Philip Green exposed as a ‘brute’ by sister on TV
DU RING his glory days, he treated himself to a £1.2 billion dividend, was knighted by Tony Blair and blew £6 million on his 60th birthday bash, with Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Leonardo DiCaprio among the guests.
Now, six years after part of his old High Street empire, BHS, collapsed owing £571million to its staff pension fund, the extraordinary story of Sir Philip Green and his family is heading for mini- series treatment — courtesy of his sister Elizabeth.
Explaining that it’s based on her memoir, Not In The Script: The Black Sheep In A Billionaire Family, Elizabeth tells me a 20minute show clip has already earned a rapturous reception.
‘Everyone loves it,’ she says. ‘We are in negotiations with Roc Nation,’ she adds, referring to the entertainment empire founded and run by rapper Jay-Z, Beyonce’s husband.
It’s an intriguing twist: in 2016, Beyonce and Sir Philip jointly founded Ivy Park, a gymwear label — only for Beyonce to buy Green out two years later, by which time he was besieged by difficulties. These included allegations of sexual harassment — allegations he ‘ categorically and wholly’ denied.
It seems unlikely that he will warm to his sister’s portrayal of him or their mother, Alma.
The young Philip, recalls Elizabeth, was ‘a little brute’. But he was endlessly indulged. ‘ Philip was the thrust of everything. He and my mother were in cahoots,’ says Elizabeth. ‘He’s a narcissist; my mother was a narcissist.’
There is rich material in the younger generations, too, thanks to the relationship which Green’s daughter Chloe enjoyed with ‘hot felon’ Jeremy Meeks, who was jailed for theft and firearms offences. Chloe parted company with Jeremy, but only after giving birth to a son, Jayden.