Socialite who didn’t want to grow ugly and poor dies at 50
A SOCIALITE who refused life - extending medical treatment because she feared getting old, ugly and poor has died. Her daughter made the announcement in an emotional social media message, saying she would ‘raise a glass of something fizzy’ to her 50year-old mother.
She posted the tribute after her mother won a legal battle to stop the hospital treatment which was keeping her alive.
The vivacious mother of three told doctors she would rather die than lose her love of the ‘high life’, and said she could not face a future of ill health and poverty.
Her family were said to be devastated at her death, despite supporting her legal fight and telling the court her decision to die was in keeping with her ‘unusual personality’.
In an online tribute, her eldest daughter – a mother- of- one in her 20s – described her mother as ‘the life, soul and sparkle of any party’. A friend said: ‘She [the daughter] said she wouldn’t go as far as to say she was going to see the angels, because she didn’t know that would be true, but she would miss her deeply. ‘She said her mum was the life, soul and sparkle of any party and to raise a glass of something fizzy to her.’
The Daily Mail told yesterday how the Court of Protection had allowed the woman to stop her hospital treatment for kidney failure against the wishes of doctors. Her family told the court they did not want her to die but had to respect her decision.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was married four times and was said to be a ‘completely indifferent mother’ to her three daughters, one of whom is still a teenager.
She was said to have been a reckless spender and excessive drinker who led a life ‘characterised by impulsive and self- centred decision-making without guilt or regret’.
Last night, her first husband told the Daily Mail: ‘She was a good mum, she used to be a nanny before we got married. She had a lot of marriages and affairs, and she wasn’t very good with money. She enjoyed life.
‘Four actual marriages, they all ended in [disaster]... She did like blokes. ‘I could understand her refusing treatment. Once she’s made up her mind and it’s something she’s going to do that’s it. She was a strong-willed person.’
He said she had been ‘hopeless’ with money after becoming accustomed to a life of luxury while working as a high- end nanny. Before her death, she ran a boutique hotel in southern England and was a regular on the social scene.
But her outwardly glamorous lifestyle began to unravel in late 2014 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent some treatment but refused chemotherapy in case it affected her appearance in a bikini, and refused to take medication which she claimed made her fat.
In August this year her latest relationship broke down and she said it resulted in the loss of her
‘Daughter will raise a glass to her’ Mother of three aged 50 wins right to die before she gets ‘poor and ugly’
Yesterday’s Mail
business and her home, and left her in debt. Following a failed suicide attempt she suffered acute kidney failure and liver damage. At King’s College Hospital in London, doctors said there was a strong chance she would recover if she accepted dialysis. But she was adamant she would rather die, telling doctors: ‘I’ve lost everything I’d worked for.’ Her middle daughter told the High Court her mother did not want to ‘live in a council flat, be poor or be ugly (which she equates with being old)’.
A court order banning the publication of the woman’s identity ended when she died. But her family sought for the order to be extended in an emergency hearing at the High Court last night.