Heiress Petra’s tawdry £5billion divorce
Ecclestone heiress in fight to kick husband out Accusations fly of his abuse and drug taking Drama in court as husband makes gun gesture at Bernie
‘Overdoses and violence’
SHE married him in an Italian castle and they were serenaded by an array of pop stars.
But almost six years after their £12million wedding, Petra Stunt is divorcing her husband James in what could be the biggest settlement in celebrity history.
Petra, the youngest daughter of the billionaire Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, is embroiled in a bitter battle with her estranged husband over their £5.5billion fortune.
The pair have hired some of the country’s most high-profile divorce lawyers to represent them in High Court hearings, which are expected to start next month. Their £158million mansion in Los Angeles and a Grade II-listed home in Chelsea worth up to £100million are just two of the assets they may fight over. Extraordinary details of their bitter marriage were laid bare yesterday during a highlycharged court hearing.
Mr Stunt, once rumoured to be worth an estimated £3.3billion, was abusive, violent and took overdoses during his marriage to the glamorous 28-year-old heiress, the court heard.
The 35-year-old businessman, who runs an international gold bullion firm, was accused of behaving in a ‘disgraceful’ and ‘unedifying’ way prior to the hearing. The Central Family Court heard that Mr Stunt had signed a prenuptial agreement worth £16million. His assets are said to include a wine collection worth up to £15million and two Chelsea properties each worth up to £4million.
Mrs Stunt’s legal team includes Baroness Fiona Shackleton, who represented Sir Paul McCartney in his divorce battle with Heather Mills. Her lawyers instigated yesterday’s hearing to force Mr Stunt to move out of their 14-bedroom home in Chelsea so she and their three children can live there.
Mr Stunt’s team includes celebrity lawyer David Sherborne, who accompanied him to court but did not speak.
The bad-tempered hearing boiled over when Mr Stunt slammed his hand on a table and appeared to make a gunshaped gesture with his hand.
He pointed at Mr Ecclestone before calling him a ‘c***’ under his breath. Mr Stunt tapped the 86-year-old on the shoulder and stormed out of the court room. Mr Ecclestone stood up as if to confront him before the judge intervened. Recorder Richard Anelay QC said: ‘Please Mr Ecclestone, don’t respond. I know it’s tempting.’
After the tycoon sat down, the judge added: ‘For the record I saw [Mr Stunt] clearly tap Mr Ecclestone on the shoulder. I think my intervention rather prevented Mr Ecclestone from wanting to retaliate. Don’t carry it on outside please, it will not help you in the long run.’
Mrs Stunt later walked out of the courtroom in tears. She was not wearing a wedding ring.
Her estranged husband, who was sporting a wedding band, smirked and raised his middle finger towards photographers outside the court building.
During the hour-long hearing, Mr Stunt repeatedly laughed, scoffed, panted, sighed and raised his hands in the air. At one point the judge asked him to stop gesticulating as it was ‘very distracting’.
Mrs Stunt’s barrister David Williams QC drew the judge’s attention to Mr Stunt’s ‘dis- graceful’ behaviour of late. ‘He admits most of the abusive conduct and says it’s regrettable,’ he said. ‘The admissions he has made [are] in terms of overdoses and violence.’
The judge accused Mr Williams of ‘provoking’ Mr Stunt, who was scoffing and laughing.
Mr Williams said: ‘We would hope that Mr Stunt should see that his children’s needs are more important than his needs. There may be an ulterior motive which is financial. My client is hoping the father would do the decent thing and move out.’
Mr Stunt’s lawyer Patrick Chamberlayne QC said his client would be willing to if he was allowed to live in an £80million mansion nearby where the couple once lived. The sevenstorey house, currently on the market, is held in a trust run by Mr Ecclestone.
Richard Harrison QC, who represents the interests of the trust, said: ‘What the husband is seeking to do is to get a foot under the door where in current circumstances he has none.
‘The husband has very substantial resources at his disposal. There are ample resources for him to do as he pleases.’ The judge found in favour of Mrs Stunt and order Mr Stunt to leave the property by tomorrow. He also refused to allow him to live in the mansion held by the Ecclestone trust.
Mr Anelay said: ‘It is clear to me that the mother should be restored to the former matrimonial home forthwith. That is something that has been accepted by the father.
‘He has said on numerous occasions that the children should be there, it’s their home, and that the mother should be there with them as well. He’d like to be there too, but – and I’m not making any judgments – it’s highly improbable they could live in peace together in that property. It’s quite apparent to me that he has more than sufficient money to rent a property over the next few months.’
Prenuptial agreements have been recognised by British courts since 2010 but are not legally binding. Yesterday, lawyers did not explain the details of Mr Stunt’s prenup. In a statement, Mr Stunt said: ‘I ask that Petra and I are given time and space to work through our difficulties. If our marriage were to fail it would be a tragedy.
‘The situation is deeply upsetting and very stressful for us and for our families. I hope that matters will be resolved in the near future and that this will avoid further proceedings, which would only lead to more intrusion and distress.’
Mrs Stunt is the daughter of Mr Ecclestone and his second wife Slavica, a Croatian model. Mrs Ecclestone sued for divorced in 2009 after 25 years of marriage, obtaining a settlement estimated at £600million.
Mrs Stunt met her future husband on a blind date set up by a friend in 2006. Five years later she walked down the aisle in a £80,000 designer dress at Odescalchi Castle in Rome.
The 350 guests were served vintage Louis Roederer Cristal champagne and £4,000-a-bottle Chateau Petrus wine in an airconditioned white marquee, and were entertained by Eric Clapton, the Black Eyed Peas and DJ David Guetta.
The split looks set to be one of the largest celebrity divorces.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s divorce from Anna Murdoch Mann in 1998 cost him a reported £400million, while Neil Diamond’s divorce from Marcia Murphey in the mid-1990s is said to have cost him half his £231million fortune.