ESPN analyst Steve Phillips was given “an extended leave of absence” by the 24-hour sports network today for having a fling with a 22-year-old production assistant, who, after being dumped, taunted his wife with “Fatal Attraction”-like phone calls and a letter that bragged about her sexcapades with Phillips while taking pot shots at their “loveless marriage.”
“We were aware of this and took appropriate disciplinary action at the time,” ESPN said in a statement. “We have granted Steve’s request for an extended leave of absence to allow him to address it. We have no further comment.”
EXCLUSIVE: ESPN’s Phillips caught in affair, mistress taunted wife
Gal saw affair with Phillips as way to the top
ESPN Baseball analyst Steve Phillips, in acknowledging a relationship being reported today, said, “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.
“I have, however, asked for a leave of absence to address this with my family and to avoid any unnecessary distractions through the balance of the baseball playoffs.”
The Post reported today that the former Met general manager, whose tenure with the team was rocked by admissions of infidelity, confessed to his wife and local cops that he had slept with ESPN assistant Brooke Hundley several times this past summer before dumping her.
In retaliation, the jilted young woman repeatedly phoned Phillips’ wife, Marni, saying, “We both can’t have him!” an explosive police report claims.
STATEMENT FROM THEIR TEENAGE SON
Hundley’s desperate actions — including accidentally smashing her car into a stone column while speeding away from the Phillips’ home after leaving the letter — terrified the family, according to the Wilton, Conn., police report.
“I have extreme concerns about the health and safety of my kids and myself,” Steve Phillips said in a police statement, adding that the woman became “obsessive and delusional” after he dumped her.
GET MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON NYPOST.COM
But Phillips, 46, declined to pursue criminal charges against Hundley, a Bristol, Conn., woman who cops learned may have used an ESPN computer to contact Phillips’ 16-year-old son on Facebook while posing as a high-school classmate.
Phillips — who admitted having multiple affairs with women while working for the Mets — is now being sued for divorce by his 40-year-old wife, the mother of his four sons. Two months ago, Phillips deeded the family’s five-bedroom, multimillion-dollar Wilton home to her.
A source told The Post Phillips has been suspended for a week by ESPN — which hired him in 2005 as a baseball analyst — because of the scandal.