SECRET ABORTION OF DUMPED JENSON GIRL; Sad Kimberley tells how she got rid of baby in bid to keep Formula 1 ace.

THE heartbroken ex-girlfriend of Grand Prix hunk Jenson Button has revealed how she had a secret abortion in a vain bid to keep his love.

Pretty Kimberley Keay, 19, knew an unplanned baby would end her relationship with Britain's youngest ever Formula One star.

She took the agonising decision to have a termination. But - as the Sunday People revealed two weeks ago - Button, 20, still dumped his sweetheart as his racing career went into top gear.

Kimberley sobbed: "I chose between him and my baby because I was determined to support his career.

"Now I know it was all for nothing. I had given up everything, including our baby, to support his rise to the top. But once he was there he just cast me aside."

As Button was preparing for today's Spanish Grand Prix with the BMW Williams team, Kimberley told how she:

BELIEVED she would spend her life with the F1 sensation despite his warnings that an early baby had no place in his plans;

FACED her NHS abortion without her lover - instead he stayed driving in Spain;

FELT stunned six months later when Button announced he no longer wanted a serious girlfriend and

HOPED for a reconciliation when she agreed to drive his mother to the British Grand Prix - only to be coldly snubbed again.

Kimberley told of the fateful day last September when she realised she might be pregnant and bought a testing kit.

She said: "I took it home and asked a friend to come over. When the line began to turn blue I was numb.

"Although it was an accident that I had conceived it still should have been one of the happiest moments of my life.

"But I knew Jenson would not have stuck by me. It was always made clear to me that his career came first and that if I had a baby, things would not work for us.

"We both said we wanted children in the future - it was just that his career could mean putting things on hold."

The anguish overwhelmed Kimberley. She said: "I ran outside into the road. My head was spinning and my friend had to calm me down because I was sobbing and shaking."

That night the frightened teenager phoned Button, who was abroad.

She said: "I was crying and blurted out, `I'm pregnant'. Part of me hoped he would be pleased, but the first thing he said was, `Are you going to keep it?'"

Kimberley knew there was only one reply if she wished to keep her sweetheart and whispered: "No".

She said: "I knew if I said yes I would lose him. He seemed very relieved and offered to pay for it."

Kimberley said Button - who earns pounds 350,000 a year - promised her she could go private. But two weeks later she was alone in Bath District Hospital, Somerset, to have her abortion on the NHS.

Button persuaded Kimberley to keep it a secret. Their parents were not told and Kimberley had to rely on her friend to drop her off at hospital.

Kimberley said: "Jenson didn't even suggest coming home to be with me. Racing was his main concern.

"I would have loved to have had him with me, but I was so used to racing coming first, I didn't question it.

"When I phoned afterwards he asked if I was all right. He seemed very relieved I had gone through with it and that things would be back to normal."

Button took Kimberley for a romantic two-week break in Mexico three months later but even that was cut short by his driving commitments. Kimberley said: "It seemed so perfect. The hotel was by the beach and it was the two of us with no distractions. We had candlelit meals each night and were happy to be on our own."

Then Button's manager called to tell Button he had been asked to test drive a Formula One car for Alain Prost. Button took the next flight to Barcelona and later learned he had been chosen as second driver for BMW Williams.

Kimberley was delighted at her boyfriend's success and said at the time: "We are not going to split up even if he is jetting off all over the place.

"He's level-headed, a genuinely nice guy, and I'm sticking with him."

Her confidence proved misplaced when Button announced he was dumping her. He dropped his bombshell as he drove Kimberley to her parents' home in Frome, Somerset, three weeks ago. Kimberley said: "I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He said it was a hassle having to phone me from abroad every night when he was away.

"He decided that he didn't want a serious girlfriend until the end of his career, which he thought would be about ten years".

But only a week later Button had the nerve to ask Kimberley to drive his mum Simone from Frome to Silverstone for the Grand Prix.

Kimberley, hoping it was a signal that Button wanted her back, agreed. But it was all in vain.

She said: "It took us hours to get there through the queues and the mud, then I discovered he had not even arranged for me to have a paddock pass to see him after the race.

"All his friends were in there with him. I managed to get in eventually, but only saw him briefly.

"He hugged me, but everything was different. He said he would be coming back to his father's house that night to see me and his sisters.

"We waited all evening, but he never came. He had gone to David Coulthard's celebration party. It was clear he didn't have time for me, not even as a friend."

Kimberley struggles to accept that a relationship that started so happily should end on such a sour note.

The couple met at Frome Community College four years ago.

Kimberley said: "Racing was obviously a major interest in his life but he told me he loved me every day and would hold my hand the whole time. He loved chasing me round the house and tickling me, going to discos with me and our friends and writing me little love notes."

Button had left school at 16 to concentrate on go-kart racing. Kimberley was doing business studies at college.

But much of her time was taken up travelling to races with Button and attending black tie balls where it was important for him to be seen.

Kimberley said: "I didn't last long at college because I was taking so much time off to fit around Jenson's hectic timetable.

"I took a part-time job as a barmaid because we would not have seen each other if I worked full-time.

"He would never have dreamed of cutting down his work. But I was happy as long as we were together."

Kimberley is also upset that Button's parents, who once showered her with gifts, seem to have cooled towards her.

Button's father John, a former rally driver, said: "There will be plenty of time for girlfriends in the future."

Now Kimberley is determined to start a new life.

She said: "It is hard seeing him on television and I can't help still loving him in some ways.

"But he has changed so much over the last few months I definitely don't want him back. Stupidly, I was besotted with him but now it's time to put myself first."

Daily Mail

PeopleHOTlinks

l.panton@people.co.uk

For more information on Jenson Button:

www.racecar.co.uk/jensonbutton/ frameset.htm