BBC’s Rosie to marry the millionaire she left her family for
IT’S three years since she walked away, in floods of tears, from her husband and four children.
But the smiles are back – and the champagne on ice – as former BBC arts journalist Rosie Millard is to wed the man she gave it all up for.
I can reveal Rosie, 56, and her multi-millionaire lover, Alex Graham, 67, will marry on Tuesday at Islington Town Hall, North London. The ceremony will be followed by a ‘champagne-soaked celebration’ at Frederick’s restaurant nearby, say insiders.
A source said: ‘This is a no-expenses pared do. Media luvvies from North London’s champagne socialist in-crowd will be on parade, and Rosie is very excited. It is what she has wanted for some time. Expect quite the party and, of course, the dress.’
Ms Millard’s choice of wedding outfit may well attract interest: when she covered the Oscars for BBC News in 2001 she wore a plunging Vivienne Westwood frock and after she finished her report, newsreader Michael Buerk famously told viewers: ‘That was Rosie Millard in the Best Supporting Dress.’
The wedding completes a busy few months for Ms Millard, who now chairs BBC Children In Need.
She recently posted several images of the London house she and Mr Graham moved into in February. One showing flowers on a dressing table, was captioned: ‘Our lovely canal-side house continues to blossom.’
Ms Millard and Mr Graham abandoned their partners before Christmas 2018. She ditched TV producer Philip Clothier, her husband of more than 20 years and father to their children. The youngest two, who were then aged 16 and 14, continued living with their dad at their £2million Islington home.
Mr Graham, outgoing chairman of the Scott Trust – which owns The Guardian newspaper – left his wife, Maeve Haran, 70, mother to their three grown-up children and the author of bestselling novel Having It All. It is understood she was unaware of the affair until he left her.
Almost a year after walking out, Ms Millard wrote an at-the-time anonymous article in The Sunday Times. Describing the tearful farewell, she wrote: ‘My now ex-husband cooked everyone a hearty meal... Then he lined up the children, our children, so I could say goodbye.
‘He stood there while I did this act, tears pouring down my cheeks, unable to speak.’