John Stamos was “heartbroken” over his split with actress wife Rebecca Romijn when he first met the 17-year-old blonde now on trial for blackmailing him by claiming she had photos of him with strippers and cocaine.
The “ER” star testified yesterday in Michigan federal court that he met pretty Alison Coss in 2004 when he went to a club in Orlando, Fla., with friends.
Coss and Scott Sippola, 31, are accused of conspiring to extort $680,000 from Stamos, saying they had compromising photos of him from that night.
Stamos said, “I was very heartbroken at the time,” adding Coss told him she was on “college” spring break. Stamos said Coss and a friend were among several people who later came to his hotel room, where they were “just hanging out” and “socializing.”
Defense lawyer Sarah Henderson had earlier said Coss met Stamos when she was a high school student and the two had a romantic fling, which Stamos denies.
Henderson told the court on Monday that two strippers came to Stamos’ hotel room with cocaine, and Coss took a picture of him bending over a table spread with the drug. Stamos and Coss kissed on a bed and got into a hot tub, Henderson said, adding that Stamos offered to perform oral sex on Coss. She declined, but stayed the night.
Stamos explained he was later contacted by e-mail with threats to sell the pictures to a tabloid if he didn’t buy them for $680,000. He said he contacted the FBI because, “I felt threatened, violated.”
Coss and Sippola were arrested last year during a sting where an agent posing as Stamos’ rep agreed to leave a bag of cash.
Stamos’ lawyer, William Sobel — who insists Coss and Sippola don’t actually have photos of the star — said Henderson’s claims about what went on in the hotel room “are simply untrue.”