Revenge by billboard: Scorned lover pays £150,000 for street posters to reveal affair with Obama aide



The spurned mistress of one of Barack Obama's top economic advisers has exacted revenge by plastering details of their affair on giant billboard posters across the U.S.

YaVaughnie Wilkins is said to have paid £150,000 to reveal her relationship with Charles Phillips to the world after he went back to his wife.

The posters, which are three storeys high, show Miss Williams and the senior member of the president's hand-picked Economic Recovery Advisory Board below his initials and a quote saying: 'You are my soulmate forever.'

Shamed: YaVaughnie Wilkins poses with former lover Charles E. Phillips in a poster she placed in New York

There is also a link to a website that is a shrine to his eight-year affair with Miss Wilkins, 41.

It includes pictures chronicling their travels around the world as well as intimate notes and ticket stubs from concerts, films, sports games and Mr Obama' s inauguration a year ago.

One of the giant signs is posted on Broadway near Times Square in New York - one of the world's most prominent advertising hoardings.

A further two have appeared elsewhere in New York as well as one in Atlanta and one in San Francisco, where Miss Wilkins lives and her married ex-lover owns a family home. Each are said to have cost £30,000 to display.



The billboards baffled Americans when they first appeared – with speculation mounting over whether it was a marketing ploy or an apology.

Her extraordinary actions had the desired effect. The chief executive has been forced into an embarrassing public statement in which he admitted their affair.

Adventures: Wilkins set up a website of photos of the couple's world travels, including Sydney, right



Powerful: Phillips, circled, was an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama

Yesterday Mr Phillips, 50, who is also president of internet giant Oracle, issued a brief three-sentence statement saying: 'I had an eight-and-a-half year serious relationship with YaVaughnie Wilkins.



'My divorce proceedings began in 2008. The relationship with Ms Wilkins has since ended and we both wish each other well.'



There has been speculation that YaVaughnie deliberately timed her campaign to coincide with a major Oracle event next week. Website Gawker noted that the company was due to host an all-day live event on January 27.

Mr Phillips was paid £12million last year and has made around £30million since 2007.

He has recently reconciled with his wife, Karen, according to reports in the U.S.

The couple were seen at an awards ceremony in New York and pictured together at a gala held by the American Museum of Natural History in the city in November. They have a ten-year-old son, Chas.

Miss Wilkins, a California-based actress and writer, was not available for comment yesterday.



Reconciliation: Phillips is back living with his wife Karen (centre) and their 10-year-old son in New York

Pressure: Phillips said he wished Wilkins well after intimate photos posted online forced him to admit the affair

'Soulmates': The website, paid for by Wilkins, shows photos of the pair enjoying holidays abroad

Pressure: Phillips was forced to admit the affair after the billboard posters and website went live



High-profile campaign: Wilkins paid $50,000 for each poster - including this one in New York

Promises: Wilkins put the love notes sent from Phillips during their affair online



Her website shows Mr Phillips and her standing arm-in-arm on the Great Wall of China and posing in Sydney wearing matching 'Australia' jackets.

One of the photo albums from 2001 is set to a karaoke performance of the Smokey Robinson song Cruisin', where a man and a woman can be heard singing: 'This is not a one-night stand.'

There is also a huge collection of notes from Mr Phillips.

One gushes: 'You're all that matters to me.' Another reads: 'I have never met a woman as fascinating as you. You are exactly what I've been looking and waiting for.'

Miss Wilkins wrote: 'Charles, You have my heart for ever - I love you so much.'

California-based web designer Bela Kovacs claimed he was asked to build the site, charlesphillipsandyavaughniewilkins.com, as 'a present for Charles'.

Last night visitors to the website were met with a 'service unavailable' message.

The White House refused to comment last night on whether the billboards would affect Mr Phillips's position.

But an administration aide said it was being treated as a 'private matter.'

An expert software analyst, Phillips is viewed as one of the most powerful people in the industry. He joined the company in 2003 and previously worked for Morgan Stanley. He is a former captain in the United States Marine Corps.

New York bloggers have gone into overdrive today with some claiming Phillips led a double life - presenting himself as a divorcee while still married.

Revenge: YaVaughnie Wilkins paid for three posters, which baffled Americans when they first appeared



Tsarinamisha, who claims to be a 'close friend' of the couple,' wrote on Gawker's website: 'I can assure you he portrayed himself as having been legally divorced in 2003.



'Their closeness and the fact that their relationship was very public led no one to believe otherwise.

'They attended family and professional events as a couple, lived together for eight years and bought a home about two years ago.



'I was a guest at numerous of their parties and he introduced her to numerous people, including his son, as his girlfriend.'

Intimate: Love notes were posted on the website, which Wilkins paid £860 to have built



Spurned: Wilkins posted the details on the affair online after Phillips went back to his wife, Karen



Dbishty, who like Tsarinamisha, left a post on Gawker's website said: 'There was never any indication there was a third party in their relationship.



'Charles and YaVaughnie spent quite a bit of money on their estate so it doesn't make sense that things have turned out this way.



'The realtor at Coldwell Bankers and contractors at Genesis, Inc. and Bethe Cohen Design associated with the couple have nothing but glowing things to say about YaVaughnie and Charles.



'If he is married, YaVaughnie did not know. She believed him, as we all did, when he said he was divorced.'

However, another blogger on the Gawker site said Phillips was still attending events with his wife – including the American Natural History Museum’s gala event last November.

Details: Wilkins' website detailed photographs dating from 2001