Boris picks up his quill to finish £500k book on Bard
and help fund divorce from long-suffering wife Marina
Faced with an impending expensive divorce from his wife Marina, Boris Johnson clearly needs to supplement his income.
So I am intrigued to discover that the former Foreign Secretary has resumed writing his biography of the Bard. His publisher Hodder & Stoughton has now relisted the book for publication in 2020.
‘I am working on the Shakespeare book every day and hope to finish it soon,’ he tells me.
BoJo signed a £ 500,000 deal with Hodder & Stoughton to write the biography which was to be published in 2016, to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
But it never materialised, owing to Boris’s political and personal shenanigans. He had to devote much of his time campaigning for Brexit ahead of the 2016 referendum and was then unexpectedly promoted by Theresa May to the post of Foreign Secretary. The MP reportedly had to hand his advance back when he shelved the project.
Just two weeks ago, Boris, 54, announced that he and wife Marina Wheeler, also 54, were divorcing after 25 years of marriage. The couple (pictured) issued a joint statement: ‘We have subsequently agreed to divorce and that process is under way. as friends, we will continue to support our four children in the years ahead.’
He was subsequently linked to 30- year- old PR executive carrie Symonds, the former conservative communications director.
Boris is now set to find himself at the centre of a battle over his and Marina’s estimated £6.5 million fortune.
The couple had been living together at his £20 million grace-andfavour home in carlton Gardens, the official residence of the Foreign Secretary, until the end of July. They jointly own a £ 4 million townhouse in Islington as well as a country home in Oxfordshire.
Boris wed first wife allegra MostynOwen in 1987 after they met at Oxford. He married Marina, now a Qc, in 1993. But a string of affairs followed and Marina kicked him out twice, only to take him back — first in 2004 over his affair with writer Petronella Wyatt. The second time came six years later, when he was suspected of having a lovechild with art consultant Helen Macintyre.