She’s nailed kindness!
Beautician left £5k by Diana Rigg turns down cash... and hands it to star’s grandson
DAME Diana Rigg left a surprise bequest from her £3.3million estate to her local nail salon manager.
But beautician Jessica Zhu, who was with the actress on the day she died, has decided not to keep the £5,000 left to her, the Daily Mail can reveal.
‘I told Diana’s daughter that the money should go to her grandson because I did what I did out of love. We had a very special relationship,’ she said.
Miss Zhu, 43, began giving the star manicures and pedicures at the Nail Gallery in Chelsea, west London, in 2001.
But she did not know she was a world-famous actress until another customer pointed it out.
‘She was so generous and down to earth you wouldn’t know... she was happy with simple things in life like a cup of coffee,’ she said.
Dame Diana, who found fame in 1965 as Emma Peel in The Avengers, would visit the salon every two weeks or just before a film shoot.
‘Diana treated all the girls at the salon like family and was a very knowledgeable lady who gave us advice on life,’ said Miss Zhu.
‘We are very fortunate to have had her as a customer.’
The beautician visited Dame Diana when she was diagnosed with cancer in March 2020 and continued to see her every other day until her death that September, aged 82. She said: ‘I was very fortunate that Diana wanted to say goodbye to me when she was ill and in hospital in March. I was with her until her last minute of life because I wanted to be with her. We had the same old chats that we were having in the salon.
‘I was very sad when she passed away – she always told me not to be upset when she was dying.
‘I didn’t realise Diana left £5,000 for me because I was with her out of love and kindness and told her I did not want anything from her.’
The money will now go to Jack
Stirling Garvey, four, son of Dame Diana’s actress daughter Rachael Stirling and Guy Garvey, 47, singer with the rock band Elbow.
Legal papers show Dame Diana’s estate is worth £3,368,886.
She left around £3million to Miss Stirling and gave £280,500 to relatives and charities, including £50,000 to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
She also gave £500 to the Other Club, a dining society set up by
‘I was with her at the end out of love’
Winston Churchill. She asked for it to be used ‘to provide wine at the next gathering after my death and for me to be acknowledged in the menu but not toasted’.
In her film career Dame Diana became the only woman to marry James Bond, in 1969 007 adventure On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
She gained critical acclaim on stage in the Greek tragedy Medea and was a guest star in the fantasy series Game of Thrones until 2017.
She won Bafta, Emmy and Tony awards in her 50-year career. Her final film role was in Last Night In Soho, released last Friday.
Dame Diana’s second marriage in 1982 was to Scottish landowner Archibald Stirling, Miss Stirling’s father. Having moved to the Stirling area in the 1980s, Dame Diana was chancellor of Stirling University from 1998 to 2008.
She also served as Chieftain of the Bridge of Allan Highland Games.
The marriage was dissolved in 1990 after Mr Stirling had an affair with actress Joely Richardson.