Didn’t she do well! Sir Brucie’s widow moves on with £5m
WHEN TV legend Sir Bruce Forsyth died, his widow, Wilnelia, inherited almost his entire £11.5 million fortune. And now the former Miss World winner has secured a huge ‘Brucie bonus’.
I can disclose that Lady Forsyth quietly sold the couple’s beloved marital home before the property market went into lockdown.
Cleverly, she is said to have secured a sale price around £5.5 million — £1.5 million more than it was officially valued at in 2018, the year after her much-loved husband died aged 89.
Wilnelia confirms the sale, telling me: ‘It was hard to leave a place with so many happy memories for me and my family, but I think they all understand.’ She adds, movingly: ‘It was sometimes sad to be in such a home without Bruce.’
One of her friends tells me: ‘It was a stroke of luck that Wilnelia managed to sell it before the crisis hit, because the market’s plunged since then.
‘The price was impressive because the house was actually not that big, and very dated. It will almost certainly be demolished by its new owners and a mega-mansion built in its place. That’s what happens round here.
‘The house was too big for Wilnelia. She also wanted a fresh start. Bruce loomed large wherever she turned.’ Lady Forsyth, 62, has moved to a smaller house nearby on the exclusive Wentworth Estate in Surrey, surrounded by the golf course that was like a second home to Sir Bruce.
After he died, probate documents revealed that he had left nearly all of his fortune to Wilnelia — but not a penny to his six children. The entertainer left £100,000 in a trust for his nine grandchildren, who will split the cash when they turn 21.
Lady Forsyth, who has a son with Sir Bruce, explained that her husband had ‘looked after his children in his lifetime’. She added of his five daughters from two previous marriages: ‘I’m not only the girls’ stepmother but their friend, too. I will always be there for them.’
The Forsyths’ 34-year-marriage was one of the strongest in showbusiness, despite their age gap.
They met in 1980 when both were judging the Miss World final. Wilnelia, who is from Puerto Rico, was 23 and a successful model, with no idea of 52-year-old Sir Bruce’s British national treasure status from hosting shows such as The Generation Game.
A year after his death, she revealed that nothing had been moved at their home since he left; the books, ornaments and family photographs were left exactly where they were.
Most touchingly of all, she even admitted that she still spoke to her late husband: ‘I try to be strong for the family, but if I told you it’s been easy I’d be lying.
‘I miss Bruce every single day.’