[Di2001]

NUSH BANS GURU Oct 12 2003


BB star in battle with 'manager'

By James Saville


BIG Brother star Nush Nowak has called in lawyers to get spiritual guru Anton Simmha out of her life.

She says the ex-GMTV yoga instructor has been posing as her manager in an attempt to cash in on her fame.

She claims he is desperate for her to enter into a contract that will give him 17.5 per cent of her earnings for the next three years - so he can afford to build a spiritual commune in Spain.

Although she refuses to sign, she claims he has already gone behind her back in attempting to set up a deal for a yoga video.

The 23-year-old, recently released from hospital after being mugged five weeks ago, says she has also been pestered with letters and phone calls from the 38-year-old hippy, who calls himself "The One."

But she has been forced to bring in lawyers to write a "cease and desist" letter against the long-haired oddball - real name Anton Kimberley - and his partner Kat Moore, 36, to keep them out of her life.

She said: "They've taken it too far - I've just had enough.

"He's not my guru, never has been and never will be. It's absurd of him to think he is."

Anton made his name as a yoga master on the GMTV work-out slot alongside Penny Smith several years ago.

Nush said her troubles began when she moved back in with her parents in Malvern, Worcs, after travelling last year.

She and her mum Elzbieta signed up for weekly yoga sessions in Anton's class at a rugby club in nearby Ledbury.

Nush became friendly with Anton and Moore and ended up staying at a retreat in Goa which they had recommended.

When she returned she began working as an assistant at the pair's business Yoga Bubble, based at their home in a converted dovecote.

"The job was nothing short of mundane," admits Nush. "I'd even end up cleaning out the fridge and other jobs like that.

"But I was getting lessons in kind so I'd go along with it.

"As I began getting through the stages of Big Brother, I did tell them they could offer up any constructive criticism."

And the couple certainly didn't hold back in telling Nush what she should do, starting with dumping her long-term boyfriend, musician Geoff Negus.

"Because Anton had been in TV he really felt he knew how to handle it all. But I couldn't believe what they were telling me," added Nush. "Then they told me I should change the way I spelt my name.

"Instead of Annuszka, the correct way, they wanted me to change it to Anoushka.

"They thought it looked better that way.

Nush believes she was set up when they asked her to go for a walk one afternoon - but brought their camera.

"We were walking through some fields when they suddenly whipped out a camera and started snapping.

"I had a feeling those pictures would turn up in the papers - and they did.

"They also said my mum was too scatty to talk to the Press and it would be better if they handled it themselves.

"That was the straw that broke the camel's back. My mum is my mum and I love her to bits. This was really insulting and upsetting.

"I only wanted to go on the show to have a good time - not because I wanted a career. But they took it really seriously. It was like a military operation."

Another bombshell came in May, a week before she was due to go into the BB house.

"All of a sudden a contract pops up," Nush said. "It looked really professional but I thought it was just odd."

She did not sign it - but more letters came. She has kept six letters. The latest was sent to her parents just over a month ago

"They print up these great, long letters and they seem really nice, asking how I am, wishing me luck, saying how great I am but then always at the back of the letter there's a contract," says Nush.

"They contacted video companies claiming to be my manager. One of them, Universal, said they have had enough of Anton. I'm worried he might ruin things for me."

The latest letter said Anton would be "devastated" if she presented a yoga video which didn't have him in it.

And he contacted Nush's parents again after she had surgery on her femur and kneecap following the assault in Kentish Town, North London.

"My solicitor ordered him not to persist with calling himself my guru, acting as my manager or making claims about me. It is a shame it has got to this."

WHAT HE TRIED TO MAKE HER DO

SIGN a contract giving him 17.5 per cent of her earnings.

GET rid of her wardrobe and spend hundreds of pounds on designer clothes.

CHANGE her name from Annuszka to Anoushka.

KEEP her 'scatty' mother out of the media spotlight.

DITCH boyfriend Geoff Negus because "it would look better" if she was single.

TOOK pictures of her with him taking a walk so he could sell the pictures once she was in the Big Brother house.