DAN'S DOUBLE LIFE

The ex-wife of bestselling author Dan Brown has lifted the lid on his multiple betrayals and deceptions in a riveting lawsuit

- JANE VORSTER

HE KNOWS how to spin a good yarn – and that’s why Dan Brown has dominated bestseller lists for years with his gripping thrillers about conspiracy theories and secret societies.

But these days the phenomenally successful author of The Da Vinci Code is being totally upstaged by his ex-wife, Blythe, who’s written a page-turner of her own.

Blythe’s sensational offering isn’t a novel but rather a lawsuit that shines a spotlight on what Dan (57) got up to during their marriage. She claims that for years he led a twisted double life, regularly cheating on her and then as divorce loomed, lying to her about his assets to rob her of her fair share of his multimillion-dollar fortune.

“I trusted this man for decades as my life’s love,” she says in legal documents, which run to scores of pages. “I don’t recognize the man Dan has become. It’s time to reveal his deceit and betrayal.” betrayal.”

Blythe (68) admits she was spitting mad when she discovered, months after their divorce last year, that for at least the last six years of their marriage Dan had been presenting himself as a loving husband while conducting multiple affairs with a string of women, including a hairdresser, political official and a horse trainer.

Adding insult to injury, he also allegedly siphoned money out of their joint bank account to buy extravagant gifts for his lovers. The mistress who apparently benefited the most from his generosity was a Dutch Friesian horse expert, Judith Pietersen, who Dan reportedly started an affair within 2014 when she was staying with the couple at their home in Rye Beach, New Hampshire, to help train one of their horses.