Jamie Ridge. Photo Twitter
All Black Sonny Bill Williams has been linked to a new
girl - the teenage daughter of former rugby and league
international Matthew Ridge.
Sources said yesterday that Williams, 26, was dating
18-year-old Jaime Ridge, an Auckland student, model and
social-page regular.
They said the pair had been seeing each other for about two
weeks.
One source said Sally Ridge met Williams after taking up
boxing lessons recently and introduced him to her daughter,
who is about to start her second year at university studying
law and commerce with a double major in international
business and marketing.
The couple have been spending a significant amount of time
together since, with Williams spending"every other night'' at
the house where Ms Ridge lives with her mother, according to
the source.
Another source close to the couple said the news of the new
relationship came as "a shock''.
"It's not very good. She's 18 and he's nearly 27. She's
dating [the equivalent of] her father in his prime and I'm
not sure she knows that. It's too much too soon. I don't care
how mature you are at 18 - 18 is 18.''
It is understood Ms Ridge has been spending time in Hamilton
with Williams and is planning to spend the weekend there,
along with her mother.
In December, it was reported the she was in a relationship
with Dwayne Rowsell, a member of the 2011 Black Sticks
Development Squad. She referred to him as "Mr Good Looking''
in an online message on January 7. "She dumped Dwayne and
hooked up with Sonny Bill Williams,'' one source said. "Jaime
has gone to Hamilton with him and his manager this week.''
When she was seeing Rowsell she often mentioned him and
posted photographs of him on her Twitter account.
She and Williams follow each other on the social networking
site, but have yet to make any public display of affection
online.
Williams has had a more high-profile love life than his
younger new girlfriend. In September he was linked to a
fellow athlete, 21-year-old Cantabrian Aleisha Berryman.
The pair were snapped by a woman's magazine grabbing a
Chinese takeaway meal together, dressed down in trackpants
and casual jumpers.
Williams is scheduled to fight Clarence Tillman III for the
New Zealand Professional Boxing Association heavyweight title
in Hamilton on February 8.
He began training with his new Super Rugby team, the Chiefs,
in Hamilton this month.
- Anna Leask of the New Zealand Herald
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