Mayfair man about town Tim splits up with his wife
WHEN he was Britain’s consummate man about town, Tim Jefferies numbered top models Elle ‘ The Body’ Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer and Sophie Dahl among his girlfriends.
But the Mayfair gallery owner eventually settled down and declared that he was happy to abandon his bachelor days in favour of nappy changes and domesticity with his wife, Malin Johansson, a Swedish model 15 years his junior, and their two children.
Now, the couple’s marriage has hit the rocks 11 years after they exchanged vows at Blenheim Palace.
‘It’s very sad,’ one of their friends tells me. ‘They were such a lovely family and Tim seemed to be a blissfully happy.’
Indeed, Jefferies, 57, insisted his raffish, boulevardier days were consigned to the past.
‘I lived a life back then that most single thirty–something men dream of and it was terrific fun,’ he said in 2013. ‘But I have entered a new phase, I am embracing family life; I have two adorable children and it’s utterly blissful, I couldn’t be any happier.’
Jefferies declines to discuss the split, but friends say he’s looking for a new home.
Malin was his second wife, as he married Prince Andrew’s ex-girlfriend Koo Stark when he was 21 and she was 28. The same year he received a £500,000 settlement — enough to buy ten London houses in those days — from his grandfather Richard Tompkins, who introduced Green Shield stamps to Britain and founded the Argos chain.
His marriage to Koo lasted barely a year and he went on to have relationships with numerous models as well as pop star Kylie Minogue. Unusually, he managed to remain friends with his exes. ‘I’ve been very fortunate that there’s never been any ill will or unpleasantness,’ he said.
Just don’t call Jefferies a playboy. ‘It makes me cringe and it’s a complete misnomer,’ he insisted. ‘I’m not a playboy: I can’t fly a plane, I don’t own a string of polo ponies, I’ve always worked for a living.’