Sorrell ex: Rich husbands are twice the work
MARRYING into a life of unimaginable wealth may be a fantasy to many.
But the estranged wife of advertising tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell has a word of caution to the dreamers – it is double the work of a normal union.
Cristiana Falcone claims ‘someone else got my voice’ when she wed the highprofile founder or WPP, the world’s largest advertising firm, in 2008.
She revealed people would often assume she had decided to quit her job as a corporate adviser and put her feet up.
Miss Falcone, 47, who is divorcing the multimillionaire, said: ‘I lost my identity [when I married], it wasn’t superseded. I just totally lost it. Because I decided not to talk, someone else got my voice.
‘The assumption was that I wasn’t working... I am paying for that now. They put me in one category [wife], and this was my definition and I couldn’t get out of it.’
Miss Falcone was told by Sir Martin’s secretary his staff ‘all wonder why Lady Sorrell has to work’. She said: ‘The woman thought, “I wish I would have married a rich man” and I wanted to tell her “Honey, it’s double the work”.’
Miss Falcone told The Sunday Times she was eager to return to a career after her divorce and wants to inspire their daughter Bianca, three.
She has previously held roles as media adviser for the World Economic Forum and sat on the boards of cosmetics firm Revlon and media giant Viacom.
It first emerged in February that Miss Falcone was seeking to divorce Sir Martin, 75. He is thought to have a £269million fortune.
Sir Martin paid a record £29million divorce settlement in 2005 to first wife Sandra, with whom he has three sons.
It included a £3.25million London townhouse and two underground parking spaces at Harrods.
Sir Martin resigned from WPP in 2018 after he was accused of procuring company funds to pay a prostitute at a Mayfair brothel – a claim he has always steadfastly denied.
An investigation concluded there was no proof of misappropriating company funds.
Last month Sir Martin described the divorce process as ‘sad’ – but said it had nothing to do with why he left WPP.