HE has confessed to sleeping with 250 women a year at the height of his fame and had a string of affairs, including one with a former Miss World and another which resulted in a child.
But reading Sir Tom Jones’s new autobiography, you would think he was the perfect husband.
In 500 pages, there is no mention of extra-marital relationships, other than to deny one with Raquel Welch.
There is also no mention of his illegitimate son, Johnathan Berkery, 27.
Instead, Sir Tom, 75, tells of his love for his wife Linda and, somewhat ironically, reveals how he feared she would stray when he left her behind in Wales to pursue his career.
Called Over the Top and Back, the book tells the story of Sir Tom’s six decades in showbusiness, from going door-to-door selling vacuum cleaners in Pontypridd to his friendship with Elvis Presley and a career which saw him sell 100million records and amass a £190million fortune.
But there is no mention of his well-documented affair with Mr Berkery’s mother, model Katherine Berkery, or his relationships with Mary Wilson of The Supremes and Miss World Marjorie Wallace. Mr Berkery, also a singer, who lives in New York, has told previously of his hurt that his father has refused to acknowledge him.
He said he blamed his father’s absence on his descent into drug addiction and homelessness.
Mr Berkery was born in 1988 but Sir Tom started paying maintenance only when Miss Berkery went to court and a DNA test proved he was the father.
In contrast, Sir Tom’s son Mark, with wife Linda, is referenced throughout. He describes making Mark his manager as the ‘canniest decision’ he ever made and credits him with his late resurgence on the music scene.
The closest Sir Tom gets to admitting to affairs in the book is when he acknowledges the effect he had on women. The singer recalls: ‘There was sex in the shows, and there was sex around the shows. The air seemed to crackle with it… the atmosphere was alive with the possibility of sex.
‘I was going over as some kind of love god, and I was going over so strongly that occasionally I was even persuaded of it myself.
‘The road will set temptations in front of you that are hard to resist.’
Sir Tom, who was dropped as a judge on The Voice in the summer, also vents his anger at the way the BBC handled his departure, describing the Corporation as a ‘cold place’.
Sir Tom caused controversy this week when he said Linda, now 74, had ‘lost her spark’ and accused her of letting herself go as she battled depression. He said: ‘Linda is the love of my life, and she still is, even though she doesn’t look like she did.
‘I don’t look like I did, either, but I try my best. She’s lost her spark.’
Sir Tom responded to accusations of chauvinism yesterday, insisting: ‘I respect the ladies.’
Daily Mail