November 14, 2006 -- THE searing question of whether Heather Mills McCartney was once a high-priced hooker for wealthy Arab clients has been put to the very man who is accused of hiring her in the first place - and he's not denying it.
Earlier this year, London's News of the World claimed that Mills, embroiled in a nasty split from Paul McCartney, once worked as a prostitute for rich and powerful clients including reputed arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi - an allegation she has denied while admitting she did meet Khashoggi at a party.
Now, celebrity interviewer Daphne Barak has landed a sit-down with Khashoggi in which she asks whether he employed Mills for sex acts. "Was Heather Mills paid for sex - or wasn't she?" Barak asks on a short teaser clip from the interview available on her Web site, daphnebarak.com, which has been viewed by Page Six and will be released next week.
"Who cares?" answers Khashoggi, who then giggles and gives Barak a sort of "high-five" handshake.
According to Britain's Mail on Sunday, Khashoggi, who is shown in the interview tape admiring photos of the scantily clad former model, goes on to say: "How does she know names, places, if she wasn't one of the girls? Maybe if she says she came to my party, she came."
The Khashoggi interview comes on the heels of a report that McCartney - who was promoting his new CD in Times Square yesterday - has offered Mills a settlement worth nearly $190 million, if she agrees to grant him custody of their 3-year-daughter, Beatrice.
Meanwhile, McCartney's supporters say one of Mills' charges against the ex-Beatle is disturbingly similar to what happened to her mother. As The Post previously reported, Mills says in her divorce petition that McCartney shoved her into a bathtub in May 2003 - a charge McCartney denies. Now her stepdad tells London's Daily Mail that Mills' mom once told him her own ex-husband had pushed her into a bath. "Heather is simply a very confused woman for whom reality and fantasy have become blurred," Charles Stapley said.