Gareth Gates offers support to girlfriend Faye Brookes after Coronation Street star’s sex tape leak
GARETH Gates has tweeted his support for girlfriend Faye Brookes after an explicit sex tape of the Corrie star was leaked online.
The film shows Faye, 30 — lesbian Kate Connor in the soap — with an unidentified man and has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
The actress, who is dating singer Gates, called in cops after hackers stole it from a phone and put it on one of the world’s largest adult sites.
Faye is seen dancing around before the camera switches to show her in a sex act with the naked man.
The two-minute video and private pictures were taken a few months ago.But it is believed the tape was put online only recently.
Just after midnight Gareth tweeted: "United we stand" alongside a picture of the pair holding hands on a beach.
On Saturday, a source said: "Faye is understandably devastated. Like any woman, she will be mortified that this footage is a few clicks away.
"It has somehow been accessed by someone who doesn’t care how much upset they cause.”
Faye and ex-Pop Idol runner-up Gareth, 33, met five years ago when starring in West End musical Legally Blonde.
Earlier this year her TV character shared a controversial kiss with married best pal Rana Nazir, played by Bhavna Limbachia.
Faye said: “I’ve never seen anything so racy on Coronation Street as when I watched back what we filmed that day.
“I’m very loyal to the older viewers, so I don't want to upset them, but I think we might have.
“I have never done anything like this in my life.
"I met my boyfriend when I had to kiss him on stage, but even that wasn’t as racy as what I had to do here.”
Faye’s Corrie co-star Kym Marsh had a sex tape of her and a man leaked online this year.
Another co-star, Catherine Tyldesley, had intimate pictures stolen and placed on the internet.
Hackers trade pictures to attract hits and notoriety, with the files leaked online.
Actresses Emma Watson, Sienna Miller and Tamzin Outhwaite, singer Nicole Scherzinger and model Rhian Sugden have all had private pictures published online.
Hackers falsely claimed to be preparing to publish nude images of This Morning’s Holly Willoughby.
And The One Show star Alex Jones was forced to deny naked pictures put online were of her.
Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence had nude photos put online in 2014.
She said: “They were releasing them every hour or so. It was unbelievably violating.”
A Coronation Street spokeswoman did not comment.