A co-president of software maker Oracle acknowledges he had an affair with a woman he was shown snuggling with on billboards in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco.
Charles Phillips released a statement Thursday about his relationship with YaVaughnie Wilkins after blogs went abuzz over the mysterious billboards.
According to a New York Post article, Wilkins placed the billboard ads after she learned Phillips and his wife were not going ahead with a planned divorce. Accordingly, Phillips' wife Karen filed for a divorce in 2008, but no action has been taken on that case since then.
The Post estimates that these private moments between Wilkins and Phillips -- broadcast to the whole world -- may have cost Wilkins any where from $250,000 to about $50,000 an ad.
Phillips' statement says he had an "8 1/2 year serious relationship" with Wilkins but it has ended, and confirmed his divorce proceedings began in 2008.
The Gawker broke this scandal and said the ad features this statement from Wilkins, attributed to a C.E.P: "You are my soulmate forever!" Wilkins, according to Gawker, also launched the Website, CharlesPhillipsAndYaVaughnieWilkins.com, allegedly as a gift to celebrate their union.
Wilkins did not respond to calls for comment, and no one has taken credit for the billboards, which were taken down by Friday.
Phillips is a co-president of Oracle Corp. According to the company's Web site, he was appointed last year to President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
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