With a trip to Australia looming, Monk may be relieved to escape Los Angeles and the increasingly strange love triangle she has found herself in since announcing her engagement.

When Monk spoke of her engagement to 50-year-old multi-millionaire Jimmy Esebag a few weeks ago, she called him her “best friend of a long, long time”, and didn’t hesitate to express her love for her “soul partner”.

The songstress was also quick to point out that while the debonair Esebag may be almost 20 years her senior, it’s she who is actually the lucky one.

As Monk revealed, the business tycoon is “a good lover” and “a keeper” – and it appears this is a view shared by his ex-wife, Renee, mother of his seven-year-old son.
The Aussie’s engagement to the man she has described as a “male version” of herself provoked some more than curious claims from Renee, who admits she was stunned by the announcement.

Renee, 34, who filed for divorce from Esebag in March 2008 and finalised the separation last year, insists Monk’s announcement may have taken even her ex-husband by surprise.

Renee says she and Jimmy talked candidly over an intimate dinner they share just hours after Monk announced her big news on the Kyle And Jackie O show, which Monk co-hosted with Kyle Sandilands in LA while Jackie O was on maternity leave.

“I have a great relationship with my ex-husband and we are still best friends. We have a son together, and if he had known they were engaged, I’m sure he would have brought it to my attention.”

Renee also alleges Monk was less than impressed when Esebag – who is of French descent and holds the licence for Playboy products – presented Renee with an expensive ring for her 34th birthday last month.

“Apparently she found out he had given me an emerald for my birthday and apparently she was just enraged,” Renee says. “Then she broke up with him and she was pressuring him for a ring.”

“My ex is always moving girls in and out from that house all the time. I would love for him to settle down, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” says Renee, pointing out that she still shares a close bond with Esebag.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she adds. “I wish her (Sophie) the best… but I don’t know why she’d say something like that. If it is true, great…”

Monk’s friends were certainly pleased to hear that the 31-year-old singer-turned actress had found the love of her life.

“I am so excited with Sophie’s news,” her good pal Sandilands said during their radio show last month.

“I’ve met the gentleman in question. Top guy… he’s a businessman, he’s living in Beverly Hills and, you know, he’s got his act together.

“I think this is where you need to be,” a delighted Sandilands told Monk.

Over the years, Monk has also quipped that despite her pin-up looks, she fears she’s something of a “dud” between the sheets.

“I’m not a very sexy person, I’m very awkward,” she admitted to radio listeners. “I’m probably bad in bed actually. I think I’m a dud, honestly. No-one’s going to tell you you’re bad in bed.”

But Esebag, Monk has enthusiastically declared, is a wonderful lover. “Yes, he definitely is,” she chuckles.

“Which is good – one of us has to be a good lover! Funny how life takes you where you are finally meant to be.”