Jerry makes way for Richard Gere
WHEN Jerry Hall married media mogul Rupert Murdoch nearly three years ago, her former love Sir Mick Jagger generously agreed she could remain in the £14million house in West London that had once been their family home.
But now the Rolling Stone, who is renowned for his financial shrewdness, has taken back full ownership of splendid Downe House in Richmond and has promptly begun making money from the Georgian property by letting it to actor Richard Gere.
The 69-year-old star of American Gigolo and Pretty Woman is using the house as a base while he films an eightpart drama for BBC Two called Mother, Father, Son.
Living with him is Alejandra Silva, 35, the Spanish entrepreneur whom he married last year and who is expecting their baby in the spring.
The rental was arranged by restaurateur Gael Boglione, an old girlfriend of Gere’s who lives in the area, and who coincidentally was once accused by former model Jerry Hall of becoming too close to Jagger.
Sir Mick, 75, remains on friendly terms with willowy Texan Jerry but his new arrangement over the ownership of Downe House is an acknowledgement of her position as the wife of a man who is even richer than him – Murdoch, 87, is worth some £15billion through his television, film and newspaper empire.
Rupert married Jerry, 62, after a fivemonth romance. The Australian-born tycoon has six children from three former marriages and, as my picture shows, is on holiday with Jerry in Barbados.
A source close to Jerry says: “For many years she considered Downe House to be her family home and it holds many happy memories. But she now spends a lot of time travelling with Rupert and staying at his various properties around the world. Her arrangement with Mick is a very amicable one.” I will miss my encounters with
who, during one of our chats, disclosed that she had become concerned about waking up feeling stiff every morning (her phrase, not a line from one of her Carry On films) and had decided to employ a personal trainer.
She told me: “He makes me run up and down the stairs and touch my toes. He’s very handsome and I get to move parts of my body I wouldn’t normally move. The only thing I can’t do is balance on one leg.”
And, she twinkled, “He gives me a massage at the end of every session, which is lovely.”
The attentions of her well-toned instructor would, she added presciently, probably add years to her life.
And that was undoubtedly one of the reasons she remained active almost to the day she died aged 93.
Dame June Whitfield
As she limbers up for the forthcoming Spice Girls reunion tour,
does not want to be distracted by hearing any Abba songs.
“I have an aversion to them,” sniffs the 44-year-old warbler.
“If I’m at a wedding and an Abba song comes on, I have to leave.
I don’t know why.
“Maybe there’s something that happened that I’ve blocked out.”
Chisholm Melanie
At the peak of his legendary thirst, the only use that
had for CocaCola was as a mixer for vodka but the actor, who hasn’t touched alcohol for over a decade, had to drink copious amounts of Coke while making the forthcoming series of Cold Feet.
John, 49, was told to down “masses” of cola to counter the danger of contracting Lyme disease when he had to jump into a filthy, freezing canal in Manchester for a scene in which he rescues a suicidal man in the drama, which begins on ITV on January 14.
“There’s a lot of rubbish in those canals,” he shudders, “and you have to drink full-fat cola to kill off the Lyme disease because of all the rats – although I don’t think Coke will ever market it that way...”
Last week marked Thomson’s 12th anniversary of sobriety, after attributing his dependance on drink to his success in Cold Feet.
“I had a hedonistic lifestyle in London. Every day was a groundhog day of clubs and parties, and it just got too much. I knew something had to change and I moved back to Manchester and focused on my family.
“You learn from your mistakes – eventually.”
Thomson
In the half-century since she first sprang to fame as a model, the newly honoured Dame Lesley Lawson – better known as – has tried all sorts of beauty regimes but there’s one technique she won’t touch.
“I would never have Botox; it’s poison!” she exclaims. “Why would anyone do it? Where does it go in your body?”
Twiggy, who was discovered aged 16 when Daily Express fashion editor Deirdre McSharry walked into a hairdressing salon and saw her photo on the wall, has only one real piece of advice on a healthy lifestyle. “Eat what you fancy, in moderation,” she declares. “I still have chocolate in my fridge but I only eat one square at a time.”
Twiggy