn’t notice me. He was drug dependent. I got the sense the funny persona was a mask hiding a miserable, dark man. He was never aggressive or inappropriate with me, but I was a bit frightened of him.”
Sue landed the job of cleaning the four-times-married star’s seven-bedroom mansion – which had an indoor pool, sunken baths with gold taps, a gym and a bar with gold wine goblets – from 1992 to 1995.
She even babysat the three kids he had with second wife Sandy, who interviewed her for the job.
“I met Freddie when he came home from a gig and did joke karate on me – it was so funny,” says Sue of Winnersh, Berkshire.
“He could be hilarious, doing impressions or teaching his parrot to say f*** off.”
She was astonished at his wealth.
“One time I spotted loads of £50 notes whizzing round in the washing machine. His pockets must have been stuffed with them. He just laughed it off.”
Sue recalls “hilarious” dinner parties with comic pal Jim Davidson.
She says: “Those two were hysterical. Like comedy brothers.”
Sue also witnessed the end of Freddie and Sandy’s 15-year marriage after claims of his affairs. “You see a lot in this job,” she said. “You learn to stay out of it.”
Like the time she was warned Starr was waving a shotgun around.
But Sue was drawn into the mayhem of his life when she was falsely accused of jewellery theft.
“I was horrified,” she says.
“I was a single mum going through a divorce. To have my character dragged through the dirt like that was horrendous. After I was cleared I carried on working as normal. There was no apology.”
But Freddie and his bodyguard visited her after her flat was burgled.
“He told me, ‘when we catch who did this we will stick his fingers beneath the underground train’,” she says. “His protectiveness sticks in my mind.”
When the Starrs split in 1995, Sue worked for Sandy before moving on.
Still a housekeeper, she was saddened by Freddie’s death. She adds: “I still counted myself a fan.”
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