Ben Stokes’ wife last night denied claims the England ace tried to throttle her after photos emerged of them at a cricket awards party.
One image shows the all-rounder with his hand on Clare’s neck following the Professional Cricketers’ Association Awards.
Reports claimed the couple were involved in a heated bust-up at the event last week.
The pictures were posted online yesterday with a report alleging Ben had “choked” his wife.
But Clare insisted claims her husband had been violent towards her were “nonsense” on social media just minutes after the images first surfaced.
She posted a snap of them from the night alongside a photo of herself jokingly grabbing the cricketer’s face in their car.
Clare wrote: “Unbelievable what nonsense these people will make up!
“Me and Ben messing about squishing up each other’s faces cos that’s how we show affection and some pap tries to twist it into
a crazy story.
“And all before we then have a romantic McDonald’s 20 mins later.”
Stokes later shared Clare’s message next to a kissing emoji with his 600,000 Twitter followers.
In a statement to the Mirror, Ben said: “I have become used to people making stuff up about me, but of all the topics not to mess with domestic abuse has to be at the top of the list.
“It’s an incredibly serious issue for thousands of women – and men – who do suffer domestic abuse.
“For it to be toyed with for cheap headlines in this way just damages the cause of those who are abused.
“Clare is a strong, independent woman who can speak for herself.
“We have a wonderful relationship and I never tire of saying how lucky I am to be with her.
“We both had a great night at the PCA Awards, ending with us dining out at McDonald’s together.
“To falsify and spread these kind of allegations so willingly is totally irresponsible.”
“The way that this has come across is so far removed from what it was.
“It was a stressful 45 minutes for us when we found out, but we wanted to address it as quickly as we could.”
