Stunt bids to tear up £16m prenup
JAMES STUNT is attempting to tear up his prenuptial agreement with heiress Petra Ecclestone.
The contract, signed before their lavish wedding at an Italian castle in 2011, would have limited any payout from the daughter of Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone to £16million.
The latest twist in the couple’s bitter divorce battle arose during court proceedings on Friday.
According to sources close to Ms Ecclestone, Mr Stunt, 35, is trying to wriggle out of the agreement to get a bigger slice of her fortune.
Earlier reports wrongly stated that it was Ms Ecclestone who wanted to dismiss the deal as she was made to sign it under duress.
Ms Ecclestone, 28, is estimated to be worth £2.5 billion, while tycoon Mr Stunt was once reported to be worth £3billion, although it is not clear how he made his fortune. Bernie Ecclestone paid out one of the biggest settlements in British legal history when he divorced Petra’s mother Slavica in 2009, handing her £500million.
Last night, Ms Ecclestone declined to comment.
bowled up unexpectedly at a cricket match last week and immediately lobbed an astonishing googly into proceedings by demanding to play after turning up mid-match. Stunt, who wasn’t on the official teamsheet, decided he should go into bat as ‘12th man’ – a shocking breach of cricketing etiquette. But sadly he was bowled out by a teenager after just six balls. His bruised pride was salved somewhat by the discovery that the bowler was one Kasim Khan – 18-year-old son of cricketing legend Imran Khan. The just-for-fun match was financier Ben Goldsmith’s annual event at Chelsea’s Royal Hospital, in which his family’s team takes on a side put together by Ben’s lifelong pal Alex Tulloch, who just happens to work for Stunt’s gold bullion company Stunt & Co. The match capped a trying week for Stunt, who arrived at the cricket accompanied by his usual cavalcade of cars – and some tough-looking guys. Earlier that day Stunt had been in the Family Court in London where he was ordered to leave the home that he shared with his wife – Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter Petra. But surely even that’s no excuse for bumbling into an event like this. Bending the rules of cricket is just not, well... cricket.