Rod defends Pen over lingerie-gate

Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone said she was stunned yesterday after Rod Stewart called her a 'manipulative cow'.

The rocker branded her 'devious and conniving' after his girlfriend was replaced as the face of Mone's Ultimo lingerie range.

The decision to use his estranged wife Rachel Hunter instead reduced the singer's current partner Penny Lancaster to tears, he claimed. Stewart told a newspaper that he hoped Ms Mone, 32, 'choked on her profits'.

Last night, the Glaswegian entrepreneur said she could not believe the 'hurtful personal attack', which upset her children. She added: 'I have never said anything derogatory about either himself or Penny and I am shocked by his words.'

Just over a year ago, Ms Mone chose Lancaster, 32, to be the face of Ultimo for a £200,000 fee.

But in February she signed 34-year-old Hunter in a two-year, £1million deal. It was purely a business decision with 'no hidden agenda', she insisted.