How tennis legend and global music icons were conned out of cash, jewels and DIAMOND Rolex by catfish they never met

YANNICK NOAH has reflected upon falling for notorious Hollywood catfish Whitney Walton. The French tennis icon, 66, suffered the same fate as the likes of Billy Joel, Robert De Niro and Quincy Jones, to name just a few, by falling under Walton’s spell. Yannick Noah is among France’s most popular icons Credit: Getty Noah won the men’s singles title at Roland Garros in 1983 Credit: Getty Walton, who went by the name Miranda Grosvenor, built a huge network of A-listers by charming them on the phone. Among them was 1983 French Open champion and multi-million record selling musician Noah, who has been one of his country’s most popular figures for more than 40 years. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! When Walton was mentioned to Noah during a recent chat with the Telegraph, the French icon said: “Sometimes you can be in a situation where you don’t even realise how fragile life is, because you are surrounded by everything that glitters. “You feel strong but you are actually the weakest you have ever been. “I was lost. My questions were genuine about the meaning of life – and nothing to do with the Monty Python film.” Noah then added: “Whitney Walton. Look her up. You gonna see I was one of the guys she seduced. You gonna read something very interesting, very funny.” Walton, or Grosvenor as she was then known, became a well-known figure among some of Hollywood’s elite during the 1980s. But little was said about her publicly, until Bryan Burrough’s remarkable expose in Vanity Fair in 1999. Most read in Tennis BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS Musician Noah performs at Roland Garros in 2023 Credit: Getty In there are claims of lavish gift-giving, intimate phone calls and tales of seduction. A pal of Walton’s claimed at the time: “Her big romance was Billy Joel. She let us listen to their calls. He was always calling to see how she was. It wasn’t sexual; it was intimate, like he was courting her. “He wanted to send her stuff. He did send her a Rolex with diamonds. “He [asked] did she get it. He talked about buying her a grand piano. And an emerald ring. She didn’t want an emerald with diamonds in it. “She wanted a plain emerald. He couldn’t find one.” Joel explained: “I knew her as Whitney Walton. At first [when she called] it was a pain in the a**. [I said,] ‘I don’t know you, what’s the catch?’ Billy Joel was phoned by Whitney Walton in the 1980s Credit: Getty Joel later gave his version of events to Vanity Fair Credit: Getty “[But] she seemed to know a lot of people in my business. Stevie Winwood. Sting. Eric Clapton. [So] I thought she was on the level… “This was just before I started dating Christie Brinkley. I was dating Elle Macpherson at the time.” Walton, who died in 2016, was eventually tracked down by record producer Richard Perry, who like many others had become infatuated with her dulcet tones over the phone. When Perry, who passed away on Christmas Eve, 2024, finally met her, he was left heartbroken and claimed to have felt deceived. Another of Walton’s favourites was said to be Noah’s fellow tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis, although his lawyers went on to deny all knowledge of her, contrary to her friends claiming they’d been “great friends”. In 2000, following the Vanity Fair expose, Walton was said to have signed book and film deals to her remarkable story. Neither ever materialised, however, with the legend of Miranda Grosvenor having never been told in her own words. Prior to her death she is said to have remained a social worker in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with an incredible story. Joel concluded in 1999: “When it was ending, she said she was going to start seeing Sting. I was even thinking about making a musical about this, because every time I tell people this story, they never believe it.” Comment now