Lover Used Craigslist To Torture Steve Phillips' Wife

The 22-year-old ESPN production assistant whose affair with ESPN analyst and former Mets GM Steve Phillips was revealed yesterday, was apparently very resourceful in trying to harass Phillips' wife. Brooke Hundley (dubbed a "tubby temptress" by the Post, which also offers "video geek to superfreak") placed an ad on Craigslist to hire someone to call Marni Phillips and break the news of the affair. Hundley's script for the caller: " As you can probably tell Steve hasn't been himself lately [pause and act like this is really hard for you to tell her]... It's because he's cheating on you with a young woman at our work."

Connecticut waitress Courtney Arp told the Post that Hundley—claiming she was a friend of Marni Phillips—offered her $50 to call Phillips' wife, "She said she didn't want to do it herself because she said her 'friend' would recognize her voice and wouldn't take her seriously. She had a script all prepared, and she e-mailed it to me in advance." You can read the script here; Hundley helpfully provided motivation, like:

"The big thing on this is to act like you're having a hard time telling her this and you feel just absolutely awful I really need her to see that this isn't some prank, but an actual woman who's seen it all. In all honestly he's a disgusting bastard who's already come clean about a series of affairs he had and she took him back once, I just need her to finally see he hasn't changed, he's just gotten better at cheating."

For his part, Phillips announced he was taking a leave of absence from ESPN, which had suspended him, "I am deeply sorry that I have put my family and colleagues through this. It is a personal matter that I will not comment on further" and said his leave was "to address this with my family and to avoid any unnecessary distractions through the balance of the baseball playoffs." The Post says that he's suspected of sleeping with several ESPN employees. Wonder if he also gave them the "don't worry about getting pregnant because I had a vasectomy line" too!

Marni Phillips, described by the Post as "beautiful, blond, green-eyed," has filed for divorce, but she and Phillips have not pressed charges, even though Hundley trespassed at their Connecticut home and though Hundley cyberstalked their 16-year-old son, possibly using ESPN computers.