Don't treat him as a fool, says Wagner's ex-wife

The ex-wife of X Factor's wacky Wagner today said she feared he was being set up as a fool with his choice of songs and image as a Latin lothario.

Trudi Brass, 55, said she barely recognised the medallion man star of the TV show as the "beautiful" man she wed.

And the Birmingham woman told how the passion which drove him to follow her to England was also the flame which destroyed their whirlwind marriage.

He was 21 and "beautiful" when he first became captivated by the blue eyes of the 22-year old English teacher in the upmarket surfers' paradise of Ipanema - the beach that became famous through the 1962 song The Girl from Ipanema.

At first the pair were just good friends - although Wagner used to sing songs about her blue eyes and often tried to persuade her that she was with the wrong man.

"He used to tell my boyfriend he could have any of the beautiful girls in Brazil but said I was the only one for him and tried to persuade me he was the only one for me.

"My boyfriend had to remind him that he quite liked me too," said Trudi of Harborne who is now a tutor at Birmingham Conservatoire.

"Wagner loved my blue eyes because they were very unusual in Brazil. He used to sing songs about them.

"He was good fun and very artistic, writing poetry and painting as well as singing," she said. When her teaching job came to an end after 15 months in Brazil, she returned to England. She eventually split from her boyfriend and her job took her to Japan.

But at 34 she returned to Brazil and decided to look up her old friend Wagner.

Rekindled

It was January 1992 and the old spark of attraction was rekindled. Five months later Wagner sold his car to raise the fare to follow his love to England and the couple were married in August.

They had a simple ceremony at Birmingham Register Office. But the flame quickly burned out for Trudi who realised she had made a big mistake. She said: "It was foolish of us to get married. He's a lovely man but the cultural differences told in the end."

She claims he became overbearing and possessive and his intense personality drove them apart. After just four months of marriage the couple split — although it was another four years before they divorced.

Ironically, it was Trudi's old boyfriend from the Ipanema days who first spotted Wagner on TV and phoned her.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw his long hair and all those necklaces. He was never like that when I knew him. I think he has been advised badly over his choice of songs.

"He should be singing something operatic. I still have fond memories of him and for his own sake, I hope he's not being set up as a fool," she added.