When the news came out that former Playboy playmate Jillian Grace, 22, was pregnant and claimed that David Spade was the father, Spade, 43, issued a statement that made his relationship with Grace seem like a fling. He did handle it much better than a lot of other celebrities would have, and acknowledged that the baby could be his, saying “I had a brief relationship with Jillian Grace. If it is true that I am the father of her child, then I will accept responsibility.”

Star Magazine says that Spade and Grace’s relationship was much more than a fling and that the comedian led the young woman from a small town into believing that he was in it for keeps. He pursued her for quite some time and they were friends first. Spade even waited until Grace had broken up with her boyfriend to make a move. Once they hooked up Spade flew her out to LA several times:

“Jillian is from a small town near St. Louis, and she had moved out to LA after becoming a Playboy centerfold,” says the family friend. “She though David was cute and funny when she met him at the deli [in late 2005] but she was in a relationship at the time.”

David managed to get Jillian’s phone number from Playboy and began pursuing her, “but Jillian is a one-man woman,” says the friend. “They did become friends, and over the next year and a half, they would call and text each other frequently, and see each other at different celebrity events.”

By September, 2007, Jillian had broken up with her boyfriend and became disillusioned with Hollywood. “She was moving home to Missouri and called David to give him the news,” the friend tells Star. “David said to her, ‘So, you’re single now? Great! When can I see you?”

“They began a romantic relationship. They’d see each other whenever she returned to LA on Playboy business, and David even flew her out to LA a handful of times just so the two of them could be together - including one time in early December as a birthday gift…”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, January 28, 2008]

The source claims that they talked about having a baby together and made the conscious decision to have unprotected sex. When Grace told Spade that their efforts were fruitful and that she was knocked up, he turned cold and that’s when he ended the relationship.

It was during an early rendezvous, says the friend, that David and Jillian talked about having a child together. “It was a mutual discussion,” the friend tells Star. “He told her that as he was getting older, it was something he was thinking about. And Jillian replied. ‘Are you sure this is something you want? It could happen!’ They knowingly had unprotected sex that night…”

Jillian got her wish, says the friend, when she learned that she was pregnant by David and alerted him to the happy news just before Christmas. “She texted him the message, ‘Congratulations! You’re going to be a father. Merry Christmas!” says the friend. “David got back to her and said, ‘Are you sure? Are you OK?’ At first he seemed totally positive about the pregnancy. He told Jillian he would be supportive, that he’d be there for her.”

But the friend claims David’s attitude seemed to change almost immediately. “Soon he was telling Jillian that having the child could hurt his career, and that her own modeling career would be over,” the friend says. “He even asked Jillian if she was sure the baby was his - and if she was sure she wanted to have it.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, January 28, 2008]

Maybe Spade said he wanted a child during some drunken pillow talk, and Grace took it to mean more than it did. It sounds like the news of the baby freaked him out enough to back out of the new relationship. At 22 Grace was probably too inexperience to realize that she shouldn’t have put so much faith in a relationship with a famous older man. She seems to have learned the hard way and will hopefully get enough support to raise the baby in a positive way. She’ll at least get some decent child support.