Tragic truth behind Kelly Brook's split with Billy

By Rav Singh

KELLY BROOK broke off her engagement to BILLY ZANE after her dying dad begged her on his deathbed: "Don't marry him."

I can reveal that the model's father Kenneth Parsons disliked movie hunk Billy and clung onto the hope that Kelly would get back with ex-fella JASON STATHAM.

Kelly Brook slideshow

Retired scaffolder Ken, 57, felt so strongly that he even refused to give Kelly his blessing when she wanted to bring her wedding date forward after he was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer last June.

But before he passed away in November, Ken made his feelings towards Billy known to Kelly.

Close pals insisted cracks had already started appearing in her relationship with the Titanic star.

But Ken's plea was one of the factors in TV star Kelly making her final and sensational decision to dump Billy this week.

A close family source told me: "The truth is that Ken didn't get on with Billy from the very start.

"He always adored Jason. He saw him a kindred spirit and treated him like his own son, like one of the family.

"It was his dying wish that he and Kelly would eventually get back together.

"But Ken never took to Billy in the same way and made his feelings clear to Kelly. He was suspicious of him and hoped Kelly would one day see things his way."

Our source also revealed Ken resented Billy, 42, visiting and it became increasingly obvious that the star was an unwanted guest at the family home in Rochester, Kent.

Meanwhile, Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels hardman Statham, 40, made regular trips from LA to see Ken in the UK.

Kelly was shattered last June when she was told by mum Sandra about the cancer. The 28-year-old pulled out of Strictly Come Dancing to take Ken and Sandra on a trip of a lifetime to Las Vegas.

The source added: "Kelly wanted to bring the wedding forward but Ken wasn't having it. He was sure she was making a big mistake.

"Right up until the end, Ken's dying wish was that she wouldn't spend the rest of her life with Billy. He told her that before he died."