A very inconvenient masseuse: How saint Al Gore, the sanctimonious eco-crusader, lost his halo (and his wife!)



With Bill Clinton, it was intimate telephone conversations with his young intern Monica Lewinsky and their infamous cigar. And with Clinton's former vice-president, Al Gore, it is now, apparently, a pair of a stained black trousers.

It seems that this everyday item of clothing now threatens to bring this most sanctimonious of moral crusaders crashing down into the gutter.

Currently encased in an official plastic bag as police evidence, they are owned by a masseuse who claims that the former American vice-president forced himself on her - and DNA evidence on the trousers can prove it.



Molly Hagerty has claimed Al Gore sexually assaulted her. His wife of 40 years, Tipper, has left him

Molly Hagerty says climate change guru Gore behaved 'like a crazed sex poodle', telling police that after giving him a massage in his hotel room he 'wrapped me in an inescapable embrace' and fondled her bottom and breasts.

She said she asked Gore to stop several times, adding: 'Al Gore is a sexual predator.'



As Miss Hagerty told her story to America's salacious National Enquirer newspaper this week, police announced that they were reopening investigations into the alleged sexual assault.

She has now apparently produced a witness - a friend who she spoke to in tears after the incident, who backs up her story.



She said she has sent the aforementioned trousers to be tested for Gore's DNA and that she has submitted video footage of her entering Gore's hotel to support her claims.

The Mail has seen the account given by Miss Hagerty to the police, in which she gives explicit details of the alleged attack and reports that she tried to repel the Nobel Peace prize winner as he lay on top of her by shouting: 'Get off me, you great lummox!'

Earlier this month, Al Gore's wife of 40 years, Tipper Gore, left him

Gore has denied the claims. Earlier this month, his wife of 40 years, the immaculate Tipper Gore, left him. The pair announced their decision in a 61-word email to friends, shocking Washington commentators.

Now, other tales are emerging. There are rumours of further extra-marital liaisons and wild parties at Gore's San Francisco bachelor pad, with bikini-clad girls cavorting in his hot-tub. His reputation has sunk so fast that some are, erroneously, reporting that he had an affair with film star Bo Derek, which has been strongly denied.

Until now few would have imagined that eco saint Al Gore would be subject to the kind of scandalous rumours that tarnished American politicians like JFK and Clinton.

Some have a theory that Gore suffered a mid-life crisis when it became clear, in 2000, that he would never become president. Others say he has been seduced by his own ego, as he entered the world of celebrity with his 2006 prize-winning eco-awareness film, An inconvenient truth, which won an Academy Award.

So what exactly is the truth in this sordid saga?

Al Gore, of course, is a patrician American politician born and bred. His father was senator for Tennessee and Gore went on to become vice-president to Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. He is now, perhaps, the world's best known environmental activist.

Some facts have been established about how this Harvard-educated family man became entangled with a small-town masseuse. he was staying in Portland, Oregon, and asked staff at the luxury Hotel Lucia to find him a masseuse.

Miss Hagerty arrived at about 10.30pm on October 24, 2006, to massage Gore, now 62, who was registered under the name 'Mr Stone'. The agreed fee was £360.

It is at this point that Hagerty takes up the tale. The 54-year-old was directed to Gore's room, suite 903. There, she alleges, he greeted her with a bear-hug.

She told police: 'If it weren't Al Gore, I would have seriously been questioning the situation. I assumed he must be engaging in his "new age politician in casual mode".'

She says she also noticed that Gore had been drinking, claiming he ushered her in and turned down the lights. Hagerty says she asked Gore - who once described Clinton's relations with Lewinsky as 'inexcusable' - what particular areas of his body he wanted massaging.



He then allegedly mentioned his abdominal area and adductors - the muscles of the inner thigh.

Hagerty claims that when she began massaging Gore's abdominal area he emitted 'muffled moans' and then requested her to 'go lower'

She says that 'in the massage world, this is sometimes a precursor to inappropriate behaviour by a male client' and is often a 'no-go area' for therapists.

She adds: 'I cannot begin to imagine that such a public figure, who is married with a very public life with his wife, and had books published about family life and was on some tour of an altruistic environmental nature, would be anything less than a model of stellar integrity. I even voted for him in the last election.'

She claims that when she began massaging Gore's abdominal area he emitted 'muffled moans' and then requested her to 'go lower'.

Shocked, she refused, at which point she alleges that he became 'verbally sharp and loud', putting aside what she calls his 'Mr Smiley Global Warming Concern persona'.

She claims he grabbed her hand, shoved it beneath her masseur's sheet, brushing it against his private parts. He apparently then shouted 'I'm not asking you to do anything inappropriate' before asking her to 'release his second chakra' - a new-age euphemism for sexual energy.

As she tried to leave, she claims Gore grasped her into an embrace. She says she told him he was 'being a crazed sex poodle' and said she began to 'fear rape would be inevitable if I couldn't get out of the room'.

She claims he then took her into the bedroom and threw her on her back, pinning her down with his body - at which point she says she shouted: 'Get off me, you big lummox!'



She says: 'He pleaded, grabbed me, tongue kissed me, groped my breasts and painfully squeezed my nipples through my clothing, then he pressed his pelvis against mine, saying: "You know you want to do it."'

Hagerty claims she eventually escaped the room. She noticed some stains on her trousers and speculated that they were 'bodily fluids from Gore pushing himself up and down against me repeatedly'.

Bill Clinton with wife Hillary, left, and Tipper Gore, right. Bill Clinton famously had an affair with his intern Monica Lewinsky

She says some of her Left-wing friends (whom she describes as 'the Birkenstock tribe' after the hippy sandals beloved of liberals) advised against telling police. One warned her that she should forget it - 'otherwise, the world's going to be destroyed from global warming'.

But Hagerty called a rape hotline and made an appointment to talk with authorities, which she did not keep. Instead she waited three years before she eventually reported the incident to police in January 2009.

Is Molly Hagerty's account true? Or is she a gold-digger - as the Gore camp would have us believe? The National enquirer says she did not receive money for her account, although rumours of a payment of $1 million are circulating.



Hagerty's local newspaper, the Portland Tribune, says it investigated her claims back in 2007, but did not publish them as they could not stand them up. To see if Gore had repeated this alleged behaviour elsewhere, the paper sought out masseuses in other cities visited by the ex vice-president to see if they had similar stories.



The paper's investigation was dropped after calls from Gore's lawyers, who told them: 'Everyone who knows Al and Tipper Gore can and does attest to the integrity of their 37-year marriage and of his honourable character.'

Molly Hagerty told her story to America's salacious National Enquirer newspaper this week

In the light of the couple's subsequent marriage break-up, U.S. commentators have gleefully seized on Hagerty's claims, with the Washington Post reporting under a headline 'Al Gore: Big Lummox Or Crazed Sex Poodle?'

For his part, Gore has issued a categorical denial that anything occurred, other than a simple massage: ' The Gores cannot comment on every defamatory, misleading, and inaccurate story generated by tabloids.

'Mr Gore unequivocally and emphatically denied his accusation when he learned of its existence three years ago. He stands by that denial.'

But what was the truth behind the Gores' happy-family photos? Sources in the U.S. have told the Mail that the pair had a conventional marriage for 30 years, with blonde and loyal Tipper bringing up their four children, and Al focusing on politics.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Gore told reporters Tipper was 'someone I've loved with my whole heart since the night of my high school senior prom'.

But once it became clear he would never be president, he started to live an increasingly single life. It appears he had a mid-life crisis, buying a bachelor pad in San Francisco.

Gore paid £2.6 million for the apartment atop the grand St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco in 2006. There is a swimming pool, health spa and roof deck and even a butler available to bring room service meals.

One source told us: 'It's a swanky apartment with a hot tub on the terrace. There have been suggestions of wild parties with bikini-clad girls.'

Gore has been widely criticised for double standards: enjoying an opulent personal lifestyle while lecturing the public on green morality.

Gore bought a base in San Francisco after teaming up with friend and fellow Democratic politician Joel Hyatt, to create a TV network aimed at young people.

He also took a seat on the board of San Francisco-based Apple computers - spending more time alone than with Tipper at their Washington and Tennessee homes.



Perhaps in an effort to save their marriage, he and Tipper last year bought a £6 million Spanish-style mansion in a celebrity-enclave in Montecito, outside San Francisco.

Gore has been widely criticised for double standards: enjoying an opulent personal lifestyle while lecturing the public on green morality

Neighbours include actors John Cleese, Rob Lowe, Steve Martin and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.

One Washington colleague tells me: 'For most of his adult life, Al lived for politics but as vice-president he was overshadowed by Bill Clinton.

'He started to change once Hollywood came calling. It was a totally different world. Al wants to be a rock star and hang out with Bono.'

While making An Inconvenient Truth, there were rumours on set that he was having an affair with eco-activist Laurie David, then married to the creator of the legendary sitcom 'Seinfeld', Larry David.

The Davids split up acrimoniously after 14 years of marriage in 2007 because, it is rumoured, she was having an affair - but not with Gore.

Last week, David issued a statement saying: 'The rumours are completely unfounded. I adore Al and Tipper and consider them part of my family.'

Gore was also said to have flirted with several other women during the making of An Inconvenient Truth.

This was followed by the false rumour that Gore had an affair some years ago with screen icon Bo Derek.

The suggested reason that these allegations have surfaced now is that the American media assumed Gore was happily married and were busy focusing on the Clintons' much publicised marital problems instead.

Certainly, the announcement that Gore and Tipper were to split caught everyone by surprise. As soon as the separation was announced, the American tabloids started to investigate and the claims of masseuse Molly Hagerty emerged.

Chris Downey has known Gore's wife since they were young senator's wives and says Tipper broke down when she heard of Hagerty's claims.

She said: 'I'm shocked - beyond shocked. This is the least likely course of events I could imagine.'

An Inconvenient Truth, or not, indeed. It seems that Saint Al Gore's halo has irrevocably slipped.



