I was a spy for the CIA... and helped end Cold War
URI GELLER has lifted the lid on his secret past as a SPY — and told how his spoon-bending antics were just a cover.
The TV magician has revealed details of his years as an operative for the both the CIA and Israel’s feared Mossad agency during the Cold War.
The extent of Uri’s secret past is revealed in new BBC2 documentary The Secret Life Of Uri Geller, which airs on Sunday night.
It tells how the Israel-born star WIPED secret information from KGB spy discs by using his abilities and psychically changed the mind of a Soviet nuclear weapons negotiator.
But in an exclusive interview with TV Biz, Uri says he is now uneasy about what the revelations will mean for him.
He says: “In the last 40 years I dropped hints that I did this and that but it has never come out clearly before.
“For 40 years I have been immensely controversial but the main controversy was whether I was real or not. Is it magic or supernatural powers I have?
“But for me the controversy was an inbuilt safety device, a camouflage covering the dark, cloak-and-dagger secret missions I engaged in.
“But now this documentary is out, there is an uneasiness in me about it.”
Documentary maker Vikram Jayanti tracked down former CIA officer Kit Green and Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who both said they had first-hand knowledge of Uri’s activities.
Uri, who lives in Berkshire, first became interested in spying when he was growing up in Tel Aviv and Cyprus — and was obsessed with James Bond.
He says his first contact with a spy came when the Israeli government used his family’s guest house.
He says: “I was only 13 and I stopped a man living there and looked into his eyes and said, ‘You’re not an archaeologist, you are a spy’.
“He was shocked but said he wanted to use my talents. That started the passion for me, the emotional journey to become a super spy for Israel.”
Uri says his desire to defend his country grew when he was a soldier during the Six-Day War in 1967 and was forced to killed a Jordanian soldier.
He recalls: “If I didn’t press the trigger of the Uzi he would have killed me first. It was a matter of survival.”
After leaving the army he became a star in his home country with his spoon-bending tricks and later went to the US and Britain.
He says: “All the fame and everything went to my head. I used to go to Studio 54 where I got together with John Lennon and Elton John.
“When I met Elvis, I envied his fame. I wanted to be like him.”
While Uri was conquering the showbiz world, he claims he was secretly being wooed by spooks. He says he underwent a series of tests to prove his remote viewing skills — in which he uses the power of his mind to see things that are hidden — at the Stanford Research Institute in California in the Seventies.
He says: “Can you believe I was asked to bombard the Russians to sign the nuclear arms reduction treaty? I bombarded them with my thoughts. Nobody would have believed it. I wiped the discs of the KGB. These are things out of fantasy spy films.
“The Russians probably know what I have done but at the end of the day I have the cover of being an entertainer and a showman.”
But now his cover has been blown, Uri admits he is worried about recriminations.
He says: “I do look over my shoulder. You have to be alert.”
He confesses the revelations have caused shock for his wife Hanna and children Daniel, 31, and Natalie, 30.
He says: “My wife must have suspected but nobody really knew about this from my family.
“My family hasn’t reacted in a negative way to all of this. They have a lot of questions but I can’t speak about a lot of this as I signed confidentiality agreements.”
The documentary suggests that he might still be an active spy, working for the Americans after they “reactivated” him to help in the War on Terror after the Twin Towers attacks.
He admits: “Any good intelligence agency in any country will use anything to bring them information. They don’t care how you bring it to them. They want to see results.”
But he says he would never do anything to cause anyone harm and rejected a request by the CIA to stop a pig’s heart with his mind, fearing they would ask him to kill a human next.
He says: “Most of the latest things I am doing are positive. I am involved with positive missions. They are for governments. You wouldn’t believe it if I was able to mention names.”
Uri has been dismissed as a fraud by some in the past while he himself admits he is a good storyteller. In his bid to keep an air of mystery about his life — and perhaps his more hidden activities — he has left the way open for others to dismiss the spying claims.
He says: “I intentionally kept the Uri Geller image quirky and quite strange. That was a cover of course but now the cover has blown I don’t know what will happen.
“This always borders on the line between is it real or not? Is it fiction? I am an entertainer, a showman.
“I have always been a good storyteller, I can imagine and fantasise about things.
“But what these guys in the documentary are saying verified all of those hints and rumours that were said. The showbiz side is my passion but I have always been excited by the James Bond side of life.”
Jayanti has said he believes the documentary’s spying claims.
He said: “A lot of people think Uri Geller is a fraud, a lot of people think he is a trickster but at the same time he has a history of doing things that nobody can explain.”
Footage in the BBC documentary also seems to bear this out, showing Uri using his remote viewing skills.
And when we meet he tries it out on me. He asks me to make a drawing of an everyday object and then to cover it up and stare at him as I visualise it.
He then correctly sketches the outline of the light bulb I drew.
He also bends a spoon from the hotel restaurant we are in, which is still amazing to see, even after all of these years.
Uri is also known for his friendship with Michael Jackson, with the singer acting as best man when he renewed his vows to Hanna.
Uri says he was shocked by the revelations of Michael’s state just before he died and says he does not believe his friend would have been well enough to complete all the shows planned for his comeback tour at the O2 in London.
He says: “There was a streak of frailty in him. Michael was a genius but an incredibly naive individual.”
And he claims one of the final requests from Michael was related to his love of espionage.
He says: “I designed Michael’s last album, Invincible. My drawings are in the booklet. When I was designing it Michael asked me to secretly put the names of his children, Paris and Prince, in it. You have to use a magnifying glass to find them.”
The Secret Life of Uri Geller airs on BBC2 on Sunday at 9pm.
www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/5022047/Uri-Geller-says-he-was-a-spy-for-the-CIA-and-helped-end-Cold-...