The rise and fall of the “wealthiest divorcee in history” has been extraordinary. A former nude model for her first husband’s Knave magazine and star of adult films such as “The Nine Acres of Nakedness,” Patricia Kluge is the daughter of an Englishman and a Scots-Iraqi. She married her second husband, the late John Kluge, chairman of Metromedia and once the richest man in America, in 1981 after belly dancing for him at a dinner party in New York. As part of her plan to dovetail herself into the top drawer of American society, the couple built a 24,000 square foot mock 18th century English-style mansion, Albermarle, in Virginia and stuffed it full of Chippendale furniture. She got this as part of her $100 million divorce settlement in 1990 and wisely invested part of the payoff in a highly successful business trading football cards but then vanity struck. The Kluge Estate Winery project that she started with her third husband, William Moses, bankrupted the pair in June 2011 and the Bank of America foreclosed on her properties. A lifeline came from “longtime friend” Donald Trump who purchased the vineyard and employed her, but even he’s now uttered the words: “You’re fired!” and sent her packing. Of her newfound predicament Kluge commented: “What did we lose? Material things, nothing too important. When something like this happens you really see who your friends are, those you can rely on, and we have many friends.” Here is a lady with fortitude that can only be described as admirable. It’s probably best, however, to keep her away from the cash register.
Category: CREATIVES
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Patricia Kluge (née Rose)
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Derek Paravicini
This echolaliac prodigy has absolute pitch and has been described as “the human iPod.” His abilities as a musician are amazing given that he’s both blind and autistic. The cousin of The Duchess of Cornwall’s children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, Paravicini unexpectedly played Big Spender to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, in 2009 and made legal history when The Court of Protection was opened for the first time in 2010 to discuss his future care. He captivates audiences throughout the land. -
Antony Costa
Edgware born Costa is best known as a member of the boy band Blue but he actually started out as an actor in the BBC’s Grange Hill. He’s sung with Stevie Wonder and Elton John and thinks that groups created via shows such as The X-Factor achieve fame “the wrong way.” We’d say he has a point. -
Laura Carmichael
A Southampton born graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Laura Carmichael came to public prominence in ITV1’s Downton Abbey. Her October 2012 West End debut, opposite Anna Friel in Uncle Vanya, was briefly interrupted by Sir Peter Hall heckling. He’s since apologised and all’s well once again. With some 20,000 followers on Twitter, this rising star declares her true love to be Twiglets. -
Adele Adkins
“I don’t know what’s going to happen if my music career goes wrong,” states this Tottenham born singer. Having been named “one of the most influential people in the world” by TIME Magazine and broken the record for the longest number-1 album by a woman in Billboard history, she really need not worry. Adele’s still “Someone Like You,” except she’s now worth in excess of £23 million and is guaranteed a place amongst the music greats. Gordon Brown wrote to this Labour supporter to tell her that she’s a “light end of the tunnel” but we prefer the view of former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. Of her, he proclaims: “She’s great. She’s a shot in the arm for this industry.” -
Beverley Craven
This British singer-songwriter was born in Colombo, Sir Lanka whilst her father was there working for Kodak. Influenced by Elton John and Kate Bush, she began her career touring with Bobby Womack but it was her 1991 single, “Promise Me,” that catapulted Craven into the big time. After a period raising a family, she’s now back in the business and even appeared with her daughter, Mollie, on ITV’s Take Me Out in February 2012. -
Charmian Brent (better known as Charmian Biggs)
In the autumn of 2012, an ITV1 series, Mrs Biggs, dramatised the life story of this headmaster’s daughter from Reigate, Surrey. In it, Sheridan Smith (pictured here with the real Mrs Biggs) portrayed a lady of steely reserve who is intelligent, articulate and courageous. The former wife of the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs has now built a new life for herself in Melbourne, Australia as an editor, publisher and journalist and on crime, her views are simple: “[It] doesn’t pay in any way, shape or form.” -
Hugh Bonneville
In his role as Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, this actor warned that “scandals” always have a habit of coming out. He graduated in Theology at Cambridge but, according to Adam Helliker of the Daily Express, Bonneville wasn’t especially keen to show Christian compassion towards Lord Archer at a party at The Cadogan Hotel when it was requested that the pair be photographed together. -
Pippa Middleton
The sister of The Duchess of Cambridge was paid a £400,000 advance by Penguin for her first book, Celebrate. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Middleton’s view of her changed circumstances is simple: “It’s been a crazy few years since my sister’s wedding.” Whilst the chattering classes attack her and her family for cashing in on their connections to royalty, she’s also raised thousands for charity and is making her mark as an author. Good for her. -
Richard Mason
This talented author was born in South Africa but educated at Eton and New College, Oxford. The Drowning People, his first novel, gained him a “vast” advance and was published during his first year at university. It’s been translated into 22 languages and has sold over 3 million copies. Richard Mason funds a foundation in memory of his sister that pays for gifted South African children from poor backgrounds to attend the country’s top private schools and with a writing style that’s been compared to “Henry James on Viagra”, he’s definitely got many more pages to pen. An early critic, who told him he “should have killed [himself] rather than publish”, is now writing reviews of home décor shows.